About

Thanks for stopping by my website.

I’ve been writing stories since I could pick up a pencil. I made comic books with my brothers. I wrote love songs. I authored a play at sixth grade summer camp. Essay questions were my favorite part of tests.

School was my refuge during a difficult childhood. Eventually I earned a bachelor’s degree in communication studies from the University of California.

After college, I worked in advertising at the local newspaper. Later, I married, became a mom, and started a home-based secretarial service so I could be available for my son. Now I’m an administrative professional. Through it all, I’ve used my writing skills to further the interests of my employers and clients.

It wasn’t until I had finished the most important job of my life — raising my son through a humiliating divorce — that I began to take my writing seriously. I launched DarlaMcDavid.com, but before I decided to focus on publishing my work, I authored two blogs: Darla Writes, a blog for new writers that shared what I was learning about the writing life; and Afternoon Tea, where I gained confidence in my writing skills by putting my stories “out there” for the world to read.

After several starts and stops over the years, and discovering a hack on my website, I redesigned and restarted this site in April 2021.

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As a writer, I aim for thought-provoking fiction and creative nonfiction with an emphasis on family, friends, goodness, and God. I also write poetry when the mood catches me. You’ll find categorized samples of my work on the home page.

My favorite novel is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Reading that novel always leaves me in a joyful, hopeful, uplifted, and profoundly moved state. I wish there were more novels that could do that to me without my having to cringe through and be disturbed by graphic violence, sex scenes, and profanity. Or sugary romance and picture-perfect endings.

I’m working to write one of those novels because I think there are other readers who have the same wish as me. Are you one of them?

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Aside from writing, my favorite things include time with my family, reading, the Los Angeles Dodgers, teaching children, classical music, avocados, chocolate, photography, gardening, coffee & tea, and pleasing God through my Christian faith.

Click here for my contact page.

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