About Steve

“Every experience is a form of exploration.” — Ansel Adams

Adventure is the pursuit of the unknown. It is following your curiosity. But it is more than just what travel or the outdoors can provide; it can also be present in ordinary life.  If you can explore something new each day, you will live a rich and rewarding life. I write about all things adventurous.

My daughter McKinley and I on a hike

I didn’t always understand that I was supposed to be a writer. For the first 35 years of my life, writing was just a hobby. Like many writers, I began by avidly reading anything I could find–books, magazines, cereal boxes, street signs, and movie credits. I attempted my first short story when I was around ten years old, and the result was as awful as you can imagine a story by a 10-year old would be. As a socially awkward and kind of funny-looking teenager, I withdrew into the fantasy worlds I created on paper. Still, I never saw myself as a writer. I ignored my English teachers and professors who insisted otherwise. I was shocked when my college research paper won an award for being one of the best of the year–I saw it as more of an indictment of how horrible everyone else’s research papers must have been. And I declined an offer from my university’s English department to be one of the first tutors at its new Writing Center. Upon graduation from college, with a shiny new business degree in hand, my pencil and paper started collecting dust as I embarked on what I thought would be an exciting journey into adulthood and the business world.

My wife Liza and I at the top of Colorado’s Quandary Peak

Instead, I trudged through corporate America for more than 15 years before becoming so dangerously cynical and disillusioned that I had to leave. I was never good at navigating the politics of the business world and couldn’t bring myself to appreciate the emphasis it places on perceptions, power, and precious efficiency. And I aggravated my bosses with my lack of inspiration to climb the corporate ladder.

Far from a dead end, the business world was actually an opportunity for me to finally realize that I have all the disenchantment, self-consciousness, and eccentricity to be a successful writer. Like any stereotypical wordsmith, I am prone to daydream, feel chronically misunderstood, can sit for hours in a coffee shop with a laptop, and get unreasonably upset when others misuse to/too/two or their/there/they’re.

My furry climbing buddy Kodiak can climb mountains. He apparently can’t pose for the camera.

I’m an idealist; I place more importance on what should be instead of what is. I hope to inspire people by finding ways to improve myself and ways that we can improve our society. A strong motivation for my writing is a constant state of learning and a desire to share that knowledge with others. Above all, I want to connect. My work nearly always has a message. I want to entertain, provoke some thoughts, elicit some ideas, and help others see the world from a slightly different perspective. In life’s ordinary moments I hope to discover and share an extraordinary or subtle meaning that helps explain the mysteries of life.

You haven’t climbed the mountain until you’ve put your foot on the highest point.

Whether hiking through the wilderness or coasting through an ordinary day at work, there is a story in every adventure. I look forward to sharing mine with you.  My work has so far been found in The Denver Post, Medium.com, and on several other online outlets. When not being kept busy by my wife, Liza, and two young children, I write from Littleton, Colorado, while staring at the Rockies from my window. You can contact me at steve@stevegrimeswriter.com.