Stephen Pray

Stephen Pray was born in Portland, Maine, and grew up in the little town of Windham where he graduated high school. Even in those early years Steve was writing poetry, and his school librarian predicted that one day she would see his work in print.

Stephen went into the Air Force in 1969 as a security policeman and was first stationed at Wheelus AFB in Libya. He then went to RAF Mildenhall, England, and met his future wife, Sharon, in near-by Cambridge.

Steve and Sharon have been married for over 31 years and their love has given birth to three beautiful daughters. Their youngest child is Emily, who is a 23-year-old music major with hopes of teaching K-12. Middle child is Sally, who is becoming a child psychologist. First-born is Katy, who is wife to Brad and mother to Liam. Steve is proud of all his daughters’ accomplishments and he is very proud of his wonderful grandson.

Understandably, love is a great inspiration for Steve’s poetry.

Stephen roamed the world for 23 years with his wife and growing family, and the American Air Force, before retiring to Dayton, Ohio in the U.S.A.

Stephen is a voracious reader of science fiction with over 4,000 books in his collection. He would like to take up sailing. He likes to watch movies, read lots of poetry, spend time with his family, and play with his dog, “Freckles”.

From Stephen:

“My wife is a four year cancer survivor and the poem “Cancer” was written during that awful time. Most of my poetry comes from personal experience or memories.”

“I am finally on the rebound after three years of migraines, the new medications has made me feel like a new person and, although my sense of humor never wavered, it too has come back with a new bounce.”

“I hope to continue writing, and for all of you to continue reading and enjoying my poetry here at Bright Light Café.”

Interview with Steve

When were you born?
I was born in 1950 Aug 30th.

Where were you born and raised?
I was born in the City of Portland Maine, but grew up in the town of Windham about twelve miles away.

How has your up bringing influence your writing?
Being brought up in the country with lots of woods and a nearby lake has influenced my natures side and given me many fond memories.

Are you married? If so, when and how did you meet?
My wife’s name is Sharon. We met in 1972 at a party at my friends house. She babysat for them.

Have you any children?
Yes – three girls, Katy, Sally and Emily.

When did you first start creatively writing and why? What prompted you to become a writer?
I started in high school mainly because I was trying to express feelings that I couldn’t express verbally. I loved reading poetry and other books but found that writing poetry was where I was best.

What is your favourite book?
Wow, that’s Hard as I am a very voracious reader and collector I have over 4000 books in my collection, would be hard pressed to pick just one, but probably the Tolkien series Lord of the Rings.

What is your favourite poetry?
That would have to be Frost’s “The Road Less Travelled”. I seem to always want to go to places no one has been before.

What is your favourite short story?
None

Who is your favourite writer?
Either Robert Heinlein or Anne McCaffery because of their characters you feel like they are real while reading the stories.

What is your Favourite song?
Again I have a vast collection of music that is very eclectic from hard rock to Jazz and trying to pick one would be too hard.

What are your Writing goals?
Well I have achieved the one goal of getting my poetry into a book format, now it is a matter of finding a way to advertise it and get a lot of it sold … lol.

What are your dream and goals?
To be able to continue writing and creating good poetry for many more years.

What are your Hobbies?
I like to sailboat, ice skate, swim, walk on moonlit shores, work with my hands.

What is the writing process like for you? Do you sweat blood or do the words come easily?
Usually the poems seem to write themselves, very few times do I have to sit and really think about what I want to write.

How many edits do you normally do before you feel your work is completed?
I never did edits till recently when I found a very good poetry site that gives very good critiques and shows you a better way with out compromising the poem as a whole.

“Time In New England” is a good example of that. It had four critique reviews and I do to those I changed the wording some and it became a tighter and better poem.

Do you have an advice for aspiring writers?
Yes write write lots and lots eventually you will find the best way of your own writing and find a lot of different posting places and take critiques without malice.