Happy to have author Darlene Foster back on the blog today with a guest post. She writes the  Amanda Travels adventure series and today Darlene is here to talk about something I do so, so often--daydreaming! 


Daydream Believer by Darlene Foster
 
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt
 
As long as I can remember I have been a daydreamer. Daydreaming has kept me from being bored, lonely and unhappy. It has also been responsible for me accomplishing many of my goals. Many of them started as a daydream.
 
Being around people energizes and inspires me. If there don’t happen to be any people around, I make some up. This began when I was a little girl living on a ranch in the Canadian prairies. Surrounded by never-ending sunshine, a huge blue sky and tons of wide-open spaces, it was a wonderful life. However, I lacked people to talk to. My parents were busy, working hard to earn a living, and my little brothers were only babies. So, I gave my teddy bears names and personalities. I created many adventures for Ted, Teddy, Toostie and Elvis. It wasn’t long until I began to make up other imaginary characters and situations. My parents called me a daydreamer, and they were right! 
 
Once I learned to read, I felt like I had reached nirvana. In between the pages of each book lived new worlds and 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. I made up continuations of the story after I closed the book and created alternative endings. I dreamt about the characters and the places they had been.
 
My grade three teacher recognized my thirst for knowledge and adventure, and my ability to make up stories. She encouraged me to read at higher levels, to write my stories down and to travel to other countries someday. She read The Bobbsey Twins adventure books out loud to us and I loved them. I so wanted to be like them 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!
 
Not surprising, years later as an adult, I did travel 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 actually a gift.
 
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 that some will read my books and become inspired to travel the world and write stories.
 
“As an author, I’ve never forgotten how to daydream.” ― Neil Gaiman  
 
Thanks so much for inviting me to be a guest on your blog, Krysten.
 
*Always a pleasure to have you on!-KLH
 
 Bio
 
Brought up on a ranch in Alberta, Canada, Darlene dreamt of travelling the world and meeting interesting people. She always loved to tell stories and was encouraged by her grade three teacher to write them down. She is the author of the exciting Amanda Travels adventure series featuring 12-year-old Amanda Ross who loves to travel. Readers of all ages enjoy travelling with Amanda as she unravels one mystery after another in countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Spain, England, Germany, Holland and her own country, Canada. When not travelling herself, Darlene divides her time between the sunny Costa Blanca of Spain and the west coast of Canada. Darlene still finds time to daydream!
 
Her latest book, Amanda in Holland: Missing in Action was released September 2019.Her books are read the world over. They are available on all Amazon sites and wherever good books are sold.
 
Amazon author page https://www.amazon.com/Darlene-Foster/e/B003XGQPHA
 
Some links where you can find out more about Darlene and connect with her
 
Website: http://www.darlenefoster.ca/
Blog: https://darlenefoster.wordpress.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DarleneFosterWriter/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/supermegawoman
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darlene6490/
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3156908.Darlene_Foster 

I’m working on another book for the Cecily Taylor Series and since it's a series about a girl who loves music, I have been trying to listen to some new music for inspiration. As you know, I’ve been inspired by so many great artists for the past two books, so I thought I’d share what’s been inspiring the scenes for the new Cecily Taylor book. These songs relate to both the Cecily character and Andrew Holiday (the indie pop star character) as well.

First, the new Mac Miller album was JUST released and what I’ve heard so far is really moving. I was actually going over interviews he did for inspiration the very week he died. I got inspiration from him (and George Michael—among others) when creating the Andrew Holiday character. I still remember someone messaged me that he had passed and I literally had three tabs open on my computer with interviews of him. It hit me like a truck. Honestly, I haven’t been able to listen to much of his music since then because that was pretty jarring, but today I went on YouTube to listen to some of the new stuff and “Circles” is amazing.

 Another song on repeat right now is from Lana Del Rey. I always loved the “Young and Beautiful” song from “The Great Gatsby” movie and I happened to be reading the blog by a girl who  mentioned an album by Lana she loved so I put I went over to find a couple of the songs on YouTube and it's so mellow that it's completely chilled me out—and you know that's quite a feat for me! I’m a little ball of anxiety trying to pass as a person. “13 Beaches” is the song that I keep listening and it's inspiring me right now with a scene I’m writing this series. It’s a song that I can see from the point of view of both Cecily and Andrew, so it’s really motivating me right now with this new chapter in the book.

I’m also listening to a lot of Matt Pokora as he’s become a new influence for the series (spoiler alert: there might be a new character coming…ahem…) Okay fine, there’s a new character coming and that’s all I’m saying (You guys are going to freak out when you read this next—no, no! No more spoilers!) Just stay tuned…

Moving on…I’m loving some of the new Selena Gomez album (haven’t listened to it all yet tho). It’s very raw and honest and I love vulnerability in music. “Rare” is so good.

I also love the new one from MaRina, called, “News.” You guys might remember that her “Flesh and Bone” song inspired me in writing parts of, In Over Her Head: Lights, Camera, Anxiety, as we have Cecily dealing with the glare of the new spotlight on her after being in a music video and with her new modeling career as well as what the other more seasoned models (Scarlett and Neneh) go through. I really love this song.

George Michael has always been a major inspiration for this series, so I’m always playing something of his. There’s also some Lauren Daigle on here and Taylor Swift and Shawn Mendes.

If you have any song recommendations you think fit the series then put them in the comments because I’d love to check them out!

Anyway, here’s a sample of the playlist for book three for you guys to check out as I’m working on it. Check out my Cecily Taylor Series playlist here:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5KrzuYCNQlb0nrWzF3AI3f
 
Find the series here:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0832XD65B

Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/author/Krysten-Lindsay-Hager
 
 

I have a new interview after winning the Literary Classics award for Landry in Like. You can find the interview here: 
clcreviews.blogspot.com/2020/01/author-spotlight-krysten-lindsay-hager.html

And see the book review here: clcreviews.blogspot.com/2018/11/landry-in-like-earns-literary-classics.html