Local man writes second book
Great Bend postal worker Jim Schneider has written another book related to baseball. “Too Many Errors” follows the character Quinn Taylor from his first book “Down to the Last Strike,” through his love of baseball and what it takes to step up his game to the bigger leagues.
These days, Schneider can be found delivering people’s mail along his routes throughout the city, but in the 1970s his passion was playing baseball for the St. Ann’s Cadets in Olmitz. That is what led him to write his first book about his years past and continue the story about this player in his new book.
“I am not a book writer, I am a storyteller and that is what I enjoy,” Schneider said. “When I write I want to make people laugh and enjoy what they are reading. I really hope people like this book and I look forward to getting some reviews.
If all goes well, I will write another book that will continue this story in the future. I have come up with an ending, I just need to fill in the rest.”
According to Schneider, the first book took about five years to write, which he did over the winter months. The sequel took two years to complete. He published it himself, using OPI in Great Bend. The book was edited by Mike Courson and proofread by Dan Haselhorst and Jackie Cook. The book is a mix of fiction and non-fiction.
Schneider’s first book told a story of a young man named Quinn Taylor who grows up on a farm in Olmitz in the ’70s. He loves the game of baseball, but has a dad that who hates sports. In order to keep playing the game that he loves, he has to extract help from his mother, a brother and a friend. Testing his love for the game are three obstacles: dealing with God, a distracting girl and detested family members.
In Schneider’s new book, Taylor still loves the game, and he is hoping to play his way onto the bigger stage. His biggest liability is his own decision making. Can Taylor keep his act straight long enough to make it to the next level, or will his self indulgence cost him everything?
“Too Many Errors is another tale of playing baseball on the plains and an examination of some of the choices we are all forced to make in our youth,” Schneider said.