Daydream Believer, Darlene Foster

Hello readers of March House Books. I am delighted to be a guest author on one of my favourite blog sites!

For as long as I can remember, I have needed to be around people. They energize and inspire me. When there are no people around; I simply make some up. It all started when I was a young child living on a ranch in the Canadian prairies. Surrounded by never ending sunshine, a huge blue sky and tons of wide open spaces to wander around, I lacked someone to converse with. My parents were busy working hard, and who wants to talk to little brothers. I named my teddy bears, gave them personalities and created adventures for Ted, Teddy, Toostie and Elvis, in my head. It wasn't long until I began to make up other imaginary characters and situations. My parents called me a daydreamer, and I guess I was. 

Elvis, Ted, Teddy, & Tootsie

Once I learned to read, I felt like I had reached nirvana. In between the pages of a book lived entire worlds of people for me to meet. I read everything I could get my hands on. I would beg my hardworking dad to stop what he was doing and take me to the library in the city, thirty miles away, to get more books.

Darlene on her dad's truck

My grade three teacher, Miss Roll, recognized my thirst for travel and adventure, and my ability to make up stories. She encouraged me to read at higher levels, to write my story ideas down and to travel to other countries someday. She read to us from The Bobbsey Twins adventure books and I loved them. I so wanted to be like the Bobbsey Twins and travel all over the world. She presented me with a copy of The Bobbsey Twins in Mexico at the end of the school year for being an outstanding student. I treasured that book and still have it!

         Darlene and Miss Roll                        Bobbsey Twins (Darlene's original copy)

Not surprising, years later, I traveled to interesting places and eventually wrote down some of my stories. My writing took me back to my early days wandering around my dad’s ranch, sitting on a large stone in the middle of the prairies, making up characters in my head and giving them problems to solve and adventures to experience. I thought I had a boring life back then, but now I realize those where the seeds planted that eventually helped me become a published author. The opportunity to daydream was a gift.

The lonely prairies

Do I believe in daydreams? You bet! I don’t think anything has changed. Kids (and adults) still need time to daydream in order to exercise their mind and create. And they need to be surrounded by books, lots of books. My hope is some will read my books and become inspired.

Neil Gaiman said, As an author, I’ve never forgotten how to daydream.

Darlene Foster is a writer of children’s stories, an employment counsellor, an ESL tutor, a wife, mother and grandmother. She loves travel, reading, shoes, cooking, music, chocolate, walking on the beach and making new friends.  Her grandson calls her “super-mega-woman-supreme”.  She was brought up on a ranch in southern Alberta, Canada, where she dreamt of traveling the world and meeting interesting people.  She lives on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada with her husband Paul and their black cat Monkey. She has authored a series of travel-adventure books, Amanda in Arabia – The Perfume Flask, Amanda in Spain – The Girl in The Painting, Amanda in England – The Missing Novel and most recently Amanda in Alberta – The Writing on the Stone. Readers from seven to seventy enjoy travelling with Amanda as she unravels one mystery after another. Darlene still daydreams!

Her books are available on Amazon

Website: www.darlenefoster.ca

Blog: http://darlenefoster.wordpress.com/

Thank you so much Darlene, this was such an enjoyable read, and I loved seeing all your photographs. I’m sure readers of my blog will enjoy this every bit as much as I did. Barbara 

Darlene's New Book Cerdito a juicio is now available at