Bryan Thomas Schmidt's Blog, page 26

Write Tips: Writing The Short Query Novel Pitch

Query letters and synopses are the bane of so many authors’ existence, aren’t they? I dread them and find them quite frustrating. They never seem to elicit the kind of enthusiastic response equal to that I get from my writing itself. It’s always disappointing when readers are loving a manuscript but you can’t agents or  [ Read More ]

#Write Tip: Why Do You Write? Knowing Yourself Is Key

Recently, Writer’s Digest posted a contest based on Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk’s 2006 Nobel Prize acceptance speech in which he addresses the questions: WHY DO YOU WRITE? Now normally I ignore such things, but I’m in a very contemplative mood today. And it’s a very valid question, one I think many writers may not be  [ Read More ]

Write Tip: 7 Things You Should Never Do After Getting Revision Notes From An Editor

Getting a personal response on a story you’ve submitted from an editor is a big deal for most writers. At least those of us in the early years of our career. To have gotten a personal response at all puts you in the elite. After all, writers spend years getting form rejections and some never  [ Read More ]

A Year Ago Today: 1 Year as A Published Author

Well, it was October 4, 2011 that my first novel, The Worker Prince, became a real book. It was published that Tuesday with a listing on www.suvudu.com and some fun announcements, and sent out into the world. In December, the book even made reviewer Paul Goat Allen’s Barnes & Noble Book Club’s Year’s Best Science Fiction  [ Read More ]

10 Self-Help Seminars Few Would Attend

I was talking with my friend Julia the other day after she put up a post on Facebook about “The Hutchinson Kennel Club is hosting an ATT (American Temperament Test) and we need more dogs or the test will be cancelled.” I’ve seen Best Of Show, so I commented: “Maybe they should also test some of  [ Read More ]

Year Two State Of The Blog: Top 25 Posts & Thanks

Well, year two came and went in June, and I was so busy I forgot to stop and reflect. We regularly get 3000 hits a month. Even if I post nothing new for several days, the hits will top 150 in the intervening days, so clearly the blog is developing a reputation for solid posts,  [ Read More ]

Write Tip: Collective Nouns And Impracticality For Writers (aka Word Choice Matters)

An “eloquence of lawyers?” Who comes up with these? Seriously. Have you ever run into collective nouns lists? Some of them are hard to believe. What were they thinking? “A parliament of owls.” “A covert of coots.” “A murder of crows.” (You may have seen the meme on this one.) “A pace of asses.” “A  [ Read More ]

Beyond The Sun Press Release #1

Author/Editor Launches Kickstarter For Dream Anthology Kansas Author-editor Bryan Thomas Schmidt, whose debut novel, The Worker Prince, merited Honorable Mention from Barnes & Noble Book Club’s on their Year’s Best Science Fiction Releases of 2011, had a dream. “Ever since I was a child, I’ve dreamed about exploring the stars. What’s out there? What strange planets and  [ Read More ]

What Is Abraham Lincoln: Dinosaur Hunter? (Includes An Excerpt)

I’ve gotten questions about this since I started tweeting about in July when I wrote and finished my first draft at 13k for this new book. Basically, it’s a chapter book for early readers, ages 6-10, in this case probably aimed more at boys. The idea itself was a collaboration with Jeff Rutherford for whom  [ Read More ]

Science Fiction And Fantasy Books Overflow Sale To Fund Beyond The Sun

Friends, I need your help! Cause: To Help Fund My Beyond The Sun Anthology Kickstarter.  Items are books and DVDs from my personal collection. Most are in fairly good condition. New were bought full price and are marked, others are used. Either way, I am selling them at discounted prices. May be places you can find  [ Read More ]