Welcome Back Daryl Wood Gerber: The Child Within

by Posted on

By Liz, happy to welcome Daryl Wood Gerber back to the blog! She’s talking about holding on to your magic today. Take it away, Daryl!

Do you remember what was truly going on in your mind when you were growing up? Did you have an active fantasy life? I did. I was always making up stories and such. We had a short ledge in front of our fireplace, and I’d stage dances and plays for my parents. When we went on vacation to Lake Tahoe, to entertain myself, I would go to the weir of rocks jutting out into the lake and dance and sing and carry on long conversations with me, myself, and I. I didn’t care if it was in the middle of a rainstorm. I was out there creating and having a blast.

I remember my costume wardrobe was filled with items—some were purchased costumes but most were things like shirts, jackets, pajamas, and hats. My favorite pictures in our family albums (of myself, of course) are when I dressed up for Halloween. One year, I wore my “silky” pajamas to be a genie. I was very alluring.  LOL

And I’m pretty sure, starting at the young age of three, I believed I could communicate with butterflies and dragonflies. I’ve always been fascinated by them. 

So did I believe in fairies, too? Did I see one? Is that why, when I went to the Renaissance Fair and saw my first fairy garden, I simply HAD to make one? Is that why I felt a fairy-like presence in my yard the moment I started putting it together?

It was while making the garden that I came up with the idea for the Fairy Garden Mysteries. I wanted it to feature a woman who’d lost her ability to see fairies when she was young, but then, at the tender age of thirty, she spread her wings and opened her own business, and in the process, came to believe in fairies once more. I set to work immediately, writing an overview and chapters to submit to my agent. I remember him pooh-poohing the idea. It was too fantastical, he said. It wouldn’t sell. 

Well, bah, humbug. Some people will never believe. But I did. I do. I love writing a magical series. Whenever I sit at my computer to create, I feel like a kid again. I hope that my gentle mysteries not only stir the little gray cells by giving the reader a chance to solve a whodunnit, but also encourage the reader to embrace the possibility that magical beings exist and are in this world to help.

What do you do to stir the child within yourself? 

Leave a comment and I’ll give away a choice of any of my books, paper or ebook. 

Bio:

Agatha Award-winning author Daryl Wood Gerber is best known for her nationally bestselling Fairy Garden Mysteries, Cookbook Nook Mysteries, and French Bistro Mysteries. As Avery Aames, she penned the popular Cheese Shop Mysteries. In addition, Daryl writes the Aspen Adams Novels of Suspense as well as stand-alone suspense. Daryl loves to cook, fairy garden, and read. She has a frisky Goldendoodle who keeps her in line. And she has been known to jump out of a perfectly good airplane and hitch-hike around Ireland alone. You can learn more on her website and sign up for her monthly newsletter, where there is always a GIVEAWAY to one (or more) subscribers, a recipe, a bit about Sparky the Goldendoodle, and more.

Published by Cate Conte / Liz Mugavero

Cate Conte writes the Cat Cafe Mysteries and the Full Moon Mysteries. As Liz Mugavero, she writes the Pawsitively Organic Mysteries, the first of which was an Agatha Award nominee for Best First Novel. She lives in the Boston area with her rescue pals.

49 Thoughts

  1. Welcome, Daryl! Your series sounds delightful. I mostly contact my inner child when I’m playing with the real little children in my life and feeling their joy and curiosity.

  2. I think of my friend Debbie and in her memory I like to do some of the things we used to do together but now it’s just me but I think she would approve. Other times I spend with my 3 granddaughters but that is very exhausting. I forgot about at that age that they never stay still. Thank you for this chance at your giveaway. pgenest57 at aol dot com

  3. Thanks for the reminder of youth, Daryl! When my mind gets cluttered or leans toward the cynical views promoted by the daily news, I like to think back to those grade-school days in the librateria (a combo library and cafeteria, complete with that unique sensory overload produced by a mix overcooked food and sweaty kids).

    I’d stretch to pull that science fiction book from the top shelf, no small feat for an under-tall 6th grader. My mind blasted off from this world to the far reaches of space, and I have yet to return.

  5. I love your fairy gardens, such whimsy! As a child, I was always in the woods, building forts from branches, climbing trees and rock walls, and imagining all kinds of adventures. Now, being in nature – walking along trails, working in the garden, or being near water brings up those same feelings of being free and curious. There definitely is magic 8n nature!!

  6. The best thing I’ve ever done to release my inner child was to become a clown. Hubby and I had became good friends with Emmett Kelly Jr. traveling to meet up with him on his clowning gigs. One day he said instead of being behind the camera that we needed to step behind the grease paint. The idea didn’t take immediately, but when it did we went full force into trying it.

    Found that it was not only fun, but extremely liberating to be behind the grease paint. We could return to the fun and innocence of childhood while spreading joy and laughter to others. I can remember the first time we had to get ready and “preform” in public. We were saying in a motel and everything and anything that could go wrong that morning did. I found out why the floors in a motel bathroom are a bit lower than the room itself. It’s so if the floor floods it won’t make it into the main room. I cried and I got mad. Told hubby to go on that I’d be there when and if I could ever get it all together. Sat down took some deep breaths and started over. When I got done, I walked the two blocks to where we were suppose to be. In that two blocks, I met several children and stopped to talk, gift stickers and made a couple balloon animals. The laughter and smiles had me forgetting the bad morning and really enjoying myself. I showed up in the best of moods ready to tackle the world with big shoes and red wig. It took me all of 5 seconds to figure out that if being a clown could make others happy and also make me forget the troubles of the world that I was all in on this adventure. My inner child has won out and I loved it!

    Age and health had us having to hang our clown shoes up, but I still try to capture that feeling and youth with interacting with kids on their level be it with magic, balloon animals, face painting or just being silly. It brings out the smiles on both the recipient and the giver.
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

  7. Welcome back, Daryl! I love how you came up with the idea for this series. And like you, I had a vivid imagination as a child.

  8. Hi Daryl. One of my favorite things to do is look at very old, large homes. I used to work in an area that had been a resort way back in the day. I’d use my lunch time to drive around and look at houses.I love to think about what life would have been like for those people. Some of them were very famous people, so I can find information about them online or in books, but filling in the gaps is the fun part for me. And of course I would imagine myself living in one of those homes now. Sounds kind of silly when I “say” it out loud, but I’ve been doing it for a very, very long time.

  9. Congratulations Daryl. It’s a wonderful book and I enjoyed reading it and reviewing it. I really hope this series is around for a long time to come.
    I have a large Teddy Bear collection. I feel like a kid again when I go into my bedroom and am dusting off the shelves my teddy bears are on. I feel like a kid the most though at Christmas time. It’s my favorite time of the year and I love to decorate my house and my 3 trees inside and one on my front porch, play Christmas music and wrap presents.

    1. Laurie, I have to admit that Christmas time makes me feel like a kid, too. Even when wrapping presents and thinking about the joy that gift might bring.

  10. Welcome! I love your books! I still enjoy reading childhood books I read as a little girl. I have quite the collection now.

    Thanks for the chance!

  11. What a wonderful blog, Daryl! Thank you! I am so in tune with your creative ways to keep the inner child in you and share it with others via your writing talents. I always endorse preserving and protecting your inner child, and I tell this to my grandchildren often…our family has always been creative, several of us are actors (some paid, some like me, volunteers), so you have to be young at heart, and transmit your fantasies to your audiences. I am also an avid dancer, and when I am in a zumba class, I am in a world all of its own. My aim is to bring light where there may be shadows, and I think that your books do just that. Thank you for sharing your writing talents with us eager readers!! luis at ole dot travel

  12. Thank you, Daryl, for another book. I like to either play with my dogs or admire my Teddy Bear collection.

  13. What a fascinating sounding book. I would love to read it. Being an only child, I had lots of imaginary friends. Not so much specific friends with names, but just other kids that I could pretend I was better at doing things than they were. I loved forts under card tables and picnic tables. I would sleep under the picnic table covered with a blanket, in the back yard and pretend I was in the rain forest. When I grew up I did sleep in tents in the rain forest! And I was always imagining I somehow “saved the day” by being just the person who was needed for something. A lot of this is brought back when I”m working in my yard which I’ve made into my sanctuary. Getting old can be fun.

  14. My fantasies as a kid were mostly focused on fictional characters. Of course, I was meeting them and becoming friends with them. Hey, it could happen, right? (No need to enter me in the drawning.)

  16. I like to go for a walk in the woods. It reminds me of doing that with my dad when I was growing up

  17. Fantastic, Daryl! I love the thought of fairy gardens, and yes, I too was a creative child, sometimes even putting dialogue tags in my speech. I’d like to think I’ve held on to much of the magic of childhood. It would be so sad to only adult!

    1. Kait, if you want to hold onto it, you do. It’s those who are afraid of childlike things that stow them in a drawer. Shine, my friend.

  18. Spending time with my Sister brings out my inner child. We have a great time together and do some really silly things at times.

  19. I keep young by playing with my dog, planting seeds and watching them grow and watching the birds.

  20. I ignite my inner child by building dioramas of magical creatures and the homes I imagine them living in. It’s so much fun . I just recently started doing fairy gardens as well because of this series!

  22. I look out our back door to the stray cats and kittens. I love animals. We also have raccoons and a possum that come to visit. I feel like a kid being able to watch them. Thank you for sharing. God bless you.

  23. My young grandchildren stir the child within me! Watching them and listening to them causes happiness within me.

  25. Watch cartoons, go out for ice cream with my kids, and color in a coloring book.

  26. Oh my. I love fairy gardens too! I just mi e up yesterday. It sounds like you had a very imaginary childhood. The other day my grandson was here he was out on the porch talking a mile a minute. I said ‘who are you talking to?’ His answer ‘Me’. Also LOVE dragonflies and butterflies. So beautiful! Your books sound amazing!!

  27. I guess I revisit my childhood when I see photos and remember my imaginary friend and playing one . Thanks for the chance e

  28. I like to re-read childhood fantasy books like The Borrowers. We are going to watch Arriety this weekend,

  29. When I find books that I read as a child or children’s books that I can read to
    My grands or I read children’s books sometimes just to enjoy a nice hood read without having to go in depth. I especially like the Little House type children’s books.

  30. I turn the radio up loud and dance!!! We would dance to Elvis songs and hold the 45 record cover and dance dance dance!!!

Comments are closed.