Success Story: Linda D'Arcy

Once my youngest was off to school full time I decided to pursue a long ago dream of being a writer. I knew about the Writing Institute from a friend, and Sarah Lawrence is very close to my home. I couldn't make any more excuses to not forge a new path for myself. It had been over 20 years since I had written anything more than an e-mail or a thank you note. When my instructor Joelle Sander read my first work Jumping Feet First, she said to me, "You're warm, you're funny, and you're a writer." I think that I started shaking, and then maybe I cried a little. I will never forget those first encouraging words. I haven't missed a semester at the Writing Institute since that first day of class, eight years ago.

This past spring my story, "Waiting for Emily," was published in a literary anthology about Chinese daughters. I wrote this story in one of my early classes at the Writing Institute, and re-wrote it many times for class. I am continuing to publish stories that I write in my memoir classes, and this wouldn't be possible without the support of my teachers and fellow writers at the Writing Institute.