Darby Briar on her vacation from writing...
Click below to watch the video or read on. (2016-2023)
First let me say thank you for visiting my page and for reading my books. To have fans that love my characters and the worlds I build as much as I do is truly amazing. And I appreciate those readers who have stuck with me all of this time.
Okay...to the point! Burning Ember took me about a year to write and even longer to edit, mainly because I threw out the ending and rewrote the last half of the book. I might also be a little bit of a perfectionist. :)
During that entire process my husband played the role of Mr. Mom at home, and it was a long, arduous journey for us all.
Some maybe more than others... :)
When Burning Ember released my family wanted all of my free time back. Understandable, but my free time had been mostly spent on writing, so I struggled to find balance. I tried to figure out how I could manage writing full time and quit my day job. But that wasn't possible since I was pretty much the breadwinner for my family and my career was just taking off too. I had this career woman and a writer living in my brain and the two warred with each other constantly.
My background also played a big role...
I'd been a single mom before. I'd been through tough financial times then. So, I knew for sure I didn't want to put my family of 5 in a financial situation. I didn't want to be selfish. I wanted to be smart and do the right thing.
My head was bouncing around with thoughts like these for months. Honestly, I nearly had a mental breakdown trying to figure out what to do. I want to be a writer more than anything, but fear (& thoughts of financial responsibilities) got the best of me. When I wrote Burning Ember, I didn't have balance in my life, and I pushed aside things I shouldn't have. I had little kids to raise then too. 100% they should have been my priority over everything else. So, I made some adjustments, and I swore that I would work as hard as I could to put money away for a day when I could retire early from my career and just write.
In the meantime, I would learn my craft better.
Now, I work from home and there are big portions of time I'm not super busy. I have one kid in college and two teenagers who (it seems) never want to spend time with mom and dad. My kids also have Marching Band and Dance three nights a week. My daughters dance studio is 45 minutes away so my husband has volunteered to take her most nights so I can stay home to write.
I've made a ton of changes to my life to make writing a priority. I have also come to fully realize this is what I need, not just want, but need to be doing with my life. My job is great, and I love helping people. Heck...I'm good at it! But doing what I've been doing is not my passion. The path it travels down is not the Yellow Brick Road I want to follow, because it definitely won't lead me where I want to go.
So, with the full support of my husband and kids, I am becoming a full-time writer and making inroads daily to get to the point where it is the only job I will have. I won't fumble financially either. I've aligned my goals and my life to make this work. I've come to a place mentally where I know what I want and I'm going after it.
I have so many amazing stories that I have plotted out over the years. Many I have already started. I can't wait for my readers to discover the worlds inside my head and the characters who live in my heart. Each one is so real to me, and they have been waiting for me to write their amazing love story.
I hope you love them as much as I do.
Sincerely,
Darby
Okay...to the point! Burning Ember took me about a year to write and even longer to edit, mainly because I threw out the ending and rewrote the last half of the book. I might also be a little bit of a perfectionist. :)
During that entire process my husband played the role of Mr. Mom at home, and it was a long, arduous journey for us all.
Some maybe more than others... :)
When Burning Ember released my family wanted all of my free time back. Understandable, but my free time had been mostly spent on writing, so I struggled to find balance. I tried to figure out how I could manage writing full time and quit my day job. But that wasn't possible since I was pretty much the breadwinner for my family and my career was just taking off too. I had this career woman and a writer living in my brain and the two warred with each other constantly.
My background also played a big role...
I'd been a single mom before. I'd been through tough financial times then. So, I knew for sure I didn't want to put my family of 5 in a financial situation. I didn't want to be selfish. I wanted to be smart and do the right thing.
My head was bouncing around with thoughts like these for months. Honestly, I nearly had a mental breakdown trying to figure out what to do. I want to be a writer more than anything, but fear (& thoughts of financial responsibilities) got the best of me. When I wrote Burning Ember, I didn't have balance in my life, and I pushed aside things I shouldn't have. I had little kids to raise then too. 100% they should have been my priority over everything else. So, I made some adjustments, and I swore that I would work as hard as I could to put money away for a day when I could retire early from my career and just write.
In the meantime, I would learn my craft better.
Now, I work from home and there are big portions of time I'm not super busy. I have one kid in college and two teenagers who (it seems) never want to spend time with mom and dad. My kids also have Marching Band and Dance three nights a week. My daughters dance studio is 45 minutes away so my husband has volunteered to take her most nights so I can stay home to write.
I've made a ton of changes to my life to make writing a priority. I have also come to fully realize this is what I need, not just want, but need to be doing with my life. My job is great, and I love helping people. Heck...I'm good at it! But doing what I've been doing is not my passion. The path it travels down is not the Yellow Brick Road I want to follow, because it definitely won't lead me where I want to go.
So, with the full support of my husband and kids, I am becoming a full-time writer and making inroads daily to get to the point where it is the only job I will have. I won't fumble financially either. I've aligned my goals and my life to make this work. I've come to a place mentally where I know what I want and I'm going after it.
I have so many amazing stories that I have plotted out over the years. Many I have already started. I can't wait for my readers to discover the worlds inside my head and the characters who live in my heart. Each one is so real to me, and they have been waiting for me to write their amazing love story.
I hope you love them as much as I do.
Sincerely,
Darby