“I want to be defined by the things that I love. Not the things I hate, not the things I’m afraid of, the things that haunt me in the middle of the night. I just think that . . . you are what you love.”
It’s me, hi!
I’m S.D. Grimm, Author of fantasy and science fiction.
But you can call me Sarah.
I wanted to thank you for taking the time to visit my little corner of the web. I hope you fancy it as a little cottage on Lake Michigan. Sand on the doormat that reads: This is Definitely Not A Trap Door or Here There Be Dogs and Kids or Speak Friend And Enter. Rocking chairs adorn the porch and tea waits in the kitchen.
The place is definitely cluttered with books and papers full of drawings and ideas. Dogs sprawled on the couches, beach towels drying on chairs, empty Harry Potter or LoTR or Star Wars mugs on every table, full bookcases instead of wall paper, and kids being encouraged to embrace their creativity.
But it’s a warm house—warm with love.
I’m defintely more of a “tell me about yourself” kind of person, but since you came here to learn about me, I suppose it’s only fair I share some things about the road less traveled that I’ve walked for a few decades.
(I tend to share more about myself and my creative journey in my newsletters, so feel free to connect there too!)
once upon a time
Or, as they say in Ireland, fado fado . . .
There was a girl—we’ll call her Sarah plain and short—because on the outside, I was quite the wallflower. I followed the rules and stayed shy, keeping my secrets tight to my vest. But inside, my INFJ mind was filled with vivid imagination and story, and almost everything I saw, heard, or read ended up the pixie dust that gave my imagination wings. And as I watched people around me trade in their wonder and awe for more serious things like quitting daydreaming or pulling their heads from the clouds or shelving flights of fancy, I decided that I would never properly “grow up.” Not if it meant severing a very real, living part of myself from my very soul: my imagination.
So “story” became my magic.
My vehicle for adventure. My open field of freedom. A passionate endeavor, which called all the children on the block to look to me and ask, eyes sparkling, “what are we going to play today?” And I’d reach into my mind and pull out a fully-formed world of possibility. A place we could be like the Knights of the Round Table or Robin Hood’s Merry Men. We could be a pack of magical wolves or princes and princesses who fought dragons—no tamed dragons!—anything we wanted to be. And I didn’t realize this at the time, but looking back I see that the other children always looked to me for the “what’s next” in the story we were writing from dawn until dusk in a wood-chipped playground where the playscape became our tree house or pirate ship or haunted castle in an enchanted forest.
They looked to me as the teller of tales. The weaver of wonder. The storyteller.
And that was a great honor to me.
she dreamed of being a story weaver
“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine, and at last, you create what you will. ”
and she met a handsome prince
And I suspect we will live happily ever after, even though there will always be bumps in the road. My Captain America and I have three amazing children and (currently) three dogs.
He isn’t a creative in the same way I am. His brain is wired for the work he does—financial advising—and he tells me he’s not creative. But I can see creativity enough to know that it comes in many different forms. And to be able to puzzle together knowledge about finances is a creative thought process that I don’t possess. He’s accepted that. And he’s accepted me with all my dreamer’s dreams and writer’s wonder and dog-lover’s desire to have all the puppers. We balance each other nicely. Funny how God has a way of working those kinds of things together.
He’s been there through every book contract. Every failed query letter. Every edit, revision, story idea, and book review. He’s my rock.
And as it happened in many stories, it did so in this one as well: she fell in love.
professional bio
S. D. Grimm’s first love in writing is young adult fantasy and science fiction. That's to be expected from someone who has been sorted into Gryffindor, checks the back of every wardrobe, and isn't much taller than a hobbit. Her patronus is a kitsune, her spirit animal is eevee, and her lightsaber is blue. Sarah is the author of six published books and agented by Steve Laube of the Steve Laube agency. She loves helping other creative writers through SmartFox—her author services business. She believes that with a little faith, a lot of love, and an untamed imagination, every adventure is possible. That's why she writes. Her office is anywhere she can curl up with her laptop and at least one foxlike dog. You can learn more about her upcoming novels at www.sdgrimm.com