Dragonlance – Dragons of Deceit
Dragonlance. That is the title of one of my all time favorite series. My aunt gave me Dragons of Autumn Twilight for my 16th birthday and little did I know it would be the best present I ever received from her. This book clicked with me like very few books ever had....
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Teacher Resources
It’s almost Halloween. Time for the ghosts, ghouls and goblins to pop out of the woodwork and invade our towns. Usually for the candy. Along with all the typical activities, it’s a great time to read some classic horror. Of course, kids have Goosebumps and...Cowriting with ChatGPT
A great author friend of mine, J. Thorn, has written a book called Cowriting with ChatGPT. It is part of the Three Story Method that he and fellow author, Zach Bohannon, created. The entire series is great and super helpful when writing. If you ‘re stuck, check...Parents & Readers
Discover the Magic Join us at the at live events and dive into a world of adventure and imagination with our collection of fantasy stories. We offer specials during live events. Perfect for middle grade readers! Unmissable Stories Captivating Tales Await S.A....Parents & readers
Discover the Magic of Town Magician Join us at the Kecksburg UFO Festival and dive into a world of adventure and imagination with our collection of fantasy stories. Perfect for middle grade readers! Unmissable Stories Captivating Tales Await S.A. Schneider’s...Supercharge Your Kids – Part 03 – Life Expectancy
This entry is part 4 of 4 in the series Supercharge Your Kids Part three for Supercharge Your Kids. The next problem to add to what our kids are facing is their life expectancy. It has steadily been going up, which sounds like a good thing. But, as discussed in the...Supercharge Your Kids – Part 02 – Inheriting the World
This entry is part 3 of 4 in the series Supercharge Your Kids Part two for Supercharge Your Kids. Our kids are facing problems that past generations have never had to face. The towers fell. They’ve missed years of school because of COVID. And now our world has...Supercharge Your Kids – Part 01 – The Problems
This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series Supercharge Your Kids Part one for Supercharge Your Kids. So let’s talk about the problems that our kids are facing. Not just our kids, but our educators, our parents, we’re all facing this problem, but I don’t...Supercharge Your Kids – Intro
Hello and welcome to this new series about a talk that I’m doing. This is tentatively called Supercharge Your Kids. It is a talk I’ve given a couple times. Basically, it is about how we aren’t preparing our kids for the way the future world will be...
What to do with old books – Part 2
Like many authors I wrote a book and proceeded to order a ton of copies. Everyone will be buying it, so I need dozens, right? Then, also like many authors, I got a bit better and fixed that book to a 2nd edition. Now, I’m stuck with dozens of books that I...
Choose Your Own Adventure 3 – Paths
Creating the Story Even though a CYOA story can have many paths and wind all over the place, starting with a complete story can help students wrap their head around how to do this without getting overwhelmed. As probably happened in the earlier exercise, it is very...
Story Crafter – Logline GPT
Logline for your manuscript I wanted to share a writing resource with everyone. I created a GPT to help craft a logline. This is intended to be a simple and friendly chat to help you create your own logline for a story you are working on or planning. This is a great...
What to do with old books
Like many authors I wrote a book and proceeded to order a ton of copies. Everyone will be buying it, so I need dozens, right? Then, also like many authors, I got a bit better and fixed that book to a 2nd edition. Now, I’m stuck with dozens of books that I...
Present Pile-Up – The Elf Game
It’s chaos in the North Pole. The head elf is retiring and Santa needs a new head elf to keep the presents flowing to the kids. Who will it be? Present Pile-Up is a family card game where each player tries to prove they have what it takes to be the head elf by...
The Valancourt Book of Victorian Ghost Stories
I talk quite a bit about the telling of ghost stories at Christmas. This is a tradition that I want to see revived. One thing I do is write a Christmas story every year and some are ghost stories. Because the tradition was most popular in the Victorian era, most of...
Email Newsletter December 2023
It’s Christmas! I can totally relate to Elf and want to scream this every year. Whatever holidays you celebrate this year, I hope they’re magical! I love this time of year and look forward to decorating and the music and all the activities! Have some fun...
Newsletter Email October 2023
Welcome to Post-Halloween! I hope everyone read something good and scary! Just because Halloween is over, doesn’t mean you can’t read scary stories. I mean, ghost stories on Christmas Eve used to be a tradition. Stay tuned for more on that. If you’re...Christmas Ghost Stories
There are many traditions at Christmas time. Putting up the tree. Decorating. Making Christmas cookies. There is one tradition that is no longer in favor that I’d like to bring back.. Christmas ghost stories. In the Victorian era, during the darkest days of the...
Free Public Domain Christmas Stories
I love Christmas! It is so magical, especially when it snows here in Northeast Ohio. And when it’s cold and snows, it’s time for Ultimate Hot Cocoa and reading! Every year I read Christmas Carol and then on Christmas Eve I read Night Before Christmas to...
Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson
I’ll say right off the bat – I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. I read many young adult books. There are a couple reasons for this. Many times, the stories are more interesting than most of the ‘adult’ books. This could be because...
Town Magician Rasmundle Recipe
In the story Clarise and the Night Show, Samual gets to eat Rasmundles. What are Rasmundles you ask? They are a delicious treat in Samual’s world that he doesn’t get until Clarise gets him one. Since we don’t have Rasmundles, we can make something...
Why teach video game storytelling?
Video Games I have lived with video games my entire life. Got an Atari 2600 the year it came out and had 10 games! Trust me, in 1977 that was a big deal. Back then, video games were a minor form of entertainment, mostly for kids. That is no longer the case....
Gran Turismo Movie Review
Review The Gran Turismo movie is more than a racing movie and it’s more than a video game movie. There are many reasons to like this movie. The director Neill Blomkamp did a fantastic job. Yes, the movie is based on a video game, but the subject isn’t...
eSports with Bio Med Science Academy
On my Discovered Wordsmiths podcast, I recently interviewed a couple coaches for an eSports team. I have been excited and telling more parents about eSports, and here’s why. 1 – video games are bigger business that movies and pro football combined. This...
Interview with Evan Skolnick on Video Game Storytelling
Video Game Storytelling with Evan Skolnick Discovered Wordsmiths Podcast Besides writing, I also run a weekly podcast called Discovered Wordsmiths. Each week I interview new authors and talk about this books. One interview that is relevant to video games was my...Newsletter Email – Sept 2023
I want to welcome everyone to a glorious fall! I do so love the Ohio colors during this time of year. It can be inspiring, plus we’re getting into my holiday favorites of the year – Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas! I watch scary movies, spend time...Choose Your Own Adventure 2 – Getting Started
Getting Started Creating These Stories  Before we get started creating a Choose Your Own Adventure story, we need to get familiar with the genre first. Time for a trip to the library. Take your students and check out various different types of these books. As...
Tristan Strong punches a hole in the sky
ï—š Divi Favorites: Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky Almost everyone should know Rick Riordan. You know, Percy Jackson. So popular. I love Riordan (don’t tell anyone, I think I like Riordan’s writing more than the writing of that Harry guy). This...
Writing Exercise: Blue Beetle Movie Story
Recommended Grade Level – 5+ Blue Beetle is the most recent DC movie out that I’ve seen. There seems to be quite a bit of online talk about the movie being a failure. Forget that. This is a fun movie that I thought was well done. It’s definitely...
Oddish Questors Fan Picture
Oddish Questor’s Hunter by Gianna Many of you have heard me talk about my wolf, Hunter. How he’s a big, goofy, sweet boy. He is also going to be part of the upcoming Oddish Questors series. At the recent Cuyahoga Library roundtable, I had some pictures...
Choose Your Own Adventure 1 – What and Why
Remember Choose Your Own Adventure? Remember the Choose Your Own Adventures books? These were the ones that you made the choice of how the story progressed. That meant each book was full of endless stories! Well, that isn’t quite true, but it sure seemed that...Discovered Wordsmiths: Avyan Shah – Writer
I want to introduce a young writer by the nae of Avyan Shah. At the age of 8, Avyan wrote a True/False fact book about anatomy. This was part of a school project that he turned into the start of a great career. On top of that, any money he makes is donated to his...Newsletter Email – May 2023
Hey all, I wanted to touch base with everyone in the hopes that we can meet face to face and chat sometime in the next couple months. I will be doing an author visit on Thurs May 18 at Southeast primary schools. If your kid attends, I hope to see them there. May 27th...Imagination Inspiration: Rewriting C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis is a popular fantasy writer. He was a contemporary of Tolkien, but his books were more aimed at kids. I’m sure everyone has heard of “The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe”. I remember reading this book when I was a kid and then read it to...Newsletter Email – February 2023
Hello [FIRST NAME GOES HERE], Greetings once again. I wanted to shoot you a quick email to mention a writer’s festival happening this weekend. If in Northeast Ohio, Main Street Ravenna and Reed Memorial library are hosting a cool writer’s festival...Newsletter Email – Feb 2023
Do you even remember who I am? Quick reminder – my name is Stephen and I write middle grade fantasy under the name S.A. Schneider. My first book in the Town Magician series, Embracing the Magic, has recently been re-released. You may also have some other stories...Illustory: Part 3 the Finished Product
I got my published book back. There is a problem with the cover, but that is more my fault. The video shows the book and I talk about what I like about it. If you’d like to see it at Lulu Jr – go to https://lulujr.com, click on Orders in the top menu, and...Illustory – Part 2 : The Kit
The Illustory kit contains more than just the template pages. Inside you’ll also find markers and a guidebook for writing your story. Opening the kit The booklet starts off with brainstorming ideas, talks about writing the story and even includes helpful tips on...Illustory – Part 1 : Intro
Illustory is a package offered by LULU Jr. to allow kids to write a story that can be turned into a book. Lulu is an online service that allows authors to create books from their manuscripts. They aren’t a publisher and your book isn’t offered in Amazon or...
Books a Go Go – Pop Up Bookstore
A friend of mine runs a unique bookstore – Books a Go Go. It’s designed as a pop up bookstore that she can setup in businesses or at events. She features new books – including mine – and brings books to the people and gets new books in front of...
The Halloween Tree – Ray Bradbury
Today’s journey will take us through history. AH! I can already hear the kids screaming. But this is the history of Halloween as written by esteemed author Ray Bradbury. You might know Bradbury from Something Wicked this Way Comes. He is well known as a sci-fi...Winter Writer’s Festival – Ravenna, Oh
I was fortunate to be involved with the 2021 Winter Writer’s Fest in Ravenna, Oh. This year it was virtual, but we had a good time being remote. In the class I taught, I worked with kids to help spark their imaginations and help them make creative stories. We...
Stranger things have happened – Jeff Strand
If you’ve read any of my other reviews or gotten emails, you know that I love the writings of Jeff Strand. For me, he’s that author that just clicks. His style is always perfect – humorous and quirky. But, Mr. Strand usually writes for adults. Most...Riverstone Books – Pittsburgh, PA
This is a nice bookshop near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. There’s a lot to like about this bookstore. The best thing is that the staff put index cards on the shelves for recommendations. That’s always nice when the people that work at the bookstore can give...
Last Exit Bookstore – Kent, Oh
I’ve been going to Last Exit Bookstore since they opened. We haven’t had a used bookstore in our area for quite a long time, so it’s nice to have one close by. They opened close to KSU and catered to the college students – but they have changed...
Books in Stock – Wooster, OH
https://booksinstock.net/ Books in Stock home page https://www.facebook.com/BooksInStock From the sidewalkLooking in through doorinside is bigger … 🙂 Books in Stock (Wooster, Oh) is one of those bookstores that you just can’t help but browse forever. They...The Twilight Zone – Season 2 Episode 29 – The Obsolete Man
The Twilight Zone has become one of those pop culture phenomenon that has well surpassed its original expectations. Started in the early 60’s as an anthology show that would explore sci-fi, fantasy, horror and mash those together each week, it has lived on into...Paperback Shack – Niles, Oh
This is a nice little bookstore, and it’s in an area that doesn’t have many bookstores. I’ve been wanting to visit because the owner used to do writing classes (which she may start doing again). When I stopped, a girl was there getting her senior...Jeff Strand
First, a bit of a warning – Jeff Strand is not a MG writer. His focus is on horror, and a lot of comedic horror. But I think his writing is ok for a lot of kids. Read on and decide for yourself. When I was 10, I started reading Stephen King, and he remains one...
Cupboardmaker Books – Enola, Pa
I’ll make this easy – this is one of my all time favorite bookstores. Ever. ‘Nuff said. If you are in the Harrisburg Pennsylvania area, it is definitely worth a detour to get to this store. They have SOOOOO many books. And lots of books that I...
The Dragonlance Chronicles
For my 16th birthday, my aunt gave me a fantasy book. She really had no idea what I liked or what this book was about, she just knew I read a lot and that this was a new and hot book. Turns out it was one of the best birthday presents I ever got. The Dragonlance...Prime book box
Parents, remember the days of Columbia record club? Maybe you don’t. How about Book of the month club? If you don’t know what I’m talking about, the book of the month club would send you a new book every month. You would tell them what types of books...Fan – Fiction and Art
The final battle with Morzul Liza Jane
The Pushcart War by Jean Merrill
This is one of my all time favorite books, but it’s probably one that most people don’t know. In The Pushcart War, we journey back in time to the early 1900’s. Cities are bustling and filling with cars and trucks. Still, there are vendors selling out...
Sizzle – Lee Mclain
First, full disclosure – I met Lee McClain several years ago. She and another author were talking books. I didn’t know either of them were authors and jumped in with my 2 cents. 🙂 Anyway, found out she writes christian romance, which isn’t a genre I...
German village book store – Columbus, Oh
Don’t you just love to walk into a book store? All the possibilities! And even better, is when you go into a bookstore that has quite a bit of atmosphere – you know, the kind that just calls to you and draws you in. Books are fantastic travel companions....
Call of the Wild – Jack London
Let’s take a journey back in time, to the gold rush of the late 1800’s. Let’s go, not to warm California like you may think, but further up north. In “Call of the Wild” you’ll visit the frozen area’s around Alaska and Canada,...
Call me Scrooge
Every year at Christmas, I try to read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Not only is it a ghost story, but it’s a great message and has a meaning that I think we all understand. The change and redemption of someone. It’s a fantastic book that lets you...
Scary stories free in the public domain
I hope those of you reading this blog also like to read other stories. Why would you follow an author if you didn’t like to read, right? 🙂 Through the years I have read quite a few books and one of my favorite genres is horror. Ever since I was a kid I loved to...
writing exercise
There are many ways to improve your writing. The first, and most obvious, is just to write more. With more practice you should get better. Part of that process is to get feedback from others. What we think we are writing is not always what is coming across to others....
Justice League movie – story fail
Have you seen the Justice League movie? If you haven’t, it’s pretty good, you should check it out. It’s supposed to be DC’s answer to the Marvel multi-movie universe. That’s a whole different discussion and not what I want to bring up...
The Haunted Forest Tour – Jeff Strand & James Moore Fan Fiction
I’ll tell you a quick story before I tell you a story. I sometimes review audiobooks. Some are good, some aren’t as good. I try to be fair, even if it is a book I personally am not enjoying or it’s a genre I don’t read much. On occasion,...Dr. Time
This was a short story I submitted on Reddit for a writing prompt I found on the Reedsy writing prompts: https://reedsy.com/writing The prompt was: The doctor gave you six months. You lived through it, one year has passed. Not surprised, he then gave you one year;...
Get to reading – the Great American Read
Have you heard of the Great American Read? Sponsored by PBS, this documentary special is a celebration of reading. There are 100 books on the list, and you can vote for your favorite. There will be 1 winner based on these votes....
Writing with balance
Many writers, including yours truly, struggle to write not just well but the bestest words. See that, I need to edit that. It’s very difficult to write out what you want to say. Sometimes you write the most perfect thing, then get disgusted when you read it...
They say we need a writing prompt, not a revolution
When my kids were in middle school, they participated in a program called Power of the Pen. A group of them would meet once a week after school and work on writing. At the end of the year, there was a contest amongst multiple schools. During the day, the kids would be...
Ramblings like Stephen King
One of the writers I have read a lot of is Stephen King. Starting about age 10, I have read almost everything he has written. The Shining is one of my favorite books of all time. One reason for Mr. King’s popularity may be his comfortable, aw-shucks tone at...
Liza Jane Sketch
This is the first sketch I have of one of my characters, Liza Jane Drawn by Maegan Schneider –Â https://he-mei.deviantart.com/
Manga for everyone
I recently came across something that has me completely intrigued. I was at the Cleveland Wizard World Con in the Manga/Anime area. I normally am not a manga kinda guy, but I wandered in. Looking at the one table, a young lady started to tell me what they were about...
Reading a Christmas Carol
Every year at Christmas, I read A Christmas Carol by Dickens and also Skipping Christmas by Grisham. If you’ve never read A Christmas Carol, you should. What other ghost story do you know set at Christmas? I discovered Skipping Christmas because I really like...
First weekend writing
Who wants to write? Many people have ideas for stories or want to write a novel. Most of those people never will. You probably have friends that keep saying they want to write, but they never had. Maybe you are one of those people also! I was one of those people. I...Town Magician
Small local towns are protected by magicians. This is the story of one magician’s rise and his adventures. Join Samual, Rory, Clarise, Toby and Cat as they face trials together.
