All an author asks for is a chance. A chance, and the worshipful adulation of millions and the affirmation of our stubborn fathers and skyrocketing sales and awards and parades and magnificent statues looming before grand institutions named in our honor. We are a modest bunch. When I wrote The Green Ember, I genuinely just wanted a chance. I wanted a try-out, to use sports terminology (my … [Read more...] about You Held My Heart
New Green Ember Merch is Here!
Thanks for buying my new book! Would you consider grabbing some merch? I love our shirts. They really are super soft and high quality. We work hard to keep them lower priced for families like ours who need to get good deals on things. We have three options! My son Josiah (14) is the main designer of the new Fight Back shirt and logo, while Zach Franzen once again executed the … [Read more...] about New Green Ember Merch is Here!
You Drink Your Coffee & You Go To War (Fight Back!)
I see you as heroic for the way you love and serve your children and I see myself as an ally in your work. Thank you for letting me in on the adventure that is serving your precious kids! I wrote this Fight Back essay as an a encouragement to you. I hope it is inspiring! Consider sharing it with friends you are fighting back alongside! Every day you show up. You drink your coffee and you go … [Read more...] about You Drink Your Coffee & You Go To War (Fight Back!)
Mountaineers Are Always Free Sometimes
Home, boy,It’s just some soil and sky,Strange that it can get,Its hooks into my ribs.And make me feel so,Unfashionably loyal,To mere sky and soil.It’s just rocks and rivers,It’s only an auburn autumn forest alive with dying fiery bursts of orange and gold, great swaths of spectacular hills and hollers nestled in gorges and (usually) green—green going on and on and on for miles and mountains, … [Read more...] about Mountaineers Are Always Free Sometimes
Why Read Rabbity Adventures During a Pandemic (and a Sickly Contentious Election)?
I wrote a book this year in the midst of a pandemic that has taken life and, adding injury to tragedy, divided friends and families. The book is being released at the height of an election that feels like the political equivalent of an infectious disease, once again dividing friends and family and laying bare our worst idols. Why read about rabbits with swords at a time like this? C. S. … [Read more...] about Why Read Rabbity Adventures During a Pandemic (and a Sickly Contentious Election)?
The Archer’s Cup Preorder is Open!
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. Preorder yours today! The first 1,000 will be signed! … [Read more...] about The Archer’s Cup Preorder is Open!
New Green Ember Archer Adventure Announced! Cover Reveal!
Available for preorder only at SDSmith.com/store beginning on September 22, 2020. Do you like the cover? Can you or your kids name the characters who are with Jo Shanks? Pop over to Facebook and/or Instagram and tell me. I'm going to pick some folks who get it right to win something! We'll announce winners at our Facebook Live Online Author Event. Get in here. And … [Read more...] about New Green Ember Archer Adventure Announced! Cover Reveal!
Slumping Sunflowers
Slumping sunflowers in our victory garden,I understand. How well?I hope you never know. Like them I will fade away and take,The memory of all my pain,Safely away from you. And all will someday be,Peaceful and unafraid and,Flourishing forever. … [Read more...] about Slumping Sunflowers
Crying at Stories
Did I write something that made you cry? Good. If, while crying, you dreamed of becoming more than you were before you were reading, very good. If it’s a spark in your heart and then tears come, good. If it’s laughter, I am glad too. Tonight I cried after receiving, in a film, the work of a man’s art. It worked itself into my heart. I made commitments then, jotting them down through … [Read more...] about Crying at Stories
A Crooked Tree
I like this common, crooked tree. It’s already poetry. Doesn’t need a thing from me. It shows and tells us,Everything. But writers make words,I guess,Because we cannot bend,And rise,And bloom,And die inside the fire,Of a family making s’mores. Still, for us, storytellers all,The sparks fly up,And bends will come,And sadness seeps,Into all our songs. Until both we and trees,And Everything,Are … [Read more...] about A Crooked Tree
A Tapestry Behind
The conspiracy of goodness that has been my life,I recollect in silence.For once my frustrated sighs are quieted,In holy reverence.Gardens grow on graves. The true New World is my home and hope,This shadow I have seen,And loved and hated all my life will,Only be a place I’ve been.When beneath my vine, I fear not. So the terror that now threatens me,Is only another day, I find,Another chapter … [Read more...] about A Tapestry Behind
Seeds and Harvest and Minimum Wage Writing
The words from the screen grab and the picture are many years apart. During the time of that post, I was working very hard (battling discouragement constantly) and planting seeds. The picture below is a little evidence of the harvest that God provided later. I’m happy to say that I now make more than minimum wage writing. Seriously, that is a gift. I still can’t spell very well. (Perhpas … [Read more...] about Seeds and Harvest and Minimum Wage Writing