Laurie Stroup Smith's Blog

I’m excited to share that my publisher is releasing The Pocket Quilt Series as a digital boxed set! The Pocket Quilt Trilogy will be available through online retailers on September 26.

Loved by teens and grandmothers alike, The Pocket Quilt Series by Laurie Stroup Smith is now available in one volume. The set contains three heartwarming stories centered around faith, hope, and forgiveness.

Discover the special role the treasured pocket quilts play in each sweet story as Smith’s realisti...

I didn’t intend to have a gap between posts in this series, but the past five weeks have been BUSY. Our older daughter graduated from high school at the end of May. This celebration was followed by the associated parties, end-of-the-year awards ceremonies, preparations for both girls to spend a week at Young Life Camp, an anniversary road trip with Travis, my mom’s move across town, college orientation, and an increase in my involvement as a volunteer at Cincinnati Therapeutic Riding & Horsemans...

In this seventh and final edition of the Back in the Saddle Blog Series, we will hear from Sandy, the mother of one of the riders I have had the pleasure of getting to know while volunteering as a sidewalker at Cincinnati Therapeutic Riding & Horsemanship (CTRH). Please join me in welcoming Sandy to the blog.

I have had the pleasure of volunteering as a sidewalker at Cincinnati Therapeutic Riding and Horsemanship (CTRH) for the past two years. During this time, I’ve worked closely with friend and fellow sidewalker, Joan Lenczicki. She is the one who connected me with those who run the Miniature Horse Outreach, and I will be forever grateful. You can read more about that program here. Please join me in welcoming Joan to the blog.

I hope you are enjoying this Back in the Saddle blog series as much as I am. The series will continue over the next few weeks with interviews of individuals who serve in a variety of roles in equine therapy and equine-assisted therapy programs. Have you missed the previous posts in this series? You can read them here. I recently had the pleasure of talking with my friend and fellow Cincinnati Therapeutic Riding and Horsemanship (CTRH) volunteer, Leslie Hancock. Join me in welcoming her to the bl...

Welcome back! This is the third post in the Back in the Saddle Blog Series. If you missed either the introduction or the piece about Mini Horse Outreach, I invite you to read them here.

Today, we’re talking with Anora Snyder, Program Director and PATH Intl. Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor at Cincinnati Therapeutic Riding and Horsemanship (CTRH). Please join me in welcoming her to the blog.

Hey, Anora! Thank you for taking time to chat. How did you get started in equine thera...

In my last post, I introduced a new blog series about equine and equine-assisted therapies and explained the significance and relevance of these programs to my writing. The Back in the Saddle Series will continue over the next few weeks with interviews of individuals who serve in a variety of roles in such programs. I learned about Cincinnati Therapeutic Riding and Horsemanship (CTRH) in August of 2020, when the wonderful people at Hospice of Cincinnati’s Blue Ash Inpatient Care Center arranged ...

The familiar idiom “back in the saddle” means to return to something after an absence; to make another attempt after failure, interruption, or setback. I only published one blog post in the past year, and I haven’t worked on a manuscript since last spring. But as the Public Relations Officer for our Band Boosters, I have been writing a considerable amount in the form of press releases, weekly newsletters, and social media posts.

This month, I celebrated my two-year anniversary as a sidewalke...

Diane Craver, Shelley Shepard Gray, Cathy Liggett, Mindy Steele, and I are compiling a list of fun questions we will answer at our Panel Discussion and Signing event next month. There will be giveaways and books for sale!

Do you have questions you’d like to hear us answer? Send those questions to Laurie at lauriestroupsmith@gmail.com.

Please note registration is required. Registration opens on Thursday, September 8 at 10am. We hope to see you there!

The post Amish Fiction Multi-Author...

Author Tracy Fredrychowski recently invited me to be a guest on her popular “Buggy Talk” Podcast. We talked about writing, fiction, and The Pocket Quilt Series, and I read the first chapter of my most recent release Pockets of Peace, the third and final book in the series.

In case you missed the conversations we recorded to celebrate the releases of the first two books in the series, you can listen to our discussions below.