We were lucky enough to get this illusive author to give us an in depth interview and share a grain of knowledge with our readers, enjoy.
Interview with Kim Richard Smith
Laura: What was your intent with your newest book, Warming Up?
Kim: Self-expression mainly. Of course, I really didn’t have any choice in the matter. A good idea is like a seed coming in contact with the soil (your energies): it knows not why, it just grows. Like the time that you lied to your best friend and it bothered you for days until you finally confessed. If you have something to say, you write like a sick cat eats grass.
Laura: What inspired you to write it?
Kim: The experience of losing my home and business, and subsequent experiment in essential living. Long story short, I used to own and operate a reputable publishing company, before running off into the woods to do my writing. For twenty years I worked my ass off, always believing that one day I would have earned enough money to retire to a little cabin out in the woods somewhere to work on my writing, when, come to find out, all I really needed was to pack my things in the trunk of my car and go. I guess I’m sort of hoping to inspire others to not make the same mistake that I had. So, I suppose you could say that I was inspired by the possibility of inspiring others.
Laura: What do you want readers to take away from the experience?
Kim: I guess that would depend on the reader. Each of us sees the world a little bit differently, and so each of us needs a little push in whatever direction is right for each of us personally. Some I hope will come away from it with an increased appreciation of Nature. Some I hope will find the joys of frugal living more desirable than the slavery of working to accumulate material wealth and power. Others I hope will find the courage to go their own way and live by the principles of their own good sense.
Laura: Did you learn anything in the writing of this book, or in the process of the experience you’re writing about?
Kim: A truly successful life is one in which the difference between work and play cannot be distinguished.
Laura: What got you started in the world of literature?
Kim: When I was fourteen, the first time I ran away from home, I was lost and lonely beyond belief. My sister introduced me to a little book, Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse. It’s a fascinating tale involving a man’s search for meaning. My total outlook on life was changed by the experience of reading that book, and I fell in love with the power of words to change the way people think.
Laura: Have any favorites amongst your writings or subject matters?
Kim: Many. Although my most recent work, Warming Up, I suspect will remain my all-time favorite to the end of my days. It says it all—everything that I have ever had to say—in one way or another. In fact, the current version of Warming Up was published as a synopsis. I had to write over six-hundred pages to get the ninety-six which I published. The larger version won’t be ready for another couple years. So, I’m still working on it.
Perhaps I should share with you a little clip from the Overview of the book:
“The problem is—why this work is taking me so long, I believe—is that I have fallen so helplessly and hopelessly in love with the process of working it all out in my head, that to actually complete the work would take all the fun out of it for me. “The finest workers in stone are not steel or copper tools,” wrote Thoreau, “but the gentle touches of air and water working at their leisure with a liberal allowance of time.” So, I have often seen myself in this way, slowly chipping away at the formation of these essays—which has become a labor of love for me.”
Laura: Speaking of favorites, do you have any favorite books that you’ve read, articles or authors?
Kim: In general, I am very particular about what I read. I believe that everything we read leaves a lasting impress on us, in the way that we think, and in the way that we string our words and sentences together. I’m still working on my own voice, so there are only a very few rare authors that I will trust my mind with. I can’t stand a lot of chatter.
In fact, that brings to mind one of the problems that I have with our present day educational system. By the time most kids finish junior high school, their minds are already ruined, I think, from reading all that stuff that never really speaks to them. Fortunately for me, I had the good sense to get out of that racket before too much damage had been done. I say this with a sense of humor, of course.
“There was nothing wrong with getting a good education, of course, except that there was equal value in not having one’s thoughts and opinions restrained by conventional wisdom—which was, after all, at least in part the business of our public schools system, it would seem: to keep us all in sync.” —from Warming Up.