James D. Witmer is the author of A Year in the Big Old Garden (a collection of children’s stories celebrating backyard wildlife) and serves as managing editor for StoryWarren.com.

As a boy, James wanted to be a policeman. Well, he wanted to be Batman, but he would have settled for city detective, a ranch-town sheriff, or a deep-woods park ranger. This all comes from his love of outdoor adventure stories by Wilson Rawls, Jim Kjelgaard, and Louis L’Aamour (and many others), and eventually led him to a BA in English literature from Grove City College.

James counts reading, bird-watching, and gardening as his hobbies. He lives in a big old house with his lovely wife, three terrific kids, and a fuzzy pet rabbit.