My Journey to becoming an author.

My Journey to Becoming an Author

Ten years ago, I sat down to write a book that had been an idea simmering in my mind since I was just 16 years old. It all began with a single scene that I couldn’t shake, no matter how much time passed. That scene eventually became the rough draft of An Angel for a Ranger. At the time, I was young, broke, and had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I laugh now, but back then, I published it in rough draft form under the title Angel Ranger and quickly followed it with two sequels: The Half-Breed’s Bride and Unconditional Suitor. All three were published in rough draft form. Like I said, I had no idea what I was doing.

When the books were out, I immediately faced criticism. The “English police” hammered me on grammar and punctuation—completely justified, and honestly, quite embarrassing. But the critiques from fellow Christians about how “vile” my villains were or how my characters experienced desire cut much deeper. While I took their feedback personally at the time, I now realize they simply didn’t understand the stories the way I did.

Feeling overwhelmed and disheartened, I pulled every book off the shelves. I hid my head in shame. I knew the stories were good at their core, but I didn’t have the tools, connections, or resources to fix their flaws. For years, I mourned the dream of being an author. Yet, during that time, I poured my heart into raising my family with my wonderful husband, Jerry. I don’t regret a single moment of that season in my life. My children—stairsteps born just under a year apart—were my everything. But as they grew older and suddenly didn’t need me in the same way, I found myself grieving. Who was I without them to mother? What was my purpose now?

It was during this time of mourning that I heard from God, my Father. He told me it was time. Time to pick up the pen again. And so, here I am.

During the process of writing my original series, I had fallen in love with Seth and Sophia (who I originally named Ruby—but that’s a story for another blog post 😉). A decade later, with more experience and wisdom under my belt, I decided to write again. This time, I knew I couldn’t go back to my rough drafts. No, Seth and Sophia’s story needed to be told first. After all, they were the original Rollins of Riverview! Their story consumed me. It felt as though the characters had been waiting for years to tell me their tale. They practically wrote themselves.

This book, A Georgia Princess for an Orphan, has been incredibly personal for me. It’s scary to share something so intimate with the world, to let people peek into the inner workings of my mind. But I refused to let it go until I knew it was as perfect as I could humanly make it. It wasn’t enough for the story to be good—I wanted readers to step fully into the world I had created. I wanted them to feel, smell, and see what my characters experienced. I wanted them to laugh when my characters laughed, get angry when they were angry, and cry when they mourned. I know I did as I was writing them.

So here we are today, just four days after launch day, with a book that I am not only proud of but that I can confidently say is my favorite book. If I had read this book from another author, it would have cemented her as one of my all-time favorites.

There are so many people to thank for this monumental achievement. In next week’s blog post, I plan to do just that. For now, I want to say how deeply grateful I am to my church family, my husband, my children, my parents, and my friends. They’ve cheered me on every step of the way, and I don’t know where I’d be without them!

Thank you for joining me on this journey. This is only the beginning!

With much love,

Daphanie