Category: spirituality and creativity
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Lessons Learned While Narrating My First Audiobook
Honest to goodness, I considered the project several times and told myself outright, “I can’t do that.” I was aware of telling myself, “I can’t do that,” which I don’t like to do. It’s such a self-defeating thing to say. And yet, I did it anyway. I told myself I couldn’t narrate an audiobook. To…
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Practicing Impatience and “The Monk’s Knife”
“Her friends used to make fun of her for even thinking she could smell power, but she could, and she smelled it on him.” – from “The Monk’s Knife,” a Cake & Pewter story My new cozy fantasy serial is here! “The Monk’s Knife” will publish in two parts on Substack starting today. It will…
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On Rest and Enough: Books I’ve Spent Time With Lately
How much effort is enough? How much attention? How much “success”? Leading up to the publication of my recent novel, Kohelette, I couldn’t help but be aware of all the publishing professionals said a successful author should do to launch a book. The pitches, the marketing, and the business of it all stayed in my mind well…
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Join Me in Celebrating Publication Day
Kohelette: A Novel came out this past Wednesday. I’m beyond thrilled! Advance readers may have had the novel for a while already, but I’ve still relished sending it out into the world more broadly, first with a recent excerpt appearing in The Polk Street Review 2026 and now with this past week’s publication. There may…
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What We Are To Each Other Sticks: On Kohelette and the Power of Memories
What we are to each other doesn’t go away. Our people don’t go away. And that changes everything.
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Yarns and Yams: On Enjoying What My Loved Ones Enjoy
“I’m trusting that these shared meals are accomplishing, or may yet accomplish, something with good in it. Perhaps, at the very least, they’re a start.” – from “Yarns and Yams” Now that we’ve reached the month when many families in the US gather for Thanksgiving meals, I’m sharing this reflection I wrote earlier in the…
About the author
Callie J. Smith writes about women who, like her, are finding themselves. Her stories and essays explore everyday things like hope, creativity, and grief.
GIVEAWAY! During the month of August, enter to win a free review copy of the author-narrated audiobook edition of Kohelette. Click here to enter.
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Callie J. Smith 