I can’t tell you how thrilled I was to have this conversation with Steve Lewis, my long-time writing mentor and one of my favorite humans. Steve is a brilliant writer, teacher and speaker of truth with a love for paradox, prose, poetry and a gift for drawing out a writer’s true voice.
We talk about writing the Truth, knowing eternity and the non-linear experience of time in this reluctantly spiritual and moving conversation.
Here’s some of what we explore:
- Steve’s transformative experience in the hospital ICU with COVID-19 that changed his life and his writing
- Writing to see the Truth beyond our thinking
- The non-linear experience of time
- How analyzing the psyche and belief in karma holds us back
- Dealing with constant, inevitable loss of being human
Listen to the podcast here:
Writing as a Transformational Experience In the Time of COVID
“People who know what they’re doing don’t interest me.” – Steve Lewis
Writing to please yourself is a glorious experience. For years, Steve made a living as a freelancer writing by entertaining readers with stories about raising his seven kids, then grandkids. When he retired, he made a vow to never write for anyone else again, and gave birth to three novels.
Seeing the non-linearity of time facilitates a deeper enjoyment of the present. Steve emerged from his experience with COVID in the ICU having a different perspective of life and death. He began to write poems inspired by people from his past, urging him to write about his experience, and explored the non-linearity of time through a character in his most recent novel. He made the discovery that in every moment of life exists every moment of life, and experienced himself as a multi-dimensional being with a spirit that cannot die.
“There is something after death, which is life.” Steve Lewis
Writing shows you something new about yourself and the world when you create without a plan. Steve’s first novel, Take This, was written to test his belief that you can write a book without planning it out. He watched the character come to life and began the exhilarating journey of following the story as it wrote itself. Through his writing, he encountered things he had never considered, and saw how he’d lived in separation.
Without the experience of separation, there are no enemies or threats. As Steve’s character stepped “beyond the veil,” both writer and character explored the simultaneous existence of all timelines and a deeply connective experience in being human. A mental understanding is an impediment to these endless dimensions of experience.
“You can write a book without planning it out. You can live a life without planning it out.” – Steve Lewis
“Write drunk, edit sober,” is good advice. Surrender to the experience of writing without listening to your inner critic, without trying to control the words, and without holding back. Don’t let yourself get in the way. The second draft is where you return to the story and put it together as a cohesive experience.
“The universe says to us, ‘Take this.’ There are no instructions after that, no imperatives. Just – this is what you’ve got.” – Steve Lewis
Meet Steven Lewis, Writer
Steve is a former Mentor at SUNY-Empire State College, current member of the Sarah Lawrence College Writing Institute faculty, and longtime freelancer. His work has been published widely, from the notable to the beyond obscure, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, LA Times, Ploughshares, Narratively, Spirituality & Health, Road Apple Review, The Rosicrucian Digest, and a biblically long list of parenting publications (7 kids, 16 grandkids).
He is also Senior Editor/Literary Ombudsman for the podcast Read650.org. Steve’s book list includes Zen and the Art of Fatherhood, Fear and Loathing of Boca Raton, a chapbook of poems, If I Die Before You Wake, and four recent novels, Take This, a generational sequel, Loving Violet, A Hard Rain, all from Codhill Press, and a new novel, The Lights Around the Shore, published by Moonshine Cove in July 2021. A poetry collection, Fire in Paradise, co-authored with Elizabeth Bayou-Funk, will be published in 2022.
Connect with Steve
Website: http://www.stevenlewiswriter.com
Facebook: Steve Lewis Author
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chief_duckdog
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LewisWrite4hire
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