A New Start for my 45th Year

For my 45th birthday, I’m giving myself a thorough rebranding. For the last several years, I’ve been occasionally blogging and tweeting under the name of InkenSoul, based on a word I created when I was drinking with Peter Jenkins, author of A Walk Across America, after chasing my wanderlust to Alaska. The interaction inspired a poem in which I wrote “with our inkensouls we bleed,” and I’ve since given myself over to the fantastic notion that I am somehow a writer.

Unfortunately, as romantic as my intention was, I have often felt as if it has led me on the road to hell. Although I feel that I am quite good at writing, and thoroughly enjoy it when the juices are flowing, I sorta detest doing it with a pen, and there’s a lot of other things I enjoy doing as much, if not more. Besides, I often feel drawn to write about painful things that make people get mad at me, and while that’s probably not going to cease entirely, that’s not all I want to do with my life.

Basically, I think that just being me should be enough. I provide entertainment, thought provocation, inspiration, and encouragement through the variety of things I enjoy doing most. While I’ve carved out a life in which I get to do those things regularly, and get paid for them, I have succumbed to the addiction of “more” and want to expand my audience. Since my ill-thought branding hasn’t really encompassed the entirety of who I am, I figured it was time for a change.

Breaking it down as simply as I can, SteveMc.xyz is a site about me and what I do. If you like it, share it, and if you want more, let me know. Now that I’ve moved past the whole “ink” thing, I’ll probably write a lot more since I much prefer an iPad or a keyboard to get my words down.

In addition to the words, including the 541 blog posts I’ve written under InkenSoul and my next book Money, Sex, Power & Faith, I’ll also be sharing a number of videos and music. For instance, soon I’ll be releasing a song called Sweet Leaf Serenade, a bittersweet love song for tobacco I wrote as I expanded my branding into my personal life to become a Breather instead of a Smoker, and said goodbye to one of the most nefarious addictions humankind has ever faced. With the addition of Sara Stovall’s fiddle, on loan from Passerine, I hope it inspires a lot of people to choose healthier behavior over willingly ingesting toxins.

This will be an interesting journey, and I’m sure you’re going to see a lot of change happening on this site over the next year. After using my latest book to emancipate myself from the US government to form the Autonomous Nation of Stevetopia, I’ve also changed my Twitter handle from @inkensoul to @Stevetopian, seeing as I’m the only one. I’m just trying to keep things as simple as I can as I play with life’s complexities and try to make my way through them. I hope you dig it.