Why Imagination Matters—and You Need Allies
We wanted to make a place we would want to visit and read, and be encouraged and inspired to serve our families better. This was, and is, a golden rule project.
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Explain Up, Don’t Dumb Down: Why Little Kids Need Big Words
…we need a clarity that serves people for life, not only for the moment.
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Make Believe Makes Believers
My son plays happily. He flits easily between two worlds: the world that is and the world he imagines. His conversation assumes the extraordinary. His play is an adventure in make believe. How like faith. Perhaps nothing is more like faith than play. This “admission” would no doubt make Christians raised in an era of…
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The Archer’s Cup is Here
View this post on Instagram The Archer’s Cup is here! Book THREE of the Green Ember Archer trilogy is much longer, and takes a turn never explored before in my Green Ember adventures! I am so excited to share it with you. #RabbitsWithSwords #GreenEmberArcher #SDSmith #WVauthor #MGlit #kidlit A post shared by S. D. Smith…
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It Is What It Is, But It Is Not What It Shall Be
It is what it is. I read it on a cubicle wall. It’s a country-craft sign with large, cursive script, a script to make one curse. Words to echo the curse. The sign is made to look like it was made on a farm, but it was made in China. And not on a farm…
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A Time To Embrace…Artists: Pandemic Patrons, Assemble
It’s extremely noisy out there, I know. I feel it. It seems like, on top of the news and toilet paper memes, everyone is launching online solutions and online classes and online everything. It’s often generous and sacrificial. Some of it is because artists and others are scared and don’t know what to do. On…
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Think Small and Carry On
Scholars agree that the Crane Technique, if done right, cannot be defended. Mr. Miyagi pointed this out in the Eighties and it’s since been tested by roughly every single one of the humans who were boys in that era. I refer, of course, to that cinematic masterpiece, The Karate Kid. After I saw that movie,…
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Moving the Turtle
Editor’s Note: Here, from the archives circa 2012, is gem worth re-reading! My daughter knows I’m thinking about her because, every night, I move the turtle. Let me explain. One night our family watched a documentary about the life of a sea turtle. Afterwards, their little plastic toy turtle (named “Sparky”) became a focus of…
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Interview and Free Audio Story from Author and Green Ember Editor James D. Witmer
I was delighted to sit down in the Forge with editor and author James D. Witmer to talk about his role in editing The Green Ember Series (including an interesting detail about Lord Rake) and his new book, A Year in the Big Old Garden. And I’m delighted to share that James is giving away…
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A Big Old Interview With Author James D. Witmer
EDITOR’S NOTE: James’ short-story collection, A Year in the Big Old Garden, releases for Kindle today! SW: You are the managing editor at Story Warren and have skillfully edited many books (including The Green Ember Series for me). How is writing your own book different from editing and what from your editor skillset has helped? JDW: I…
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Anticipating The Right-Side-Up World Through Imagination
An old man kneels by a fire, telling imaginative tales to eager children. They hang on his every word, transported from their world to another. Their world is beautiful, but broken. He speaks words into their hearts, words that string together to form new worlds, anticipating the one which will surely come. These are the…
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C.S. Lewis’s Wonderful Letters to Children
There are so many reasons to recommend, C.S. Lewis: Letters to Children, a book both my (then) 8 year old daughter and I enjoyed immensely. Here are a few, in no particular order. 1. In all the letters, he treats the children he is writing to with great dignity and respect. This will not surprise…
