Ask the Author: Laura Stewart Schmidt
Answered Questions (9)
Laura Stewart Schmidt
I was once fired from a job for not one, not two, but THREE things I had not done--and they knew it. On the surface it appeared that I had priced myself out of the job by getting a Master's degree, and a friend of my supervisor's wanted the job. What if there was more to it than that? What did I know that I did not know I knew?
Laura Stewart Schmidt
He turned and tried to run, but it was too late. The thing had already eaten his legs.
Laura Stewart Schmidt
I would go to "Shoeless Joe" and the Field of Dreams. Once there--watch baseball, of course!
Laura Stewart Schmidt
Well, since summer is just about over, it's a short list...but I am catching up on the cozy mysteries I'm reading to help me with my own cozy in progress. Our local library (St. Louis Public, Buder branch) had a great display of books about books, so I am enjoying "Dead and Buried" by Erika Chase, a mystery about a dead author.
Laura Stewart Schmidt
"Until Proven Innocent" is based on a decrepit old house that my brothers and I explored in Cape Girardeau as children. We discovered several items that seemed out of place in an abandoned home, and being the imaginative kids we were, we speculated wildly on what might have happened to the house's owners. None of our ideas were true, of course, but they found their way into the novel.
Laura Stewart Schmidt
"The Write Way to Die" is a cozy mystery. Melanie is thrilled at the chance to attend her first writers conference at a retreat in Taos, New Mexico. She is assigned to assist a famous agent and looks forward to learning the business from him. But Brandon is awful to everyone, including Melanie. He insults writers, threatens the conference facilitator, and snubs another agent who hopes to be mentored. When he is found dead, no one is surprised. A lot of people could have wanted Brandon dead, but Melanie is determined to find out who crossed the line from wanting to doing.
Laura Stewart Schmidt
The same as everyone else's--write. And write. Take classes. Go to conferences, and don't be afraid to pitch. No one is going to laugh at you. Agents and editors will be kind to you unless and until you do something egregiously over-the-line, like shoving your manuscript under the door of the stall while they're in the restroom (yes, several agents have told that story). Join or start a critique group--mine has been a wonderful source of encouragement and good ideas.
Laura Stewart Schmidt
You get the ending real life isn't always fair or kind enough to provide.
Laura Stewart Schmidt
This isn't near as big an issue as having too MANY ideas. But if I feel stuck, I remember the late Louis L'Amour's classic words--"Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on."
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