A blog series featuring various authors guest-blogging in response to the question: What was your turning point as a writer? 

Here are the posts in the Turning Points series:

• Intro to the Turning Points blog series
• Gayle Forman: on overcoming bitterness
• Sean Ferrell: on the Writer who never arrives
• Eileen Cook: on a “nasty” book and a teacher’s advice that inspired her
• Christopher Barzak: on how short stories changed his vision for his novel
• Saundra Mitchell: on deciding to quit and walk away
• Eric Luper: on not writing for trends
• Gretchen McNeil: on how “everything happens for a reason”
• Julia DeVillers on the life-changing fan letter she wrote when she was ten
• Daisy Whitney on the book that opened her eyes to writing YA
• Brandy Colbert on the book that inspired her to find her voice
• Courtney Summers on redefining failure
• Sarah Darer Littman on turning off the noise
• Léna Roy on how she came to call herself a “writer”
• Megan Crewe on not choosing the “right” path
• Jennifer Echols on her eighth anniversary of not being stupid
• Blythe Woolston on how she accidentally became a writer
• Karen Mahoney on the discouraging moment that kept her from showing her writing for years
• Steve Brezenoff on how facing both death and birth became a turning point for his writing 
  
• Christine Lee Zilka on how she fought to keep writing after a stroke at age 33 
• Kim Purcell on rewriting her book from scratch 
• Camille DeAngelis on “the laughter of sanity” 
• Timothy Braun on being true to yourself and your writing
• Jordyn Turney on being a young writer and taking yourself seriously
• Kate Messner on finding perspective with bad reviews
• Jaclyn Dolamore on making the impossible possible
• Andrea Cremer on the accident that set off her writing and the choice to keep doing it full-time 
• Aimee Phan on how Michael Jackson helped her love writing again
• Claire Legrand on the book she had to let go
• Bethany Griffin on finding the courage to do something completely different
• Stephanie Burgis on the writing workshop that changed her writing… and her life
• Jenny Torres Sanchez on being rejected, rejected, rejected and moving beyond it
• Pip Harry on the twelve years it took to publish her first novel
• Arlaina Tibensky on how reading Feed and hearing Libba Bray led her toward writing YA
• Leah Cypess on quitting her day job
• Jessica Corra on choosing yes
• C.J. Omololu on taking what you love and going for it
• Susan Adrian on the tunnel at the end of the darkness
• Amy Reed on letting her characters be in charge
• Joëlle Anthony on reading 200 books in her genre
• T. Michael Martin on fighting depression and pushing forward to publish his first book
• Beth Revis on the book that changed her life and turned her into a writer
• Tara Kelly on not letting anything kill her joy of writing
• Rebecca Barnhouse on how she tricked herself into writing fantasy
• Leigh Fallon on the moment in the rain when she sought escape
• Cindy Pon on keeping the faith, and trusting the process
• Micol Ostow on how the moment is always upon us
• S.J. Kincaid on creating her own NaNoWriMo in August
• Meagan Spooner on embracing fear
• C.K. Kelly Martin on staying true to yourself
• Patty Blount on the dark side of writing
• Alyssa B. Sheinmel on the workshop that changed her writing
• Malinda Lo on embracing who you are and what you’re meant to be
• Shannon Messenger on getting the courage to chase a new dream
• Elena K. Arnold on the moment she defined herself as a writer
• E.C. Myers on finding love and YA