Antonio Smith, Kurt Warner, the Arizona Cardinals and the Year of Achieving the Impossible Dream

It’s not my intention to write a sports blog, but once again I’m compelled to talk about the Arizona Cardinals. It’s pretty much official, they really are very good, unquestionably the best team the Arizona Cardinals have ever fielded. Last night they did what everyone said they couldn’t do. They beat the Carolina Panthers. Congratulations, Cardinals. Congratulations, Arizona football fans. As for the team owners, I still don’t like you people very much - but I am going to buy a Cardinals hat.

It’s come to my attention that Antonio Smith has changed up his ritualistic big play flexing celebration. Apparently, he’s taken to flexing only the right arm instead of both arms (as I taught him). He’s calling the move “Strong Right Arm” because he plays on the right side. Just one question big fella, where are my props? It’s true, I’m just the guy that that lives down the street, but I think “Bill Snyder Strong Right Arm” would be more appropriate. Better yet Antonio, you could call it the “B.S. Strong Right Arm.”

It’s uplifting to see Antonio Smith knocking the snot out of opposing quarterbacks on his path to success and fame. He moved into my modest suburban neighborhood four years ago. If memory serves me correctly, he had just been promoted from the practice squad to the official roster. Antonio is one of the good guys. He doesn’t run around town with an entourage and you won’t read about him brandishing guns and driving drunk - you can count on that. It’s not unusual to find the six-four, two hundred and eighty pound giant playing football in the street with fifteen or twenty neighborhood kids. Yeah, Antonio Smith is a genuine role model - for his fellow professional athletes and celebrities.

A little over a year ago I was having a beer at a local establishment, half watching the Sunday afternoon game. Matt Leinart, the young People Magazine quarterback went down with an injury, forcing the coach to send in the grizzled old veteran, Kurt Warner. Just seconds before halftime, Warner, standing three quarters of the field away from the end zone, heaved up a Hail Mary. Larry Fitzgerald leapt into the air, dreadlocks everywhere, and pulled down a seemingly impossible, gravity defying reception. Chalk one up for the old guys. I don’t remember whether or not the Cardinals won the game. I do remember being soothed by the understanding that sometimes talent, hard work, and perseverance coincides with opportunity and the result can be miraculous.

Prior to the start of this season, Coach Whisenhunt made it clear that the People Magazine kid was his starting quarterback. The old warrior is no stranger to adversity; ten years ago he was bagging groceries to supplement his arena football income. But it looked like the grizzled vet was on the tail end of his career. Of course things aren’t always what they seem. Leinart had a sub par preseason and old Kurt was named the starting Q.B. Warner has gone on to lead the team through the greatest season in Arizona Cardinals history.

On New Year’s Eve I posted a blog entitled The Spirit Guide Bar and the Year of the Impossible Dream. The impossible dream is taking place for a grizzled old Arizona quarterback. And maybe, just maybe, a little bit of talent, some hard work and perseverance will line up with opportunity for a grizzled old Arizona teacher writer by the name of WZ Snyder.


AGENT SEARCH RESULTS

Here is an interesting response to a query.

First, let me apologize for the delay in contacting you. I would like to let you know that your manuscript is currently under consideration for representation. We will be in contact with you as soon as possible.

For starters, this is a positive response in that it ain’t a rejection. Even if this is a form response, the agent does say my manuscript is under consideration for representation and I’ll take this as another positive aspect. With all of this positive mojo going on, I’ve decided to try to establish a line of communication with this agent by sending her a second query email, this time for The Eight Fingered Criminal’s Son. It’s been over a year since I sent out query emails for the short story collection. This is because an agent told me it’s nearly impossible for an unknown writer to sell a short story collection. It’s time to switch things up a little. After all, this is the year of achieving the seemingly impossible dream.

Why I Support Teenage Sax in the Hallways of Our Schools

My work day begins with my zero hour class at six-thirty a.m. This means my alarm blasts off at four-thirty. I hope you don’t mind me saying I’ve grown tired of getting up at four-thirty in the morning. Quite frankly, it ain’t natural rising before the sun. And my students, oh my God – just try to imagine trying to deliver a lesson to thirty-three functional zombies as their heads bob up and down or lay in puddles of drool. It’s not exactly a boost to the self esteem.

At the end of the last school year, I told my boss I’d rather cut off my toes than teach zero hour again. You can plainly see what kind of pull I have at my place of employment.

Waking up before the crack of dawn is nothing new to me. The truth is, I’ve been doing this for more than twenty years, zero hour or no zero hour. Early in my teaching career I learned the wee hours of the morning could be incredibly productive. There was no one around to distract me and if jacked myself up on enough coffee, I could get much more work done than in the afternoon.

Back when I was hosting educational TV programming, I was doing shows that went out to the East Coast, so I had to drag my keester out of bed at three a.m. My body never got used to it. There were mornings when I sailed right through red lights. Pretty scary. More than once I showed up to work sporting two different colored shoes. One morning in particular stands out in my memory. The alarm clock went off; I stumbled out of bed, showered, shaved, got myself dressed, climbed into my vehicle, and backed out of the driveway as the radio announcer said, “It’s ten o’clock on a rainy Thursday evening…” I must have screwed up the when I set the alarm. I didn’t have to get up for another five hours. The creepiest result of my three a.m. wakeup calls took place a couple of days after I picked my-father-in-law at Sky Harbor Airport. One minute I was tooling along to work and the next minute four skycaps were cautiously watching me as I sat outside the American Airlines terminal. I had no idea of how the hell I got there. The airport was a good five miles off of my route to work. I must have just zoned out.

Yeah, getting up before sunrise is no walk in the park. And it gets harder with each passing year. But a couple of days ago I experienced something extraordinary. It was five-thirty a.m. when I opened the door to the empty school corridor. I was welcomed with live saxophone music - saxophone music like I’ve never heard before. The acoustics of the empty hallway added something to the mojo of the moment. Following the music to the bottom of the stairway, it became apparent that notes were coming from upstairs. I thought about shouting some encouragement, but I think that would have taken away from the magic. No, I understood the correct move. Taking a seat on the bottom stair, I took a sip of my coffee and savored the moment.

Yesterday I was delighted to hear the sublime melody of Spanish guitar. At the top of the stairs I found an unfamiliar kid in a knit cap and frizzy red hair absolutely immersed in his instrument. Noticing me he stopped.

“You the same kid that was playing sax yesterday?”

“Yeah.”

“I just wanted to say thanks. Keep playing.”

He flashed a smile as big as Texas and went back to generating his magnificent Spanish guitar music. I walked down to the bottom of the stairs, had a seat and finished my cup of coffee. It wasn’t so bad being up at five-thirty in the morning. In fact it was magic – pure magic.

More Rejection, the Writer's Digest Yearbook, and a Fashion Question

PAINLESS REJECTION

Here is my latest email rejection.

Thank you for contacting xxxxxxxxx about your book idea for The Spirit Guide Bar. While the story sounds interesting, we regretfully must decline agency representation since we have a full client load at this time.

Please know that this letter is sent with the utmost respect for you as a writer. I wish you the very best in your search for an agent and/or publishing home for your work.

Wow, these people really know how to say no. They obviously ascribe to James M. Barrie’s credo, “always be a little kinder than necessary.” The kindness is greatly appreciated.


AGENT SEARCH STATS
Query Emails Sent: 176
Rejections received: 30
Under Consideration: 16
Failure to Deliver Notice: 5
Miscellaneous: 1


WRITERS DIGEST YEARBOOK 2009

Diligently, I read this magazine cover to cover, hoping to find the tip that could take me to the promised land. Here’s what I walked away with.

1. Paper publishers are struggling while electronic publishers are optimistic.

2. Author’s rarely publish their first novel.
Spirit Guide is my first novel. Do I get any points for the collection of short stories? OK, I’ll write another novel - dammit.

3. Agents aren’t interested in narcissistic triumph of the human spirit stories.
My book is pretty much a triumph of the human spirit story. Narcissistic? Ouch.

4. Molly Glick of the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency writes,” I hate it when a book begins with an adventure that turns out to be a dream at the end of the first chapter.”
OK, now that’s the way my book starts. No dreams the first chapter of novel number two.

5. According to Scott Hoffman of Literary Management, there is a bias in the industry against older writers. He suggests, “a little bit of camouflage goes a long way."
Am I an older writer? Yikes. I don’t think of myself as an older anything. Perhaps a pair of really baggy jeans and a new tattoo are in order.


FASHION QUESTION

Are corduroys out of style? Somebody please tell me. My wife picked up a couple of pairs at Cost Co. I’ve been wearing them on a regular basis because I don’t have to iron them. And I do like that zipping noise they make when I run down the school corridors. My students and coworkers have been cracking wise lately. With a rock solid self esteem like mine, I couldn’t care less what people think. I was just wondering.

Where Antonio Smith Learned to Flex and Bryan Frank's Take on Pitch Conferences

NICE GOIN’ CARDS

Arizona sports fans are celebrating the Cardinals’ first home playoff game in something like a hundred and sixty years. Since moving to Arizona twenty years ago, the Bidwell family has fielded one mediocre team after another. But this team appears to be the exception.

I have a bit of a personal connection with this extraordinary Cardinals football team. Antonio Smith, the team’s charismatic defensive end lives three doors down from yours truly. If you’re a football fan, you know that Mr. Smith flexes his biceps like Hulk Hogan after making big plays. It’s a little known fact that I, WZ Snyder, gave him this idea. It all began a couple of years ago on a hot September afternoon; my sweat soaked nephew had just finished the grueling eight and a half hour task of assembling a portable basketball hoop. Noticing Antonio Smith climb into his truck, I called for the ball. It was my intention to show this young professional athlete that the old timer had a little athletic prowess of his own. As he drove by, I threw down an earth shattering old school style dunk on the eight foot rim. When Mr. Smith nodded to me, I growled and flexed my biceps. The next night on Monday Night Football, Mr. Smith could be seen flexing and growling after a particularly devastating quarterback sack. You’re welcome Antonio. You’re welcome Cardinals fans. I do what I can.

PITCH CONFERENCES

In an effort to educate myself about the business of writing and publishing, I spent 5.99 on a copy of Writers Digest. I was intrigued by soon to be published novelist, Susan Breen’s article about pitch conferences. The deal is writers pay ($495. to $895.) for the opportunity to pitch their books to agents and editors. Breen points out that she landed her book deal at one of these conferences.

My gut tells me something is rotten in the state of pitch land. My gut tells me that anyone who asks me to pay them to sell my writing is taking me for a ride. My gut tells me if my writing is good enough, a legitimate agent will eventually take me on; if my writing isn’t good enough, I should keep working it, keep getting better.

Could shelling out a few hundred bucks for a pitch conference expedite the process? I posed this question to my writer friend, Bryan Frank. Frank said, “What you need to do is write your ass off. When you turn to look in the mirror and you have no ass, then you should shell out 800 bucks for a pitch conference.”

STATISTICS, APOLOGIES, AND THANKS

AGENT SEARCH STATS

Query Emails Sent: 165
Rejections received: 18
Under Consideration: 16
Failure to Deliver Notice: 5
Miscellaneous: 1

The under consideration category is, to say the least, optimistic. This category includes automatic responses like the one below.

I will be out of the office starting Monday December 15th, returning January 5th. If it is urgent you may try my assistant XXXXXX at XXXXX or XXXXXXX. Please note XXXXX will close for the holidays at 1pm on December 19th and reopen on Jan. 5th.

Optimism is paramount in this agent search business. Somebody named Tom Feather once said, “Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after the others have let go.” Charles Bukowski didn’t have the opportunity to quit his job at the post office and earn his living from his writing until he was fifty. A hundred and sixty-five emails is peanuts, just the beginning.

I fired off 10 query emails yesterday. The agent addresses come from a lengthy writer’s reference list I found on line. http://www.writers-free-reference.com/agents/index.html. Not all of the addresses are current as the following response demonstrates.

I am retired.

Using the agent list, it’s possible to send somewhere in the vicinity of ten query emails an hour. If I could just find the time and patience to sit down for ten hours, I could send off - let’s see, carry the five, add the square root of nine - three hundred query emails. It’s all about optimism, baby.

SECOND THOUGHTS

It has been brought to my attention some of my comments have been interpreted to be bitter and approaching mean-spiritedness. Well, bitter and mean spirited is no way to build an audience. And the word on the street is agents are more apt to represent writers with strong blog followings. Therefore, I’m extending my heartfelt apologies to guys who wear #1 Dad shirts, people with eight fingers – or six, the British, Santa Clause, Paul the Apostle, pyromaniacs, filthy stinking rich celebrities, Charles Barkley, Steve Urkel, drunks, barroom brawlers, skirt chasers, Meryl Streep, Myrel Streep fans, cute nuns, The Flying Nun, nuns in general, former Catholics, future Catholics, Catholics in general, lazy parents, obsessive text messengers, and of course, hopelessly stupid people.


TO MY VAST ARMY OF ELEVEN READERS

Thank you. It’s good to have an audience.

MERYL STREEP AND CUTE NUNS IN THE 1960's

#167 Dad’s Mini Review

"Doubt"

DAD * DAD * DAD * DAD

The highly acclaimed film, "Doubt" is indeed worth the eight bucks. Though provoking. I gave it four out of five dads. Philipp Seymour Hoffman is dazzling and so is Meryl Streep.

Got to tell you though, I’ve never been a big fan of Meryl Streep. She’s a good actress, but it seems like she’s always staring out of windows, looking monumentally depressed. And another thing, doesn’t Meryl Streep sound like a made up name? What’s that? You’re saying lots of movie stars have made up names? Oh yeah, I guess that’s true. But names like John Wayne and Kirk Douglass don’t sound nearly as made up as Meryl Streep. And like I said, she does spend too much screen time staring out of windows and looking awfully depressed. There you have it; it’s all on the table. Now you know how I really feel about Meryl Streep.

One of the characters is a young nun, played by Amy Adams. I couldn’t get over the fact that she was cute as a button. As a veteran of the 1960’s Catholic schools, I feel compelled to set the record straight on the matter of cute nuns. There were no cute nuns in the 1960’s. End of story.

One more thing, what has happened to the American public? Did a huge percentage of people suddenly become hopelessly stupid or were the hopelessly stupid people staying away from the movies until now?

Note number one to the hopelessly stupid people:
Don’t text in the movie theater. Your flashing phone screen is incredibly distracting to the guy behind you.

Note number two to the hopelessly stupid people:
You’re not supposed to talk on the phone in a movie theater.

Note number three to the hopelessly stupid people:
Leave your kids at home or at the child care center which is conveniently located IN THE MOVIE THEATER.

Where was I? Oh, the review. It’s a good movie, but unless you’re hopelessly tolerant, stay out of the movie theaters. Wait for the video.



Here’s the Spirit Guide Bar rejection email of the day.

Thank you for the interesting query. The concept has many compelling elements but due to our workload and current areas of expertise, I do not believe we are quite the right agency for this project. We are rarely able to add new authors to our roster.

Not bad – as rejections go…

EXPLODING CHRISTMAS TREES, CHARLES BARKLEY AND STEVE URKEL

Thanks for taking the time to read my first post of 2009. Bear with me as I continue to search for my blog voice…

I just fished the third draft of The Spirit Guide Bar. Nice goin’, me. For my next trick, I'm going to pull an agent out of my hat. Just watch.

Here’s a relatively painless rejection email I received this morning.

Many thanks for sending us this proposal, which I read with interest. I considered it carefully but I’m afraid on balance it just doesn’t quite grab my imagination in the way that it must for me to offer to represent you. So I must follow my instinct and pass on this occasion. I’m sorry to be so disappointing, but thanks for thinking of us. Of course this is a totally subjective judgment, so do try other agents and I wish you every success.

These guys are good. I don’t even feel bad.

It’s been a good a holiday break – exactly what I was looking for. There’s been time with my wife, kids and extended family - and time to write. There’ve been the Christmas movies andChristmas music, the beef logs, artichoke dip, enchiladas, and eggnog - lots of eggnog; every year I buy too much eggnog. And then there’s the Christmas tree. It’s been a good Christmas tree. The comfortable aroma of pine is still strong. Honestly, I hate to see it come down. With my nephews, it’s another story. Their pupils explode with excitement every time another tree is tossed out to the curb. They’re probably waiting outside the front door right now, ready to pounce. They discovered that a Christmas tree tossed into an average bonfire explodes into a regular Disneyland for pyromaniacs. Dried out Christmas tree number sixty-three went up in flames last night.

Enough with the exploding Christmas trees, can we talk about Charles Barkley? Just in case your life is so balanced that you know nothing about sports or pop culture, Chares Barkley was a very good professional basketball player who is now a very charismatic basketball announcer. He’s got a lot of money and power. Come to think of it, he’s been talking about running for governor of Alabama. For as long as I can remember, the guy has said and done exactly what he felt like saying and doing. He’s been something of a permanent fixture on the Scottsdale nightclub circuit, drinking, chasing skirts and engaging in the occasional barroom brawl. A few years ago he threw some poor schmuck through a plate glass window – just like in the movies.

Tuesday night the Scottsdale police nailed Mr. Barkley for driving under the influence. Apparently, he had been partying it up with forty or so celebrities and Scottsdale socialites. Among his associates was former network television star, Jaleel White. That’s right, Steve Urkel. All I can say about that is, WHAT THE…? Phoenix’s publicity hungry Sheriff Joe is undoubtedly chomping at the bit. The question is will Sir Charles’s fat wallet say him from an issue of pink skivvies and a few days in Phoenix Tent City?

Every time I hear of a celebrity getting nailed for drunk driving I just shake my head. Aren’t these people filthy stinking rich? Barkley is notorious for routinely dropping thousands a night in the Scottsdale clubs. Charles, why not hire some poor dope to drive you around? I’m extending a public offer to club-hopping filthy stinking rich celebrities in Arizona. I am willing to drive you and your entourage around all night in my regal 1999 Chevy Astro van for the equitable sum of two hundred bucks. This is a legitimate offer. If any of you out there in my loyal army of eleven readers knows a hard drinking celebrity, please send them my way.

My daughters are looming over my shoulder, attaching clip-on earrings to my ears and putting bows in my hair, waiting for me to get off of the computer so they can log onto Webkins. They’re making it hard to concentrate on my writing, but I’m glad they’re with me.

I’m going to play with my kids now.

Happy New Year.

THE SPIRIT GUIDE BAR AND THE YEAR OF ACHIEVING THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM

I suppose I should tell you about my novel. It’s called The Spirit Guide Bar. The main character is a beaten down high school teacher, not so loosely based on me. Unsure of his place in the world, he makes a conscious attempt at transcendental meditation and finds himself in the midst of a full blown vision, bellied up at the Spirit Guide Bar, having a beer and a shot with the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz, Ernest Hemmingway and Ulysses S. Grant. And no, there were no psychedelic drugs involved in the development of this book.

When the beaten down teacher mentions that he is experiencing a vision – an illusion, the scarecrow responds with, ‘The illusion you’re experiencing right now is more real than anything that ever has happened to you or ever will happen to you because it is happening to you - right now.”

It’s my favorite line in the book.

I know precisely what’s going through your mind. What right thinking agent wouldn’t bust his tail to represent a book like The Spirit Guide Bar? I also know why you’re thinking this. It’s because most of you are friends and family that I have talked into visiting my blog. Then again, you could be sitting there feeling incredibly embarrassed for me, shaking your head and saying to yourself, “This poor schlep has been pounding away at the keyboard for more than four years, and this is the kind of crap he's writing?”

I’ve already sent out 155 query emails.

Here is the first of my thirty-five rejection emails for The Spirit Guide Bar.

We are fully booked but thanks for trying our agency and good luck elsewhere.

I don’t know about you, but I like it. It’s understated, short, and strait to the point.

Don’t let the self deprecating humor fool you, I will publish my writing. At times this goal of becoming a published writer seems impossible, but it’s not impossible I’ll find a way. As John Wooden said, “Goals achieved with little effort are seldom worthwhile or lasting.”

Do you have a seemingly impossible goal? I don’t know about you, but as far as I’m concerned, 2009 is going to be the year of achieving the seemingly impossible dream – darn it.

Thanks for reading

THE EIGHT FINGERED CRIMINAL'S SON

I am a writer. It's been an awfully long time since I've had an audience - something like nine years. Thank you for being my audience.

The truth is I’ve been a writer just about as long as I’ve been able to hold a pencil. My literary journey began with Santa Clause and Mike the Mouse. I wrote, directed and starred in the production in second grade. It was an action packed rip off of the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Christmas special. As Mike the Mouse, I saved Christmas by beating the snot out of the Abominable Snow man, who was played quite nicely by Prank Ponto. It was cool. My next big production was staged in fifth grade. It was my own epic rendition of a Catholic School Passion Play. Playing the Thomas the Apostle, I led the ten good apostles in a heroic military style rescue of Christ, killing a half dozen Roman soldiers in the process.

Since grade school, I've continued to write. There was a thrilling four year period over which I had the honor of creating cheesy educational TV programming, which was, I suppose, an offshoot of my elementary school theater career. At Educational Management Group and Planet Think, I wrote, produced and hosted (starred in) the shows. It all ended when we were bought out by a British Educational Company. They shut the live production end of the outfit down, thus bringing to an end the best job I ever had. It was back to classroom teaching for me. Thanks a lot British people. If it weren't us, you'd all be speaking German. Shoot, there goes my vast British following.

About four years ago, I decided I wanted to get serious about writing. Rather than teach summer school and work second jobs to earn money to support my family, I've been spending the summers and school breaks writing. The first summer was trying to say the least. Because I didn't have a functioning computer, I wrote at the public library, braving knuckle heads on cell phones, screaming kids, and chatty teenagers. It's better now that I have a computer.

The product of that first summer is collection of short quirky personal stories called The Eight Fingered Criminal's Son. My father did in actuality spend considerable time in the slammer and does indeed have just eight fingers. Actually, that's a point of personal contention. Doesn't everyone have just eight fingers - and two thumbs? Perhaps I should call the book The Six Fingered Criminal's Son. How do describe a guy with two missing fingers? It's confusing, isn’t it?

I intend to share a few of the stories with you. I'd also like to take you with me on the path of soul shattering rejection. After being rejected by more than a hundred agents and magazines, I put the collection of stories on the back burner and wrote a novel. I'll tell you about the novel tomorrow. Sending query letters by US mail has pretty much become a thing of the past. Now writers can send off email query letters - hundreds of them, thousands of them. Now this is a good thing and this is bad thing. Writers save money and time, but the agents and publishers are inundated. An agent told me she receives more than three thousand query letters a month. At this point, no less than two hundred agents and publishers have sent me rejection emails.

Here is an example of an oxymoronic good rejection email. The errors are the editor's, not mine...

Bill, thanks for the submission. What I'd do to this in compress it a bit. The folksy voice is distracting, in the end. It's not a bad story, overall, but it needs significant tightening to keep a reader's attention. We'll have to pass, but try us again in the future.

I really hate rejection…

#167 Dad - The First Blog

This first small step into blogworld goes out to no one - and anyone. I am calling my blog #167 Dad. It's a joke, get it? Does anyone else notice tens of thousands of middle aged guys wandering around wearing #1 Dad t-shirts. How can they all be #1 Dads? Isn't #167 Dad somewhat more realistic?

I am compelled to tell you I am a former stand up comic. If you're wondering why I stopped doing stand up, please refer to the #167 Dad joke. It took me close to two years to figure out the jokes were supposed to be funny.

OK, my first posting is complete.

Geronimoooooooooo!