The writing life is a creative life that’s multi-faceted, aggravating, and volatile. In these posts, Darcy explores the ups and downs, the joys and despairs of choosing a writing life.
Start with this popular series of articles:

Think Like a Writer

Or find what you need in the article list below:

• Accounting for Writers
• Your Writing Career: How to Have a Long, Memorable One
• Writers Beware!
• Finding Time to Write
• Long Cooling Off Period – Stuff Your MSS in a Drawer!
• Are You Being a Lazy Writer? Stop it!
• Building a Writing Career
• 4 Ways to Manage the Frustration of Being “Almost” Published
• Mentor a Writer: Lessons from Biking
• In Publishing, You Live or Die by Your Opinion
• Turning Out Words: Productivity
• Go, Indie! Young Writer Go, Indie!
• 3 Tools to Help Part Time Writers Work Smarter, Stay Focused and Track Progress
• Find Your Novel Opening: Quickly, Efficiently–and with MORE Creativity
• Fowler’s Toad: He Chose Our Pond
• Hope: Send Me Your Good News
• Ban Cliches: How to Stand Out in Today’s Crowded Market
• Full Life? Take a Class
• 8 Things Writers Do When Life is Crazy: The Crazy Writing Life
• Advice to Academy Award Winners: Trust Your Art
• Author v. Them: When to Revise for Critiquers
• Is My Story Good or Bad? Wrong Question
• 3 Reasons I Failed NaNoWriMo – and Why It’s OK
• Momentum: Keep the Writing Coming
• Should You Write Fast or Slow? Here’s the Right Answer – And Instintively You Know This is Right
• Take a Creative Risk – You Might Surprise Yourself
• Feedback: What a Critique Group can Do for Your Story–And It’s MORE than You think!
• 5 Small–But Vital–Tasks for Off Days: #4 is the Worst
• May News: Earth Day, Featured Blog and Mother’s Day
• Arkansas Literary Festival: Cocktails, Glossolalia, and Orphaned Pumas
• Arkansas Literary Festival: Ankle Bracelets, Revised Sex Scenes, and Bees
• A Writing Career: Be Yourself!
• Introverted: The Writer’s Power and Downfall
• Creativity: 8 Ways to Keep the Stories Coming
• Fiction Notes Named in Top 10 Writing Blogs of 2013
• Writing Out of Sequence
• A Normal Day of Writing: Find Your Natural Rhythms
• Novelists: You are Gifted & Talented
• Hope, Optimism, Despair: Writer’s Emotional Roller Coaster
• Top Writing Blogs of 2013
• Deadlines are Useful
• The Writer’s Journey: 9 Metaphors
• Storing up LIFE to Write About Later
• 6 Ways out of Writing Slump
• Poland: A Writer’s Vacation
• Uncertainty: The Normal Writing Process
• Writers, are you a part of the reading community?
• Heights and Depths: A Writing Life
• I am in Charge of My Own Writing
• Shame, Vulnerability and Hiding
• All I Want For Christmas. . .
• Timely Articles and Books
• 10 Crazy Things People Say to Writers
• Finding the Sweet: Dealing with Rejection
• 12 Perfect Gifts for Writers in 2012
• What Writer’s Stuff Would you Buy if Given $1000?
• Through Your Lens: 4 Strengths of Your Writing
• The Creative Process: A Photo-Essay
• Revision Disturbs our Emotional Core
• 10 Ways to Beat the “Hurry Up and Wait” Blues
• How I wrote every day for a year
• Where Did My Novel Go?
• How Do you Get So Much Done?
• Switching from PC to Mac
• Is Your Manuscript On-Hold? Never!
• 4 Ways to Start Writing Again After A Vacation
• Critique Groups: Why, How and Where
• Summer Plans: Ideas for Topics
• Writer’s Block? Lower Your Standards
• 5 Ways to Get Past that Writer’s Block
• A Trip to Roswell
• 5 Uses for a Lull in Writing
• What is a Real Writer?
• Writing for 42 Days Straight
• February 750 word challenge
• Think Like a Writer: TOC
• 3rd Person POV: Think Like a Writer
• 1st Person POV: Think Like a Writer
• Omniscient POV: Think Like a Writer
• Writers Need to Whine Sometimes
• Face Your Fears: Think Like a Writer
• Photo Prompt: Think Like a Writer
• What Do Writers Think About?
• Details: Think Like a Writer
• Think Like a Writer, Day 1
• Writers Must Be Readers
• FamousAuthor.XXX
• 5 Magic Words Every Writer Should Use
• 4 Ways to Battle Discouragement
• Photos: A Writer’s Life
• Where Did the Summer Go?
• China: A Visual Feast
• Story Ideas: New Education Standards Sets Topics
• Just Write It: Stop Second Guessing until You Revise
• Writing in the Midst of Life
• Work Smarter, not Harder
• Snow Days: 3 Tips for Unexpected Days Off
• The Agony of Revision
• Work on YOUR Work
• Lifelong Learners
• Snow, Bugs & Writing
• 2013 Newbery Awards
• 1000 Competing Ideas & Tasks
• Passionate Stories
• Never Quit
• Distracted?
• 3 Ways to Write Through Summer Distractions
• Writing Schedule: 1 page/day=250+/year
• How Grant Applications Make Me a Better Writer
• Trust the Process
• @FictionNotes
• The Writer’s Challenge: Give it All
• How to Prioritize Your Writing Tasks
• The Year that Was
• 27 Tools for Writers
• working methods
• Successes
• Value of school visits
• Smell the Flowers
• Who is Reading Your Work?
• Tyranny of the Urgent
• Positive Rejections
• Fame and Fortune
• Writing Goals
• Teens
• August
• life rhythms
• Best Worst
• Taking risks
• Teen Voices
• Kids
• Balancing
• Stress
• Between Projects
• Sky challenge
• Book publicity
• Prioritize
• 6 Distractions
• Emotional Critiques
• Manuscript Length
• First Contract Advice
• Quoted at the Conference
• Jennifer Rees, Scholastic
• Jennifer Greene, Clarion
• Michelle Nagler, Bloomsbury
• Who Attends National Conference
• Meeting with Editors
• 5 Writing Tasks for Off Days
• Am I a Fearless Writer?
• Fearless Writing #2
• Fearless Writing #1
• Living Life so Fiction Can Grow
• 3 Ways Writers Survive Slow Times
• How to Fight Writer’s Depression
• Do you get that empty feeling?
• 4 Habits That Help Your Writing
• Turning Life into Fiction
• When Life is Exciting
• When Life is Hard
• Rules for First Readers
• Fear of Regrets
• The Ten-Foot Dash
• 5 Summer Projects for Writers
• My Current Works in Progress
• 10 Things That Mean You’re a Writer
• Starting a Novel
• Notebook Work: Looking backwards
• Fair Use Copyright Guidelines
• 10 Ways to Wait
• 2010 Newbery Winner
• Friday Ideas 2008
• Reports from 2008 SCBWI Conference
• Fire in the Hole
• Tornado and Author Visit
• Career in Writing
• My 2008 Schedule
• Aloha
• Fall schedule
• Writing rhythms
• Writing v. marketing
• The New Beginning
• The end
• Stay the Course
• What critics know after two days
• Time to Write
• 2 Useful Books on Creativity