Touchstone Writing Moments

1. My first memorable writing moment I have that I would call a touchstone moment was when I was in second or third grade.  I wrote a narrative story about a very traumatic family event that took place in the recent past at that time. It was about my dog, Muffin, who had escaped into a fenced in field that had wild elk.  The elk chased him, and finally he fell, and didn't get up for a while.  They pawed at him, and my siblings and I were sobbing and crying for my dad to go save him.  My dad was the superhero that jumped the fence, and actually risked his own safety to save our dog while we fed the elks apples and carrots from our grocery bags in the car.  I think this was one of the first longer narrative pieces I had written and I drew illustrations to go along with the story.  I have no recollection on how this was perceived by anyone else, but it didn't matter. I was happy to have recorded it, and gotten it out there. 
2. The second one I can remember is being in a spelling bee in third or fourth grade, and realizing that I was a really competitive speller!  I passed through student after student as we continued on in a musical chairs kind of fashion to each new contestant's desk around the classroom.  I don't generally think of myself as a highly competitive person, but I clearly remember the exhilaration and tenacity I felt in spelling and advancing and being better, and one of the top two or three who finished.  
3. I would say the next time I remember a clear writing touchstone was when I was in Allihies, Ireland as a sophomore in university studying abroad in Europe.  We were doing a one week trip in Ireland with a writer/poet.  We workshopped all week around poetry in the mystical small Irish coastal town of only 50 people.  We gathered each evening in the pub to enjoy the conviviality of the townspeople and our classmates.  There, I remember working a poem for the whole week.  At the end of the week we presented our work to each other.  I was really proud of my poem, it was evocative, passionate and hinting at romance.  I will never forget that poem or that trip.
4.  The next moment I remember is a year or so later, after I had taken a break from university and was traveling in Chile.  I wrote some travel emails to friends and family to share in my experiences on the road.  I remember writing from a cyber cafe in Santiago one sunny morning, and totally becoming engrossed in the narrative experience.  It was full of sensuous details, smells, sounds, colors and feelings of Chile.  I remember my good friend Erika replied to me and said that I was a fantastic writer and that I should consider being a travel writer. This was really poignant and touching to me and I will never forget it.
5.  About a year later, I was in an English class, after transplanting to a city college of Chicago.  I wrote a narrative about a time I was in central France a year or two before, where I had jumped into a river and was so scared and exhilarated all at the same time, and doing my best to catch my breath and not hyperventilate.  After handing in this piece, when the professor was handing our graded work back to the class, I didn't receive mine.  I hoped he hadn't lost it, but in fact he announced that he wanted to share one student's outstanding writing piece.  It was mine.  I was shocked and flattered.  I definitely remember feeling really good about myself and really encouraged about my ability to write.