Deanna Roy

Six-Time USA Today Bestselling Author

Apr 9, 2008

Bluebonnets Now and Then

Deanna / Writing /

I am probably getting near the end of bluebonnet season (although my newest patch is pretty packed with blooms still, and I’m shooting Sunday.) If you’ve waited to call, it’s your last chance, as I think most of them will be gone by the end of next week.

I took my very first bluebonnet baby shot a very long time ago, when I was pregnant in 1998, by taping a sonogram image to a bluebonnet. I was so jealous of everyone nestling their little ones in the blooms that I couldn’t wait! It’s a good memory, before the bad ones came, and I still have the photo framed on my wall with bluebonnet shots of the girls.

My next baby, Emily, arrived at the tail end of bluebonnet season in 1999. I dragged her out into the bluebonnets for a squinty unhappy newborn picture–but yes, I had it! My baby in the state flower!

Elizabeth arrived just after bluebonnet season in May 2002, so by the next year, I was ready for a spectacular shot. I had seen many professional images by then, and I knew exactly what I wanted. This was a stellar year for the blooms, and they prolifically filled a spot in Zilker Park. We did an amazing shot of Emily’s entire playgroup joining hands, and I also snapped the one of Emily and Elizabeth laughing at the tea table.

The next year, Zilker mowed the field and it didn’t bloom at all. Then they began using it as a shortcut, so tire tracks wrecked most of the blooms. While this year wasn’t stellar, they were enough that I returned to that spot to take portraits of the girls.

Those blooms waned quickly, so I’m not using it for others at this point, but I have always loved the trees at the edge of this patch and it is a good memory for me!

I’ve felt very honored to take so many family bluebonnet portraits this year. It’s is such a wonderful tradition.

The Trail to Rom Com Land

I’m known for my ugly-cry books. I’ve always landed on the dramatic end of the scale, which has served me well for my biggest bestselling books like Forever Innocent and Baby Dust. I’d written a few rom coms here and there, almost by accident. (I’m funny? No. No one thinks the Queen of the Ugly(…)
Seizures, daughters, and books that matter

In the life of an epilepsy mom, the longest minute of your life is the one when your child stops breathing. I’ve been through it more than once. I’ve seen Elizabeth turn completely blue on the floor of a restaurant. I’ve dried her off, shivering, after seizing in a downpour at Disneyland. I’ve snatched her(…)
Forever Innocent, 7 years later

Late last year, I was contacted by Radish, a reading app for phones, asking to publish a long serialized version of my series that begins with Forever Innocent. With six books, they told me, I would have a successful run with their readers. So in January, we began the process of breaking the books into(…)
On My Friend John J Asher

Sometimes the people who become your best friends are who’d you expect. The kid your age who ends up living next door. The neighborhood family expecting a baby the same time as you. A coworker you laugh with at lunch. But then there are the ones who are only on the periphery of your life(…)
New year, new pen name!

I haven’t written a Deanna-book in a while, as I’ve been focused on branded pen names that write very specific types of books. The Sweetest Match and The Perfect Disaster both take place in the fall of 2018 in Applebottom, Missouri. The two books can be read in any order and are completely standalone. You(…)
The Little Dude Book is here!

I’ve never had a book more people have asked for than this one! A couple years ago, before we adopted Little Dude, I typed up the very first conversation between him and Elizabeth. We were out walking, hoping to find a good spot to view the super moon. It went like this: Eliza: Look at(…)
Forever Christmas, my rainbow baby book, has arrived

It’s here! My mission to help grieving moms through story has come to its conclusion! The rainbow baby is often the end of the grief journey, even though losing a child to miscarriage or stillbirth or infant death is forever part of your life story, one that will create feelings of sorrow at unexpected moments(…)