The Moment Everything Changed: Part 1

Every writer has a moment when the world shifted. For me, it happened when I was 14 years old.

Once the Iron Curtain fell, Russia was flooded with bootleg translations. I had plenty of exposure to hard science fiction, but what I got after Perestroika was fantasy, sword and sorcery, sword and planet, and light SF. Harry Harrison, Leigh Bracket, Robert E Howard. I devoured it. You are what you eat, and finally in the spring of 1990, my brain overloaded. I commandeered the manual typewriter my dad had used years before to write his dissertation and vomited a story out over the course of three months.

Looking back at it, it was probably novella length, but it felt like a huge novel to me. Also, it was awful. It was this weird mishmash of knights, castles, magic zones, mutated monsters… Anyway, I finished it. Now that it was done, I didn’t know what to do with it. In a moment of slight insanity, I decided to show it to my dad.

My parents had taken zero interest in my writing attempts. To be fair, they took zero interest in all of my academic attempts. It was just expected that I would do well. My father took my stack of papers and promised to read it.

Two weeks later, we were having dinner, and my dad casually mentioned that he showed my “novel” to the Dean of Russian Literature Faculty at the city university. My mom asked what he said. And my father looked at me and told me, “He said that with writing, you either have it or don’t. And Ilona has it.”

This was the moment I realized I could be a writer.

I told this story to a friend and she said that it would make a good blog post and wouldn’t it be fun to find out how other writers figured out they were writers. So I asked and a lot of people responded. Here are their stories in no particular order.

Grace Draven

The moment I realized I could be a writer came when I was in my first meeting with my new boss at my new job. I’d just graduated from college, and until then, had worked in retail (a bookstore) and a hair salon. This was my first corporate gig, and it was in finance and retirement funds. Honestly, I hate math, and I suck at it – except for money math. Accounting has always made perfect sense to me. That being said, I didn’t land this particular job with my number-crunching skills. My new boss (whom I still stay in contact with and love to bits) looked me in the eye and said “I hired you because you can write.”

That statement stayed with me as I spent several years in finance, where my writing was limited to business letters and departmental processes. And then I discovered fan fiction. That was the game changer for me. First, I read it; then I wrote it. Talk about bust open a door. That was the second moment I thought “Hey, I could be a writer!” I went commercial in 2005 and haven’t looked back since. It’s been a helluva ride.

Grace’s Featured Release: THE MOON RAVEN

Disaris jin Gheza’s rare gift for code-breaking means she must flee a conquering army and a fanatical cult, or become their prisoner and pawn. To evade capture, she will cross perilous territories and sorcerous borders, her aim, two-fold: rescue her sister from captivity and stop a goddess bent on remaking the world through destruction and bloodshed.

But she won’t be facing danger alone. The battle mage known as the Moon Raven travels by her side. Once Disaris’s best friend and lover, Bron is now an uneasy ally with a death bounty on his head for desertion.

Bound together by memories and a bond that they both believed broken, the two fugitives must outrun a deadly tracker, save a kingdom, and crush a savage deity – all without dying in the effort.

A tale of loyalty and longing.

Devon Monk

Two moments: I was the shy, dorky, book-reading poor kid in an upper-class public school. In fourth grade, the fourth and fifth graders all entered poems for the school newsletter. My poem was chosen to be printed.

My teacher took me out of class that day. We stood alone in the empty hallway. In firm, hushed tones she told me I had a real gift. All the teachers had been surprised and impressed with the poem. She told me to keep doing it, keep writing things. She also said I shouldn’t tell the other kids she had said anything because she didn’t want to be seen as playing favorites.

I was proud, but came away with the mixed message that I was good, but not the kind of good that should be shared with others. 

A few years later, my mother (tired of me always having my nose in a book) snapped: “You’re always reading all the time, why don’t you just write a book?”

Until that moment, I hadn’t realized writing was a career choice a poor kid like me (who might be good, but should keep it a secret) could have. But oh, once that idea took root, there was no going back. I didn’t just realize I was a writer, I realized nothing was going to stop me from being a writer. And, hey, here I am. Decades later. Still a writer.

Devon’s Featured Release: WAYWARD SOULS

Betrayals and secrets, devils and saviors, and magic stronger than even the gods can tame…

Lovers Lula and Brogan Gauge have dealt with magic, monsters, and gods for nearly a hundred years—it’s not as fun as you’d think. After a vicious attack turned Lula into a half-vampire, and left Brogan an earthbound spirit, they rebuilt their lives around one goal: Revenge.

Now their hunt for the monster who destroyed their lives and ripped their souls in half might finally come to an end—if the ghost in Illinois is telling the truth about the spell book of the gods.

But Lula and Brogan aren’t the only ones who want that spell book. Gods made it, gods lost it, and the gods want it back.

All Lula and Brogan have to do is get to it first, but doing so will turn into the fight of their un-lives…

Jessie Mihalik

I’m so glad Ilona invited me to share my story about the moment I thought I could be a writer, because she’s a key player in it!

Like many romance authors, I started in fanfiction. I wrote fic in college, but I never considered writing to be a career option—it was just something I did for fun. Then, after college was over and I had a “real” job, I dropped writing altogether because I just didn’t have time.

But the urge to write never quite went away.

Then in 2008, I did my first NaNoWriMo—an event in November designed to encourage you to write 50k words during the month—with friends from work. I hit the goal with a terrible novel that will never see the light of day. I completed it again in 2009, and started to think that maybe writing was something I wanted to do.

Then, in 2010, Ilona and Gordon were the guests of honor at a SF/F convention here in town. I was a huge fan, so of course I was going to go.

But they were also participating in a writing workshop. So I wrote a little story which my bestie raved was awesome (as besties are required to do) and sent it off with the hope that I’d be in Ilona and Gordon’s group.

Long story long, I was in Ilona and Gordon’s group, and they were so very kind. Ilona encouraged me to keep going and told me I could likely write professionally if I wanted to. That nudge of encouragement changed my life, and I will forever be grateful to her for it—and for all of the help and encouragement she and Gordon have given me since then.

Of course, it took another seven years for me to actually get a book written and sold, but that’s another story. 🙂

Jessie’s Featured Release: SILVER & BLOOD

On a deadly mission to kill the mythical beast that has been haunting her woods, a desperate mage finds her fate intertwined with the handsome, powerful man who saves her in this dark and sexy romantasy—perfect for readers of Jennifer L. Armentrout, Callie Hart, and Holly Black.

There’s something in the woods…

When a vicious beast begins attacking her fellow villagers, Riela reluctantly agrees to enter the forbidden forest and kill the monster as she’s the only mage available—or so she thought.

Untrained and barely armed, Riela is quickly overwhelmed when one beast turns into two. She fears her death is at hand until the unexpected arrival of a scarred, strikingly handsome man with gleaming moonlit magic changes her fate—and provides a rare opportunity to learn more about her own fickle power.

After being rescued and healed from the beast’s poison, Riela awakens in a magical castle complete with a gorgeous library, a strange wolf, and the surly man who saved her life. She soon learns Garrick is both more powerful and far deadlier than a mere mortal mage—but thanks to a century-long curse, his powers are weakening.

Trapped in his castle and surrounded by the treacherous woods, the spark of attraction between Riela and Garrick slowly ignites into fiery desire. But the more they discover about Riela’s magic, the more suspicious Garrick grows of her identity. As they unravel the secrets and lies connecting Riela’s past to Garrick’s, the tenuous threads of trust between them start to fray.

Because Riela’s life—or her death—might be the key to regaining everything Garrick has lost.

Melissa Marr

In 2005, I was driving along I-5 in South CA with my daughter (11) and son (6). Asia hated road trips or planes or really anything that meant she couldn’t move, and Dylan was easy going, so I made up stories to tell them as I drove. SoCal traffic between LA and San Diego is awful, and I was distracted by it. My kids were impatient because I had, according to them, not started exactly when we ended. I pointed out that it was not a real book, and I was, in fact, not an audiobook. To that, my precocious daughter said, “You’re an author, but you have terrible memory or we wouldn’t be lost again, so maybe you should write it down and I’ll read it aloud when we drive so you can get lost less often.”

I had always dreamed of writing a book, but I think hearing my kid say I was an author made me think I could be. So I wrote Wicked Lovely (my debut novel that was actually just re-published in mid-2025) for her.  I think sometimes kids (or parents or spouses or sibs) have the faith in us that we might lack. I wrote that while homeschooling them, while watching at gymnastics class, while they were in summer camp at museums in Balboa Park. I think it was very much a case of not trusting my belief, but I trusted my kids. If they believed in me, I figured I better get it done. I did, but it didn’t cure my directional issues. 

Melissa’s Featured Release: A TREASON OF MAGIC

(June 23, 2026; adult fantasy)

Two young women. Heirs to altogether different hereditary burdens. Bound by a monstrous threat to their village.

Gabrielle is the first girl in Alveus to carry the mantle of Hunter, an obligation to kill the faery beasts murdering travelers in the Brimmond Wood. Wary of the power she wields—as guardian of her people—Gabrielle is summoned by her first love, a seductress who shattered her heart into pieces a decade ago.

Isabeau is the rarest of nobility—a lady duke. She is also afflicted by a curse that leaves her in a deep sleep between the gloaming and daylight. How can she begin her tenure as protector when she can’t keep her village safe from whatever stalks its darkest hours? For that, she needs the help of the Hunter.

Against her will, Gabrielle is falling in love all over again. But what new threats will arise when Gabrielle and Isabeau’s star-crossed destinies collide with the beast of Brimmond Wood?

Stay tuned for Part 2 next Wednesday.