This round's topic was chosen by the lovely
Rebecca who wanted to know:
What is the best mistake you've made so far in your journey as a writer? How has that mistake helped you grow :)?
Well, as most of the other awesome people in our chain have mentioned, I've made them all, some of them repeatedly. One of my biggest mistakes, one I still struggle not to make again, is jumping the gun. I get a project finished and I want to send it off the same day. It is torture for me to wait until it is really ready to send out. Fortunately, I have wonderful crit partners who slap my hand away from the Send button :) But I have definitely blown more than a few awesome opportunities by sending out something that wasn't ready.
However, despite the sometimes spectacular mistakes I make, I think the worst one (or the best) was when I quit. Now, in my defense, life had thrown me a huge curve ball. My daughter was born two months early and spent the first seven weeks of her life in the hospital - which was 45 minutes away from where we lived (if there was no traffic). My husband was working 90 + hours a week at the time and we also had a two year old that needed my attention.
So, I definitely had cause to take a nice long break. But I let that break drag on for two years. I had a novel that I was a few chapters from finishing. It was my first book, and when I started it, I was totally in love with it. I couldn't wait for my son's nap time every day so I could dive back in.
Over those two years, I thought about it often, wanted to get back to it, and then found an excuse not to. Eventually, I sat down and finished it...in just a few weeks. And I was hooked again. Have been ever since. And I'll never make that mistake again. Writing gives me something I just can't get from any other aspect of my life. It lets me escape into another world. I can exercise my brain, challenge my abilities, indulge in my love of learning and creating and reading and so many other things.
I've met incredible people, some of whom are now my closest friends. And I've become ME. Before, I was my husband's wife, my children's mother, my parents' daughter. I had degrees, I had jobs, and hobbies and friends. But I didn't know who I was yet. I was still searching for what I wanted to be when I grew up :)
When I started that first book, I got a taste of it. I got a glimpse of the person I could be, of the life I could have. And then I let other things get in the way. Important things, yes. Unavoidable things, of course. But I let it go on too long. I talked myself into believing that everything and everyone else was more important. And you know, sometimes they are. And that's okay.
But I will never make the mistake of letting YEARS go by without writing again. It's too much a part of me now. I am glad I made the mistake of giving up - because now I know what's at stake and I'll never do it again :)
What about you? What is your best mistake?
Be sure to check out the fabulous Bonny's answer before mine and stop by Shaun's blog tomorrow to find out what his best mistake is. 
