I have big plans for this website and its associated sites (Facebook, YouTube, etc) but part of the initial set up was to create a logo that people could associate with this website and its mission. After some tinkering and beta-testing, it is ready.

I have included the three-word motto of the Green-Walled Treehouse below the logo. These three words have been the path that a lot of my own life has followed, but that is not why I chose them. I haven’t explained before what they mean for this site, so I will now.

Explore

This site is primarily meant for kids and teenagers and I want it to be a place where they can read a very wide range of stories and get a lot of new ideas: to explore experiences beyond their own and possibilities they have never considered. It is intended to be a window on a whole range of different worlds. If that sounds ambitious, it is. I want to aim high.

Imagine

Of course I want people to read my stories, but the mission of this site goes far beyond that. My vision is that this will be an interactive place where kids can imagine their own story ideas: to take their own experiences and unique ways of thinking of things and come up with ideas that only they could think of. One way I do this is through Story Seeds, where kids can suggest story ideas that I will write about. I do this to show kids that their ideas are valid and as a stepping stone to writing their own stories, as well as because it’s fun. There will be other ways to get the reader involved too. My dream is that the Green-Walled Treehouse will be a conversation, not a lecture.

Create

The ultimate goal of this site is inspire and create young writers and artists who can grow up believing in themselves and in their ideas and seeing the world in a much broader way. If I can inspire just one child to view the world with wonder and develop their own unique creativity, will that be enough? No, but I will count that a good day and try for at least one more the next day.