Featuring Rich DuBose and David B. Smith
Recently Scribbles talked with David Smith about his creative writing (he's written a number of books that are available on Amazon) and is presently creating audio versions of some of them.
David B. Smith
Scribbles - David, I have known you for over 20 years and our paths have crossed from time to time. I have admired the fact that you are a musician, a mathematician, an excellent public speaker, and a writer. Ha! Let me explain my reference to your math skills. I would not necessarily classify math as being associated with the creative arts, but I'm sure it is in ways I'm not aware of. What impresses me about your math skills is that you have them. I don't. That was my absolute worst subject in school, all the way through college. But hey, somebody has to do it, so it might as well be you.
I want to talk with you about your efforts as a writer. You've been doing it for many years, both professionally and on the side. At what point during your growing up years did you realize you could write and that you actually enjoyed doing it?
David Smith - I blush to confess that two experiences – both offbeat – nudged me toward writing as a ministry passion and also a vocation. I grew up a missionary kid in Bangkok, but at the tender age of thirteen followed my brother Dan to Far Eastern Academy in Singapore. I was a prepubescent geek, a scant 5’ 3” with an admittedly annoying sense of humor. But the editor of “Ripples,” the school paper, drafted me to write a monthly column focusing on that very dribble! He entitled it “Pith From Smith,” and it’s a sorry reflection on the student body’s values that a lot of kids would voraciously feed on my corny jokes. Readers sometimes gripe about an author’s sophomoric comedy, but this was freshmanic badinage of the lowest sort. Years later I bumped into someone who foolishly collected past issues, and I blushed right down to my toes.
More than a decade later and finished with college, I was working at a private publishing company for a guy whose staff cranked out “Planet Earth,” a monthly newspaper for kids in Christian schools. My longtime friend Chris Blake was managing editor, and he invited me to help with the writing. Our main task was to take a wide array of topics and inject sparkle for the typical sixth-grader. Together we cranked out articles, multiple-choice “quizzes,” puzzles, puns, etc. So it was a monthly challenge to stick our tongues firmly in cheeks and then create jokey riffs that would amuse children to the point where they would actually do some reading! I still remember a “pick the right answer” brainteaser defining the word “fetus.” I submitted as a possible wrong response: “What baby birdies in the nest say to the mommy bird.” Stuff like that.
I’ll quickly add that my no-TV childhood spent in Thailand was a huge bonus in helping shape my penchant for writing. I read voraciously as a school kid, at least a book a week. So even though I had scant interest in grammar rules and correct word tenses, I was by default a decent speller and with a solid vocabulary. Thank God for parents who kept the four Smith boys plied with a zillion books underneath the Christmas tree! I later spent a full decade as the head scriptwriter for the Voice of Prophecy radio ministry; it was my assignment to create a 1600-word gospel script every day, Monday through Friday. That was a pleasant blur, right in my wheelhouse, and I was hugely thankful for my decently erudite upbringing in Thailand.
Scribbles - I know you've written for a number of ministry organizations over the years and served as a pastor for a time. You're career has been quite eclectic. But several years ago you started writing a fictional series of books for kids that's available on Amazon. What is that about and how did that get started?
David Smith - That’s a fun one to answer! Obviously, most of us respond best to the memorable stories in a sermon, the poignant illustration. Biblical principles are vital to learn, but hey, we most likely have that “aha” truth sink in through a thrilling tale of adventure.
Again, when I was a kid Mom and Dad did a great job keeping storybooks around. And there was a guy named Bernard Palmer who cranked out – get this – 165 quickie adventure tales for Christian kids. And these were rockin’ good fun: a lot of football and hockey stories, spy intrigue, even a bit of PG-13 criminals-get-busted tales. We had several “Danny Orlis” books given to us, and since our family (Dad, four athletic sons, and an indulgent mom) spent every vacation and weekend golfing, water-skiing, or playing endless softball “workup” (I know, I know, Asian mission service is such a Spartan existence) those books were pure magic for me.
I will acknowledge two deficits, however. Palmer’s plots were well crafted and the football touchdowns exciting enough. But most of the stories did bog down a bit with a persistent dose of legalism. Quarterback Danny Orlis refused to play football on Sundays, and although I admire that commitment, the writing seemed to imply that his salvation was hanging on every moment of obedience. Also, these really good stories were all penned in the 1950s when the height of romantic adventure was to go down to the corner drugstore with your pretty date and share a chocolate malt. So I figured an update was in order!
Over the span of about five years, I thoroughly enjoyed creating ten fun stories in the Bucky Stone series. Bucky’s a goodhearted and athletic kid who’s just become a Christian along with his mom. Dad, no. So while other ninth-graders are heading off to a nearby Christian high school, he’s stuck with the regular public school down the street. Soon enough, though, baseball and basketball and pretty girls begin to fill up the plots! He flubs up here and there, but has a solid grace-bathed relationship with Jesus, and things always turn out okay. By the time he graduates four years later, several of his fellow students have committed to the Lord as well as a result of their friendship with him.
So that was a lot of fun. I plotted out two books per high school grade – freshmen, sophomore, junior, senior – so that made eight titles right there. Then two summer adventures to round it all out; one of the ten stories takes him out to Thailand for a mission trip. Where, of course, he promptly gets lost in the seediest part of downtown Bangkok. Stuff like that.
The actually writing was pretty simple. Most books ran 12-15 chapters, around 40K words. I had a fulltime job back then, so would generally write a chapter each Friday and each Sunday afternoon. Six weeks start to finish! Right now, thirty years later, I’m circling back and turning them into audiobooks, so it’s rewarding to relive the unfolding sagas.
The other fun byproduct is that this series spawned an exciting sequel. Bucky’s sister, Rachel Marie, eight years younger, grew into her own overseas adventure: another ten-book series entirely taking place at a fictional Bangkok Christian School. This is a fully adult series in what readers would call Christian Romance. Mature, gritty stories, and I’m thankful the Lord gave me some poignant tales to unfold.
Scribbles - I've got a feeling that in your retirement you don't have a lot of spare time. Would that be a correct statement?
David Smith - Well, I’m just one year into it, but up till now retirement’s been an ideal blend of leisure and fun projects. Of course, being in a verdant paradise like Newbury Park, California is hard to beat. But Lisa and I have stumbled into a really nice lifestyle that’s comfortably full. I do a lot of walking: an early four-mile loop with my bride, and then a later hilly trek with a long queue of audiobooks. Then, like I mentioned, I spend maybe two hours each day taking past writing projects of mine and converting them into audio format as well. Which is a lot of fun! I just wrapped up a longish time-travel thriller and submitted it to Audible for review, fingers crossed.
I also landed a super fun gig helping coordinate all the praise music at a nearby church where my brother Donald is working. So that’s chord charts and PowerPoint files and then some thumping good rehearsals each weekend. And if you can please keep this final confession to yourself, I do have a penchant for smuggling peanut butter sandwiches and a baggie of tortilla chips into matinee showings of films like “Downton Abbey.” To cap off most pleasant afternoons, Lisa and I enjoy word-type games like Scrabble and Boggle. My winning percentages there aren’t anything to boast about, but I’m losing to my favorite person in the universe, so there’s that.
Scribbles - After a dynamic career of writing on many levels, what tips can you offer to someone who's just starting out?
David Smith - I was hugely blessed to spend about fifteen years where writing was my career! Such gigs are hard to come by in 2025, but I thoroughly enjoyed creating a daily radio script of 1,600 words and then going into a recording studio with the talent and hearing my ideas come to life. The publishing market was friendlier back then, too; I created a series of ten Bucky Stone books (Christian sports-themed teen adventures) and they all enjoyed respectable print runs of around 6,000 units each. But I’ll be the first to concede that markets have drastically dropped off and literary agents have fled to the sidelines, due to the twin threats of Amazon self-publishing and the myriad distractions of social media. A majority of Christian bookstores have just plain gone out of business, and so it’s tougher to have writing be a stand-alone living.
Two realities are always out there. A solid niche of top-talent creativity still rises to the top, and the New York Times bestseller list will always have a Top Ten! There are those whose stories do break through . . . and you might be that person. Secondly, the story of Calvary needs to be winsomely told in new ways, and the Body of Christ does need fresh talent coming along. I hope churches everywhere will recapture the vision of encouraging our kids to read, read, read! A half hour a day immersed in an exciting story where the gospel’s awesome news is a gentle subplot – well, that will always be a winning formula.
I’ve always appreciated how C. S. Lewis, who penned brilliant theological treatises that shook the world nearly a century ago, conceded as much. Most regular folks, he mused, are more likely to grab a rollicking adventure, and then be blessed by the undercurrents of faith placed there by a wise author. Case in point: his seven Narnia tales and then the acclaimed space trilogy that played a nice role in my own journey back to faith.
So for the fortunate few, yes, it can be a career. Those lucky lanes are always out there. But for the rest of us, hey, it’s still a delightful hobby. Most days I sit at my computer screen for a couple of fun hours, then have lunch, and then resign myself to losing a daily game of Scrabble to Lisa. Today’s Dodger playoff game starts at three, so there’s that as well.
Scribbles - Thank you so much for sharing some of your story. Whether it be fictional or true-life stories that are bigraphical, Story writing is an art that makes our lives more meaningful. We wish you and Lisa the best you continue your journey into the future.
Rich DuBose writes from Northern California
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