What particular moment changed your life? Share your story this afternoon at this Facebook link for a chance to win some free books. The contest ends tonight, so add your story now.
Smith Magazine is collecting stories of “a single, decision, happenstance, accident, call, conversation, or email” that changed readers lives for a new book. GalleyCat readers from around the country have already replied. We’ve collected some of their responses below.
Check it out: “Welcome to ‘The Moment,’ stories of how a single moment changed your life in a profound way. Your Moment might be a split-second decision, something you witnessed, a message sent or received, a literal or mental discovery. Moments can be serious or silly, as short as a tweet, as long as 700 words, told via a single image or illustration, series of photos, or a scanned letter or post-it note.”
Share your particular moment at this Facebook link and you could win a free copy of the forthcoming The Moment book or a free copy of It All Changed in an Instant: More Six-Word Memoirs. We will randomly select two lucky winners from the Facebook submissions. Be sure to read the complete contest rules, they are listed here.
Facebook Responses: What particular moment changed your life?
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Jennifer Crites: The day I got the phone call: I had won an internship sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists.
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Laura Strachan: The moment when I, as a poor reader, misheard my 2nd grade teacher who was calling out names for the highest reading group. Rather than embarrass me, the teacher took me aside later and said I could stay in that group if I kept up with the work. I did. To quote Robert Frost, “that has made all the difference.”
- Kris Kennedy: My life was changed forever the day I started doing research for a Master’s thesis on disorganized attachment and dissociative identity disorder (DID) and I realized that I was reading about me and my life. In the last 4-years my life unfolded. I plunged into the depths of reality. I am learning to know who I truly am and that it is good.
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Cindy Conover Dashnaw: Having just delivered her, I turned my head to see my screaming infant daughter, and my very first thought about her was, “Oh my God, I have to take that home.” (I’ve never regretted becoming a mother!)
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Chelsy Snead: The day I was asked “What’s the most exciting thing you’ve done lately?” and I couldn’t come up with a single thing. I moved to Italy six months later.
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Cristy Wright: The first: when my dad said, “well you know, your sisters kidney aren’t very good”. The second: when the Coordinator said, “You’re a good match”. The third: when I opened my eyes in Recovery. The fourth: when my dad called me one week later. His first words were “I’m sorry” and I knew the transplant had failed.
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Greg Freed: When I got accepted to Emerson’s Graduate Certificate in Book Publishing: Finally, a reason to leave Texas.
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Pinky Stanseski: When I adopted a loving puppy who was an abused puppy,but,she turned out to be a loyal, loving,family member.
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Sandra Martin: When I decided my life was going no where, so I sold everything I owned, packed my clothes and moved 2000 miles away.
- Robin Patterson: My moment was when my grandmother died. I realized my mother was now the matriarch of the family which in turn led the realization that one day I would be the matriarch of the family. And that made me realize that the matriarch hosts Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners and I don’t know how to cook a turkey. And that even if I ever cooked a turkey, it would never be as good as their turkeys, and thus holidays will one day never be the same again.