Tag: friendship
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On Health Challenges and Inner Hospitality
“I like the idea of having compassion for the different parts of myself and my experience, feeling different on different days and accepting each of those days as they come. In practice, though …” I live with a chronic health condition, and I’ve only ever made a provisional kind of peace with that aspect of…
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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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Autumn Memories and “The Fodder Shock Maze: A Short Story”
“This was the fun part. I reminded myself of that. At least, it used to be the fun part. Mazes gave me all the chances I needed to get where I was going.” – from “The Fodder Shock Maze” Do you have a favorite part of autumn? I have trouble narrowing it down to one thing, myself. I’m a…
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The Book Accident: On Absence, Presence, and Grief
“I’m tempted to call it a mystery the way a person can be gone and yet not be. Perhaps it’s one of those things a person makes peace with never fully figuring out.” – “The Book Accident” I’m pleased to share my recent essay The Book Accident,” which appeared in the Gals Guide Anthology: Female…
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All Those Who Wander: The Spiritual Practice of Walking
I could have driven to the coffee shop. I’d have stayed warmer and drier. But that wasn’t the point. The point was that it was time for a walk. So, inside heavy wool coat, hat, scarf, and mittens, I set out on foot into the swirl of damp snowflakes. They stuck everywhere: on my nose,…
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On Joy and Summer Trees
Are there memories whose goodness has surprised you? Though not a poet, I took a workshop earlier this year which involved writing a poem that explored the divine through joy. Inspired by the vividness of Li-Young Lee’s sense-awakening poem “From Blossoms”, I tried writing about a kind of remembering moment that has taken me by surprise,…
About the author
Callie J. Smith writes about women who, like her, are finding themselves. Her essays and cozy fiction (contemporary and fantasy) explore everyday things like hope, creativity, and grief.
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Callie J. Smith 