Category: non-fiction

another year

June 4th, 2020

Up late on the eve of my 47^th birthday. Drinking vodka and Sprite. Eating sour Twizzlers. Looking at the flies I purchased from Orvis during a 70% off sale.

Finally, they’re here.

The media shows a world going to hell, but selfish me, I’ve been thinking about fishing. Checking the mailbox twice a day for the past week. It’s not that I don’t care about the state of the world. I do. That’s why I’d rather be wading a stream. Balancing on an uneven surface. Casting into sunlight that shimmers on ripples. Landing line under low-hanging branches. Near the banks. Onto swirling dark pools. Over deadfalls. All as life expands and contracts, creatures living and dying and growing and fighting, giving birth and murdering, all around me.

And if you take a moment to remove yourself from where you’re at by looking up—maybe through a basement window at pinholes of light in a black sky, as you type and drink and think, letting yourself be taken away like a lure in uncertain current—you will consider and appreciate all of this. No matter how dark and fluid and out of control it may be.

Fight the urge to fall into the roles they make for you.

Explore all that’s not shown in your own good time.

Let yourself be moved by this experience. Even if it’s a bit of boozy self-indulgence, marveling at colorful flies tied by mysterious hands, as you await the arrival of another year.

~ KJ
“Cutting Teeth is pure dynamite!” – B.L. Kennedy

December 14th, 2016

Cutting Teeth
On writing – below the surface

November 13th, 2016

As a writer, my intent is to provide the reader with as little information (but very good information) as possible so they can create the big picture on their own. The danger in this is that the reader brings their own experiences to the work and if they are not willing to unlearn at least some of what they know, the meaning becomes misconstrued.

Writing is very much like life. Some of it is shit. Some of it is moving and memorable. What I like about it is that after all the work I have done, I simply hand it over. Trusting that the reader will see that most of the story and meaning–most of life–is beneath the surface. That knee-jerk reactions based on what they have learned are useless and that to truly enter the story the reader has to let go, give up, and consent to the possibility of being freed again.

-K.J.
a man at the keys

March 7th, 2016

March 7, 2016

Monday morning. Drinking coffee while sunlight breaks through the tall leaded windows of this old house and I’m happy to say I’m writing. This is where I am meant to be.

In a great marriage that surprises me more each day—I never knew it was possible to develop such a deep friendship. S.B. is my rock, my artist, my motivator, my guide. She has brought color and depth and fun to the world. Life is better when we are together.

Parenting a son and a daughter. Watching each of them develop unique personalities—a process that is educational, entertaining, and makes me believe in important things, like Yetis, forest fairies, ghosts, and God.

And writing two books. One of poetry/non-fiction that is rooted in feelings and thoughts that emerged from journaling and blogging. And a novel that is literary, but unlike anything I’ve written before. It is time to stop thinking so much about what to write and to simply share what I know. Not lessons or advice. But everything—even those dark, nasty moments—that we are afraid to show.

Until then, when I’ve finally put the pages to rest between covers, I shamelessly encourage you to purchase and read my other works. My writing has not yet been tainted by the corporate need for sales dollars and meeting a bottom line. It is still just a man at the keys, pounding away, day after day in hopes of reaching you. Your support is appreciated.

K.J. Stevens on Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002C4R0AK

~ K.J.

Category: non-fiction

another year

“Cutting Teeth is pure dynamite!” – B.L. Kennedy

On writing – below the surface

a man at the keys