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I rarely come across a western author who can capture my imagination and make me want more, but Randy Smith is definitely a western author I love to read. His characters come to life on the page, each one unique, and you just know they exist somewhere out there. His stories are raw and real and so much fun to read.
Randy Smith was raised on a farm in Stafford, Kansas where his grandfather bought him a horse just like the one in Sunday’s Colt at the age of four. He kept that horse twenty-five years.
When he is not writing, Mr. Smith is an historical re-enactor and spends his time judging events for the Reenactment Guild of America–and he also does historical characters for a few events. He enjoys hunting and writes a lot about the subject in various publications. As a collector, he has a room full of both hunting rifles and mounted trophies.
He is most passionate about individual rights and freedoms. Not just political concepts, but also the rights of working men, children, women, and minorities. He’s not an apologist, but he wants everyone to get a fair break. He hates abuse, whether it’s physical or emotional. He’s found that he can get on his high horse pretty quickly and get himself into trouble easily if he sees someone being abused.
On Writing in Randy Smith’s Own Words
What or who inspires you to write?
I write because it allows me an outlet. I have a lot of things to say about the world but I am normally not a person who will verbalize these things except to a very few friends. I am something of a loner. Writing allows me to share what I want other people to know, appreciate, or realize. I do it for my desire to share.
Why did you begin writing?
I had things to say and it looked like a good way to say them. I was 40 years old and needed to take my personal life in a new direction. Writing seemed like the best way to hold myself together and grow.
What author inspires you?
I like Hemingway for his economical style of writing. I like Faulkner for his courageous style. I like Shakespeare because of his ability to analyze character motives, weaknesses, and strengths. Most of all I like Hemingway. He was a flawed man but a wonderful writer.
What do you find most rewarding about writing?
The product. I write for the product. I express a viewpoint either in characters, situations, or outcomes. I want people to think, smile, laugh, weep, or just feel an emotional tug. If I can get those responses, everything else is secondary.
Have you experienced writer’s block? And if so, how did you cure it?
My block right now is what to do next. I have three outlines in mind but I don’t know which I want to tackle. I experiment with style and subject matter. I want to do a book on a man taking his grown sons on an African hunt, and one on a relationship with a woman, and another western. I’m a little personally close to all three subjects and plot lines. It is difficult to say what I want to say in the way I want to say it. Also I write a lot of outdoor articles and I am very busy with those. I don’t experience writer’s block with the articles and there is enough demand for them that they keep me very busy. My next book will take a lot of time to do in the way I want, and I don’t have a lot of that commodity right now.
When is your next book due out, and what’s it about?
No next book due out. I’d also like to do a non-fiction book on predator hunting but right now I’m waiting to see what happens in my life before I tackle one of the three books mentioned earlier.
Please read my review of Sunday’s Colt, and then head over to Boson Books to learn more about this exceptional author.
