On Thursday, Oct. 19, Professor Curtis Smith had a sit-down talk about his new book, “The Lost and The Blind,” in the Jay’s Lounge. He started off the evening by reading the first portion of his novel. It tells of a heartbreaking story about a teenager that had parental issues throughout his entire childhood. His father is not mentioned but his mother struggles with drug abuse, forcing them to move from house to house. 

Following this reading, Smith talked of his writing process. He talked about how this novel was meant to stand alone as a short story. The original story only included the first chapter of the book, but he just kept thinking back to this story and was inspired to make it longer. It also helped, as Smith put it, that he, “had some free time during the pandemic.” 

This first chapter led to some questions on how Smith thought about writing something like this. In addition to him saying that he “often writes about class and poverty,” Smith was a high school teacher for over thirty years, and he heard about some terrible situations these children were in. While this story is not about a particular person, it was inspired by those situations. 

But before any of this, where did Curtis Smith start out? He told the audience that it all started with his mother. His mother is largely into reading and still reads a book a day up to the present. He realized that he wanted an “artistic outlet,” and because of constant reading in his childhood, writing ended up sticking for him. Writing was always engaging and caused “hours [to] just go away.” Smith’s writing tool of choice is the simple pen and paper from the very beginning. When asked if he would ever go back to the beginning and change anything, he simply stated, “I kind of learned along the way; I don’t think I could’ve gotten here without being there.” 

Smith has currently six published novels and always has new ones being crafted. He predominately writes fiction, but nonfiction has been on his radar before. However, he said, “nonfiction is difficult for me,” because it is like “carving marble.” He enjoys the creative freedom that fiction gives him. “I have to see where things are going first,” Smith said about crafting fiction. He takes situations that come from his imagination or real life and asks, “what if?” questions. What if this happens? What if this character does this to another? These questions allow him to imagine beyond the surface of things. He writes until he feels like he is getting tired of the novel or story and then moves on to something else. He ultimately will come back to past novels or stories to finish them later. 

Smith was asked if he ever wants to change anything after his novels are finished, and he said, “I don’t know if I’m ever really satisfied.” The question then continued to if he ever reads his work after it is published. He simply and humorously answered, “No, I already know the ending.” 

Smith worked hard to get to where he is today. He talked of how there is a lot of up and down in the writing process and one must accept that failure is normal. To get his novels published, he tries to go to smaller companies that are looking for what he is writing about at the time. For him to figure this out, he said he, “kind of just did my homework and researched them.

Curtis Smith’s novel, “The Lost and The Blind,” is out now for purchase; he also has more on the way for all students interested to enjoy!