If you’ve lived in Early for very long, you have probably had some sort of run in with Danny Allen and we can confidently say that it was a good encounter. Danny is a Sanitation Crew Chief for the City and is responsible for driving a trash truck Monday through Friday from 7 am to 4 pm. He’s been known to grab people’s trashcan’s when they forget to put them out and will always go the extra mile to stop and say hello to the kiddos that get very excited to see the trash truck come by.
“I came to the City of Early in 2019 after I retired from teaching in May.” Said Danny Allen
Danny, spent 29 years in the school system working as a math teacher, substitute, bus driver, coach and a school counselor. He spent the last nine years of his teaching career at May High School as a counselor. Two years before he retired, Danny decided to begin writing a novel.
“I had always wanted to write a book and I would always tell my dad, ‘Hey dad, write a book.’ And he didn’t but I thought to myself, ‘well, it seems like maybe I just need to write a book.’” Danny Said.
Danny also says that writing doesn’t come easy for him, which may be expected coming from a math teacher. It took him 3 and a half years to write the book and one year and a half to revise and edit the book for a total of 5 years working on the novel.
“I felt great when it was completed. To give you an idea of how excited I Was when the book finally came in, I literally chased the UPS driver down because I couldn’t wait to get my hands on them.” Danny said.
The novel is titled Dilly Dally with a subtitle that reads “Cowboys, Cops and Murder in a Small Texas Town” and according to Danny, that perfectly summarizes his novel.
“A murder has happened in a small town in Texas, a rural town of maybe about 3,000 people in a sparsely populated county. You have a rookie cop that really wants to prove himself by solving the case and a little love interest comes along for him and you’ve got your locals that find themselves involved in some way or another. There’s also a working theme of cows and roping because I write about things I like.” said Danny.
Danny said that since writing doesn’t come so easily for him, writing a novel was a goal that he gave himself a long time ago. So, to finally finish that goal, feels great.
“It definitely gave me a sense of accomplishment, I did it all on my own. I had someone help me revise and edit it, including my daughter in her senior year. In fact, she took the photo of me that you can find on the inside of the book.” Danny said.
People are already asking Danny when he will be writing a sequel to this novel but right now, he is basking in the relief of having finished his first novel. He did mention that he left the story a little open ended just in case there was a chance that people liked the story. Judging by the comments from others, we’d say that people definitely enjoy the novel.
If you would like to shake Danny’s hand, have a conversation and receive a signed copy of Dilly Dally, he will be available at Los Trece from 5pm to 10pm where he will be having a book signing during Los Trece’s Fall Market Days.
Additionally, you can purchase his novel by going to this link here:
Dilly Dally - Cowboys, Cops, and Murder in a Small Texas Town | eBay