Mary Schmidt

Posted On February 6, 2020

What lead you to write?

I have written bits and pieces since grade school. I hung up my registered nurse hat in January of 2013, and I found myself with time on my hands. My youngest son, Sam, had a cancer battle and passed at age five in 1990. Since I had journal notes that detailed this part of my life, and my boy’s lives, I decided to put my journals into electronic form for my living son, Gene. A multi award-winning memoir came from that, When Angels Fly, written using pen names of S. Jackson & A. Raymond, and changing of all names and places. That was a huge project and is an epic length book, on sale right now for $0.99.

What is your preferred genre to write?

Illustrated children’s books are my favorite. From that another multi award-winning book, The Big Cheese Festival, a book about bullies was written and a book dealing with good touch/bad touch, Suzy Has A Secret, was written. At that point, we went to books involving squirrels and a small dog. We have wild squirrels come into our backyard, and my husband started to leave them walnuts and bell seeds. One squirrel, Stubby – aptly named as he had just a stub of a tail and he became brave when the nuts were all taken. Stubby took to standing up on his hind legs on a ledge outside a picture window. He let us know he wanted more nuts! The squirrels are still wild, as we would never dream of taming one, but they did become fodder for an illustrated children’s book series, Shadow and Friends, and each book is fine as a stand-a-lone.  

What is one major struggle you have with writing?

For my epic memoir, editing was hard and since I lived that traumatic time in my life, I never had fresh eyes for the manuscript.

What has been one of your strongest inspirations for a story?

My children, grown now – both on Earth and in heaven, and the wildlife in our backyard. I have a new book out, Sammy: Hero at Age Five written from the point of view of a five-year-old little boy. It’s perfect for older kids on up and writing from that perspective was challenging. 

What advice would you give to someone trying to start building their platform and market their work?

Make social media accounts and start to build your brand while building up your audience.

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Website: https://whenangelsfly.net/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MMSchmidtAuthorGDDonley

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaryLSchmidt

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mschmidtphotography/

Art Gallery: https://www.deviantart.com/mschmidtartwork

Amazon Page One: https://www.amazon.com/S.-Jackson/e/B013NRRKR2

Amazon Page Two: https://www.amazon.com/M-Schmidt/e/B07QFG6ZB7