A revived segment of my blog is The Author Takeover, where an invited guest is asked to contribute a blog to my site. This allows my readers to connect with more authors and celebrate the world of literary in a different way. Today, welcome (Shayam) Korey Steckle, a recent guest of OC Publishing, as he talks about his inspiration, struggles, who inspired his writing career and, of course, his books. Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter for a special monthly question and answer with him, too!
I expanded my forms of artistic expression when I began writing the first volume of my Memoirs in 2021. I was encouraged to take on this challenging task by my mother and aunt, who both conveyed their wishes to have me share my insights regarding addiction, alcoholism and adoption/cultural issues in the form of the written word. After a failed suicide attempt in 2014 I began my art career switching from landscape acrylic painting to Collage work. However I felt adrift, lost and burnt out from unresolved issues in my life at the time not being dealt with properly. I had no purpose after miraculously surviving a near fatal car crash involving drugs and alcohol. I was reminded that not many come back from the brink of darkness that I reached and lived to tell. That would be my purpose and in doing so I would not only help myself but others in the process and final results. I had always been drawn to biographies of musicians and artists from the past. Those accounts informed me of their passions, failures and a richly deep reading list that furthered my longing for a connection with other like-minded individuals in the Arts. So my gaze turned inward as I recalled extremely difficult past experiences and memories to piece together to form the mosaic of my story. Using light and the darkness that accompanied my life up to the point of early 2022.
My favorite writer is Jack Kerouac. His work represents the most extensive experiment in language and literary form. To myself his words spoke to me at the mere age of 14. Just beginning my own period of life on the road. He detailed and documented an America that I became enamored with. His style of writing captivated me to no end, and he delved into the depths of culture and class that straddled the space between the railroad hobos of the Western Frontier and the literary elite of New York City.
I followed his path into drink and drugs whole heartedly at first. Many decades later I’m in recovery and I have glimpsed the light of sobriety that Kerouac never found in himself to embrace sadly. Dead at 47. A year older that I am writing this. I too have endured the ravages of addiction and the depths of despair that go hand in hand over time. But what Kerouac left behind in his wake of discovery, experimentation and devotion to the great cannon of philosophers, poets, Zen masters, writers and junkies becoming one himself in the process was a detailed account of the process of living and then in turn creating a living body of work that breathes life into each new reader since 1957. What drove him mad and what brought him joy and peace are laid out. Kerouac and I share the same goal in the end regarding the Arts. We wish to be remembered alongside the hallowed and revered list of other transcendent forces of nature in the field of letters. They too have expelled their tortured and convoluted thoughts and feelings that reside in all of us at times that cause us grief and chaos internally. To shed light on the dark recess of my heart and mind while extracting the unresolved and broken pieces of my childhood is what I sought to achieve from the beginning of my writing process. And I was inspired by Jack Kerouac immensely for the bravery he possessed to wrestle with in an attempt to harness his emotional unrest till the very end.
I am beginning to dive into my writing schedule for David: A Memoir Volume 2. It will be released this September. I am about to begin an exciting project with poet Shay Pallott. A collaboration involving photography, Collage and poetry text interspersed. I have begun writing poetry that I will be sending to my publisher One Thousand Trees Publishing based out of Guelph, Ontario this upcoming December. It is inspired by my past relationship with another very talented writer.
So much upcoming with the press attention for my Memoir. It began in earnest in a grassroots fashion but has taken off and is now expanding to a national level.
I’m beyond humbled and grateful for the opportunity to share utilizing the platform that my artistic achievements have merited which has opened the door into the literary world.
Please be sure to sign up for my newsletter for the special Q&A.
Thank you, Korey Steckle, and thank YOU reader, for joining us today. If you’re an author who wants to be featured, please reach out and we’ll schedule your Author Takeover soon!
Happy reading!
Sarah Butland