I sincerely believe a lot of factors are involved [in emotional wellness].
Rejection hurts and nearly every author has been rejection at some point in their career. I don’t think I’ve ever really been depressed. After all, my friends call me Queen of Denial. I think I focus on the positive things in life.
Each Book Is Like a Mountain that Needs to be Climbed
Writing and all the challenges that accompany it are an adventure. I’ve always considered each book that I write like a mountain that needs to be climbed. It doesn’t matter that I’ve already climbed that mountain once. Each book/each trip is a different journey.
I think the thing that keeps me on track is my critique group. They are a group of positive women who are very supportive. Oh, and being published, and receiving compliments from readers is a huge boost to keeping me writing.
My Word for Someone Who Lives on Sugar
I coined a word “sugan.” It means someone who lives on sugar.
It came from personal experience. I have my candy drawer in the kitchen and no one else better touch it. It’s mine.
Luckily, I like all the icky candy from my childhood—circus peanuts, Peeps, orange slices. Pure junk food.
I really enjoy cooked vegetables. I’m not a big meat eater, but do enjoy a good prime rib every once in a while. I don’t normally snack while writing. I prefer to treat myself after I’m done working.
All Genres Require Research to Some Degree
Actually, I write in three genres of romance—fantasy, contemporary, and historical.
I love creating my dragon series. Dragons have big personalities and I have to make sure the main protagonists are just as captivating. I’ve created this world, and I learn something new about it in every book. It’s exciting.
That said, sometimes I just need to switch to contemporary. That’s when I’ll write a contemporary and get to enjoy riding in a car or taking a relaxing bath (in the books).
The historical romances are fun too. All genres require research to some degree, but historicals even more so. Readers have eagle eyes and if there is a mistake, they’ll find it.
My Characters Talk to Me When I Take Drives
I’m constantly asked where I get my ideas. In all honesty, I have no idea.
In the dragon series, the dragons do all the work. I will say in the second book in that series, Woman in the Woods, I was constantly thinking Wonder Woman to help inspire me.
[Why do I keep writing?] That’s a question I ask myself every day. I write because the voices (stories) are in my head. They talk to me when I take drives, before I fall asleep at night. They want their adventure to be told.
What Works for Me as a Marketing Tool
Marketing sucks. There isn’t a writer I know who enjoys that aspect of writing, but it is a must.
Actually, teaching workshops to eager writers is a great marketing tool. I’m good at face-to-face and like the personal touch.
I belong to Pacific Northwest Writers Association and belonging to a professional organization is helpful. Newsletters help a writer keep in touch with readers, so that’s a tool not to overlook. Advertising works, but can become expensive.
Each individual must decide what works for them.
My Friends Call Me a Pit Bull with Lipstick
I like to writing in the morning, print out the new material (if there is any), and review sitting on my sofa. I mark up the pages (typos/changes/etc), and start all over the next day.
I write five to seven days a week, all depending on my personal life schedule. Being disciplined is not hard for me. My friends call me a Pit Bull with lipstick. I’m very tenacious.
Advice for a Young Writer: Stick With It
Never give up. Be persistent. If it is his/her dream stick with it. The road is rocky but worth it when you see your book in print.
* * *
Award-winning author Darcy Carson grew up reading everything her mother brought home from the library. Reading romances became her favorite genre.
Eventually her love of those novels led her to start writing them.
She currently resides in a small town southeast of Seattle with her husband and a prince of a toy poodle.
For more information on Darcy and her work, please see her website or connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.
She Wakes the Night: Trell Langois escapes a thousand-year-old curse. Being trapped as a tree wasn’t on her bucket list, but now she can continue as a healer.
Traveling with her dragon, Torkel, she seeks out new cures to help others and meets Gren. An unfortunate soul who suffers from a dreadful disease.
Gren Oyg Har is a prince on a mission. In order to rule his father’s kingdom, he must find a healer. Not just any healer, mind you, but one with a dragon.
Yet, it is Trell who finds and rescues Gren, but wants nothing more to do with him. If not for Torkel, she would leave him behind.
Separate goals soon become entangled, and both Trell and Gren are on their way to falling in love until secrets better kept hidden become known–and threaten to destroy all they hold dear.
Available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
Woman in the Woods: Warrior woman, Becca d’Firn, has a problem.
People in her village are dying from a mysterious plague. She needs a wizard to save them.
Cress, a wizard, has a quandary of his own—he needs to free his sister from a thousand year old spell.
Becca doesn’t trust men, but what choice does she have?
She knows nothing about the art of healing or dragons the size of fireflies.
Available on Amazon.