René Schmidt

René's Blog 

After four years of being a youth centre director and a recent semester back in the classroom teaching a high school Drama class I now have an opportunity to get back to some serious writing...

and that means...  Oh yeah, got to clear some snow with my new blade on my old tractor, or oops, I haven't finished that trim in the basement...I'd better work on that...  or working on this website (did I leave a comma out?) or feeding the birds, or the cat, or looking out the window...

(Sigh...)  Just get to it!   

Currently I am reworking three manuscripts for young adult readers and one collection of short stories for adults.   

"Dan, Time-Boy", about a young man who finds a magic watch that allows him to change time. It helps him achieve many things he would never be able to do on his own. Through use of the watch he begins to understand his friend Charlie, who lives in poverty and has an autistic younger brother. The watch begins to take hold of Dan in an addictive way. Of course there are other drawbacks, dangers, adventures and regrets. This manuscript was pitched to another publisher last month. I pray for success.    

Escape The Mine is a dramatic adventure / murder mystery set in a small town and a working shaft mine. Adrian's father, a mine shift boss, disappears after going underground alone during the midnight shift when the mine is mostly empty. What Adrian doesn't know is that his dad was gathering evidence about a theft ring. When the mine management is unable to find Adrian's father, alive or dead, Adrian sneaks into the mine after midnight through a little known entryway.  Adrian's girlfriend insists on coming with him and it is a good thing she does. This manuscript is basically complete. I pitched it to a publisher in December of 2018. Wait and see. 

TOP TEN  Is a mature content story about an undersized young man named Syd who has the gift of singing. He ends up entering a national televised singing contest. Unfortunately, Syd's manager is not at all what he seems to be and Syd becomes a victim of abuse at the time of his greatest triumph. This high-interest low-vocabulary novel is for high school or mature middle school readers only. I am pitching this and also writing a musical / drama production based on the story for a touring theatrical group.   

BUDGETVILLE LESSONS  For fourteen years I developed lessons (Fletchville) depicting real-life monetary problems and income decisions for students at elementary school levels, based on a genius idea by a first-year teacher, Aileen Fletcher.  I am pitching this to a major school resources publisher as a guide and year's worth of lessons for classroom teachers of multiple subjects.  

While visiting schools I can read from these manuscripts if requested. 

For adult readers I am also working on a series of humorous short stories. Some of these stories are many years old and several have already been published in magazines or in Hill Spirit III by Blue Denim Press.  I hope to produce a book-length manuscript of these short stories but completion is still a long way off. Some of the stories are only written in my head, and that's a pretty cluttered place.