BOOK COVER MAGAZINE - WINTER EDITION - 2017

TO WRITE STORIES
B R E N D A L . S M I T H
LONGING
FEATURED AUTHOR
Brenda Smith is a retired educator who has
"Write the novel, tell the story!” She placed it in
served her community as a teacher, principal,
her file cabinet, and after retiring in 2004, she
assistant superintendent of schools, and an
started on it again. The story became her first
adjunct college professor. After completing her
novel titled, Insane Circumstances. When her
dissertation in 1994, her attention turned to the
manuscript was completed, Brenda
contemporary fiction stories she longed to share.
attempted to follow the traditional route to
To date, she has written four contemporary
getting published; bought a Writer’s Digest,
novels. She graduated from high school at the
composed a query letter, then sent it out to
age of 16, received a B.A. in French from Albany
about 150 publishers, editors, and literary
State College in Georgia. Later, she acquired a
agents to no avail. A few responded with notes
Masters in Special Education, an Education
indicating their companies were not accepting
Specialist Degree, and a Doctorate of Philosophy
entries like hers, but still encouraged Brenda to
in Educational Administration and Supervision.
Needless to say, she spent countless hours in
write. So in 2012, Ms. Smith decided to selfpublish,
which was the new wave in the
libraries at the colleges she attended. However,
industry. Since releasing her novels, she’s
Brenda found herself veering away from the
attended several literary events across the
academic shelves to sitting on the floors in the
country and even pitched one of her books to
fiction section fingering book pages and longing
a movie producer, Bob Kosberg, in Los Angeles,
to write stories. About 40 years ago, Ms. Smith
California. And even though she didn’t get the
wrote a story titled, “The Bus Ride” for an Ebony
deal, Brenda said, “I gained valued insight into
Magazine competition. The guidelines indicated
the industry.” She went on to say, “Other than
that only winners would be notified and authors’
writing, my hobbies include traveling, playing
work would not be returned. Although she did
the piano, and helping others.”
not win the cash prize, to her surprise, she
BOOK COVER MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2017 06
received the manuscript back with a note,