Bryan Thomas Schmidt's Blog, page 60

AUTHOR TIP: Making Perfect Bound Arcs With Create Space

After almost a year, nine drafts, two independent editors, a series of beta readers, two critique groups, and a few rejections, I was tired of looking at the word file that was my novel's manuscript. I still believed in the story and characters and felt good about my writing though. Both the professional editors I'd worked with and the betas had raved at about, as had my crit group members. I'd polished and polished. But still had not achieved what I wanted -- holding the finished book in ...

Review: Ken Scholes' Antiphon

http://torforge.wordpress.com/2010/07...

When I discovered Ken Scholes' Lamentation, it was on a TOR ad inside the front cover of an issue of The Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy last fall. Being a man of faith, the title immediately caught my eye. But it was when I saw Orson Scott Card's recommendation that I knew I had to read it. Card wrote: "This is the golden age of fantasy, with a dozen masters doing their best work....

Ignorance On Parade

I had a semi-known author tweet me back about a question with the following: "I think if u r a Republican 2day, given the state of rhetoric coming from your party, then by definition, yes. You're a bigot." Ayelet Waldman, author of Red Hook Road and Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes is someone I followed because I saw an interesting interview with her where she spoke about the balance between work and motherhood. I thought she'd be interesting. Needless to say, after this ignorant...

Busyness

I haven't written more than 1000 words in a month. Shocking considering how productive I had been before that. But between editing a friend's novel, critiquing for my group which I was way behind on and still am, moving, job interviews and other responsibilities, I just have not been able to focus enough to sit down. I also started this month as a reviewer for Tangent Online, so busyness is my life.

My goal though is to get Sandman's first draft finished by mid-September or at least in time...

Climate Change

I have never discriminated against or hated anyone in my life intentionally. Despite my life long religious views, I have always interpreted them and applied them with compassion. For example, I once served at a camp with gay students. When the students found out I was Christian, I got persecuted as a gay basher just because of it. Even though I'd never treated them different than any other students, they refused to accept anything but total agreement with them.

In high school, I carried ...

My love story with Story

Recently my buddy Ken Scholes blogged about the impact his favorite movies had on him and I realized I should probably do the same. Because movies and TV have hugely impacted not only how I tell stories but the kinds of stories I like and the fact I even have and want to tell stories.

You may or may not know I went to film school at Cal State Fullerton and graduated in 1992. I then spent four years working for a documentary film company and shopping spec scripts and screenplays. I did have ...

An Open Letter To My Fellow Christians

Dear brothers and sisters,

As I run into people like Anne Rice alienated by the small minded antics of many so-called believers, I now find myself dismayed by the outcry of believers against this Muslim center in New York. It's two blocks from Ground Zero, not on Ground Zero, and I don't get the moral outrage. After all, this is not an Al Queda training center. Al Queda, as a reminder, are Muslim extremists responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Muslims, on the other hand, are often k...

An Open Letter To Anne Rice & Those Wounded By The Church

As I read your statements about leaving Christianity, I see people who have been hurt by the church as you have. I have been in ministry for almost 20 years and have been hurt by the church every year of that. I recognize that it's the fallible, sinful people who cause the pain though, not the institution. The institution is as imperfect as the people who form it, but that doesn't make the institution broken or invaluable.

God calls us to fellowship and tells us he brings blessings throug...

Cultural Numbness: Since When Did It Become Funny To Joke About Rape?

Had a friend whom I really like a respect who couldn't get why I didn't think he FB link to a YouTube video of a rape news report set to song wasn't funny. For one thing, my mother was date raped, which is how I was conceived, and as happy as I am to be here, I don't think rape itself is funny. For another, it makes fun of the whole ghetto culture, and while I do think some people may choose to live in that culture, a lot of people are stuck there. I found the idea of mocking it, especiall...

The Challenge of a Dual Culture Nation

I've spent a lot of time traveling and working cross culturally. In fact, since I'm married to a Brazilian, my home life is that way, too. I've been doing a lot of thinking about the conservative v. liberal antagonism dividing our nation these days, and it occurs to me that part of the problem is we have two cultures living side by side: a Christian culture and a secular culture.

The Christian culture believes in traditional values which once formed the moral compass of our nation. These w...