George S. Smith
Smith started his newspaper career at 18 and owned his own paper (a start-up weekly in Maud, Texas) at 19. After more than 50 years in the newspaper business (he started as a paperboy in 1955), he still writes weekly columns for an online newspaper in Texas.
A poet and songwriter, Smith’s first novel was Uncertain Times, which was published in 2008. A work of fiction set in the small community of Uncertain on the banks of Caddo Lake in East Texas, Uncertain Times, which also has scenes in South Arkansas, is “Southern humor mixi ng the genres of mystery, romance and chick lit in a wrapping of heavy bubba overtones.”
“Kids afflicted with ADHD normally become rodeo clowns, professional dodge ball players or after-midnight televangelists. They don’t usually write novels.” Smith has been writing for a living (in newspapers and in corporate communications positions) for more than four decades. “I started more than 10 novels over the years, but after 40 to 50 pages, I’d put whatever I was writing down and forget about it.”
An avid reader (he reads between 50 and 70 books annually), Smith is inspired by “good writing, no matter the genre. I read novels steeped in different genres, horror, humor, mysteries, biographies, history and historical fiction.
Smith said completing two 100,000-word novels was ‘cathartic.’ The exercise forced me to be patient, which has always been an unknown quantity in my makeup.” Smith spend more than three years writing, editing and re-editing Uncertain Times before submitting it to literary agents. More than 20 rejected letters convinced him “maybe the book just wasn’t good enough.”
But “great words of encouragement from a couple of agents,” including one who “reminded me Stephen King’s first novel was rejected by more than 40 agents before being accepted” kept Smith plugging away.
“Uncertain People” was a learning experience,” Smith said. “Reveille” is the direct result of lessons learned. “Uncertain” is a fun read. “Reveille” is, I believe, a good read.”