The Bright Light Café Presents ...

Stephen Pray

Biography     Photos     Performance     Poems

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.