Daisy Danielle Davis

I have started a new book. Don't freak out! The Robin Hood series is still in the works and things are moving along nicely. I hope to bless the world with one Robin Hood a year for several years to come.

Yet I did start a new project. And I am having a blast. :)

The book shall remain nameless...because it honestly doesn't have a title yet.

This book has so far been a great joy to write! I find myself laughing and smiling the whole way through. The book was born via Facebook (don't laugh) when my co-authoress  and I were discussing a car. Yes. We were talking about a car. And we ended up bringing to life the beginnings of a tragic love story.

Do not ask how a discussion about a car turned into a tragic love story...these things just happen.

I will, because I am feeling very generous, tell you that this story is about a girl named Daisy Danielle Davis.

"I was born twenty years ago in the beautiful, bustling town of Dublin. And no, I'm not Irish. My parents were on a holiday."

And that's all you get. :)

"Because, Reader, I was There"

Today I've been contemplative. I've come so far with Robin Hood...and it feels like it has all happened very recently. Which it has, actually. I began writing Lucy's Legend-A Robin Hood story in September of 2013! And oh how it has changed in the time since then.

I pulled out my very first manuscript of Lucy's Legend. Handwritten on notebook paper. Scribbles and notes in the margins...it's beautiful. :) I sometimes forget that the original version of the story was told so differently than the way the final product was. Did you know (no, probably not, but I'm going to tell you) that I originally wrote Lucy's Legend as one big long letter from Lucy to the reader. She was defending her claim to correct history books because, reader, she was there.

"It was many years ago, but my memory serves me well. Who could ever forget Robin?"

Whenever anyone doubts Lucy she feels the need to remind them she was there. And for the parts she wasn't there she was told the stories by many different people. Dusty, Will, Little John, Much, Allen, Ida, even Sir Guy of Gisbourne. And of course she has Robin's own word that she relies on.

It's amazing how different that first manuscript is. And yet, it also  amazes me how the same it is. Seriously! So many aspects...the phrases, the characters, the dialogue...it hasn't changed one bit! There are so many scenes that are precisely the same from the first manuscript to the last.

To borrow a phrase from C.S. Lewis, I believe I have been writing the Robin Hood series in a "white heat of inspiration."

Here's to the rest of the adventure!

Once Upon A Time

"Now then, what is that phrase you use? Ah, yes...once upon a time..."

That, my lovely readers, is a quote from a movie I love (Ever After) and it's a quote that always sends shivers down my spine. I can't quite put my finger on why. But something about those two sentences give me a shiver of excitement, anticipation, suspense, joy.

Once Upon A Time.

I've never actually started a story that way. Usually my books, whether my Robin Hood series or my African Grace series, start with an elderly grandma type telling someone her story. But that phrase is somehow still dear to me. It's almost like it's a part of my family.

Once Upon A Time.

So much potential in that phrase. It's nearly as good as Happily Ever After. (and yes, I have used that cheesy phrase in my books)

That simple phrase though, it ignites my imagination. I don't need any details. Just "once upon a time" and suddenly my imagination is running wild with dragons and princesses and quiet stay at home moms. The possibilities are endless! How can such four little words set a fire inside my head? But they do. Every single time.

The bottom line is, I love that phrase.

Once Upon A Time...

There was a simple young lady who loved to write and had more friends inside her head and worlds to escape to within her imagination than any one person ought to be allowed.

Once Upon A Time...that simple young lady was me.

Love Letters

Doing a Psychology assignment. Writing letters to loved ones as though I were going to be dead within the week. Saying all the things that need to be said...

That sounds incredibly dramatic. But honestly? I don't have horrible grudges I need to forgive or really any deep dark secrets that need to be confessed. So guess what I am saying?

I love you.

All of you. My amazing family, my incredible friends. The people who have been with me through everything and the people who have only shared a small part of my life.

I love you.

I don't think I really have the will power to sit down and write a love letter to everyone that I love. There are too many people on that list....I would be writing those letters for the rest of my life. Seriously.

But I do want everyone to know that I love them and appreciate them. Everyone I know has touched my life in some manner, great or small, and my dearest wish/hope is that I was a blessing to all of them.

There are too many of you to name, because you have all meant something to me. But just in case you haven't realized it yet, this is for you:

I love you!