Steve Ramirez's Blog, page 3

Signed Copies of Casting Homeward and all of the Lyons Press Casting Series!

Bob & Lisa White had a box of 60 signed copies of Casting Homeward last week. I’m happy to report that they have only 15 signed copies remaining.

Go to BobWhite Studio

and get them y’all!

And if you are missing any in the set, they have signed hardcover copies of the first three books. Bob is currently the soul source of signed copies.

It’s fitting that the first people to send me a photo of themselves holding all four books in my Lyons Press “Casting Series” would be two of my favorite people on Earth- Bob and Lisa White!

It’s been such an honor to have Bob as the illustrator of all four books… and to have Bob and Lisa as my friends.

I’ve admired Bob’s work for many years before we ever met and became friends. And both of these wonderful people have been a big part of this literary journey that has unfolded over eight years, thousands of miles of traveling by air, sea, and land, countless hours of research and logistical planning, and countless more hours of writing, self-editing, and production.

Writer Need Readers.

I appreciate every one of you who chooses to read my heartfelt words.

It’s been a magical and hard fought journey from the first words of Castings Forward to the last words of Casting Homeward.

With all my heart, I hope this collection of stories and meanings adds something of value to your life.

Guess where my fifth book project is taking me next?

After having an incredible experience with my friends David Blinken and Tarpon Town Anglers Raul Castañeda down in beautiful Campeche, Mexico… I will be heading to the Baja and the Sea of Cortez to fish with my newest old friend Gary Bulla. I meet the best people on earth through fly fishing and outdoor adventures.

When I wrote “Casting Seaward” my sweet friend Aileen Hitomi Lane introduced me to Kesley Gallagher, (Who has never caught a small fish in her life!)... and we’ve been friends ever since.

Well, the universe seems to lead me where I’m supposed to go because almost simultaneously Kesley Gallagher and my buddy Kirk Deeter told me that I needed to meet Gary…so it was destined to happen.

As you may know, I don’t really write “fishing stories” as much as I am quite purposefully writing books that contain messages and meanings that we all seem to be yearning for in these often troubled times.

But self-induced human troubles or not I want you all to know that I still feel hopeful, joyful, and optimistic.

Together we can make the human world a better world and in doing so… save this beautiful planet.

I am forever grateful for all the good people who have made it possible for me to write these stories … our stories…

and to all of you who choose to read them.

Writers Need Readers.

I write for us... not for me.

Keep Casting Forward

~ Steve

Casting Homeward Completes the Collection!

Go There! Campeche was amazing!

It was truly one of my favorite places thus far - and that's sayin a lot. Being at Tarpon Town Anglers and hanging out with my buddy Raul Castañeda was a joy.

I saw hundreds of tarpon and caught fish every day. One member of our group landed 12 tarpon in a morning... And I should have landed 12 the morning prior but I lost 8 of them and boated 4. Every day was different. The jumps are explosive, the battles epic. David had a tarpon that was leaping into the branches of a mangrove tree and he pulled it away in midair.

And I was so impressed with the people of Campeche who I met and the culture that I experienced. This a beautiful, vibrant, safe, friendly place to visit and I'd go again in a heartbeat!

And, there is no one else I'd never even consider fishing with in Campeche than - Tarpon Town Anglers Raul Castañeda - period.

Raul and his staff make you feel at home - in what was once - his home. The people of Campeche, Mexico were inviting and made me feel welcome. I'm so glad I went there.

There is one opening for the November trip to Tarpon Town Anglers Raul Castañeda via my dear friend David Blinken. I won't be going on that trip but it's worth thinking about because the bigger fish usually come in the Campeche during that time. If you're interested just let me know and I will connect you to David.

So.... as for Campeche, Mexico and Tarpon Town Anglers Raul Castañeda - Absolutely Go There!

Namaste' Y'all... Keep Casting Forward!

A Few Kind Words About Casting Homeward... Lyons Press Release Date, September 3rd. Available for Preorder Now!

“When Steve Ramirez goes fishing, he takes in the whole world. When he writes, we share in his vision—it is immediate, immensely pleasurable, and, when he is firing on all cylinders, downright profound.”

 

—Peter Kaminsky, editor of Catch of a Lifetime, New York Times columnist

 

 

“Casting Homeward is Steve Ramirez’s best book to date. Within it, he brings a much-needed soothing voice to this era of cacophony.”

 

—Monte Burke, New York Times best-selling author of Lords of the Fly

 

 

“Casting Homeward is a transformative adventure exploring the healing power of nature and fly fishing. Since featuring his first book, Casting Forward, in my film Mending the Line, I can attest that Steve’s writing is an immersive, beautiful journey”

 

—Joshua Caldwell, director of the feature film Mending the Line

 

 

“Steve Ramirez picks up his fly rod and takes us fishing from Texas to Alaska to the East Coast, searching for a restorative bond with the natural world. Ramirez mixes fishing waters, a host of friends, and more as he searches for—and finds—hope and home where he casts his fly.”

 

—John N. Maclean, author of Home Waters

 

 

“Ramirez’s quest for meaning with a fly rod in hand takes the reader on a soulful journey to the most beautiful places in the country. Casting Homeward is another perfect cast through the water that flows through his life.”

 

—Jerry Kustich, author of A Wisp in the Wind

 

 

“This is a wonderful look at places I may never fish, but it doesn’t matter; I get taken along for a gentle ride there and am happy to be a passenger.

—Pete Tyjas, editor-in-chief, Fly Culture 

Monday Morning Thoughts...

“Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder. Help someone's soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd.”

~Rumi

I have been fortunate enough to travel to many faraway places meeting and coming to know people along the way who were born into so many different worlds from the one I was brought into - in this lifetime. And everywhere, no matter how far removed from the place I call "Home," there has been element of both human darkness and light, and every shade in between. In each of us, there is at least in inkling of light - and at least a hint of the deepest darkness. None of us are immune to human nature.

It is in the givers of light that I hold my hopes and dreams.

And I always seek to be a giver of light whenever possible.

Since my childhood growing up between the Everglades and Gulf Stream, not far from the Jupiter Lighthouse, I have been drawn to these human created lights that have been constructed along the most treacherous of shorelines. If we think about it, and we should, they a symbols of the best in humanity.

Whenever we work to provide light, safety, and comfort to those who will come, long after we have cross that final river, we are committing an act of Pure Love.

We are planting a tree to provide shade that we will never know. We are living outside ourselves - a part of the Universe.

Our True Home.

Today... as I do every day, I will seek to “Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder. Help someone's soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd.”

I cannot build lights of stone, brick, mortar, and steel.

So I build hopefully lasting lights with the only thing I have to offer- meaningful words.

This is my gift to others - the tree that I plant, and the light that I hope to ignite.

You and "We" and our Beautiful Planet are the reasons I write.

Thank you one and all for choosing to read my books and essays.

Writer need Readers.

Namaste' Y'all...

Nothing but Love and Courage.

Keep Casting Forward!

~ Steve

Something I Love to See... "Book Stacks!

I love to see and experience where and how my books Live in People's Lives and within their favorite "Reads" ... I like to call these, " Book Stack Images."

As I always say and write - Writers Need Readers.

I never understand those writers who begin to believe in their "public persona" as created by booksellers and promoters. I am so deeply humbled and appreciative of every single reader my work is fortunate enough to gather into this beautiful tribe that I am working hard to create.

I see us as a community who as all in this journey Together.

My words and work are worthless without each of you.

So from the deepest parts of my beat-up heart,

Thank you, one and all for reading my books and my essays in Fly Fisherman. You, give me purpose, and hope.

Namaste' Ya'll!

We Travel Together...

Keep Casting Forward!

A Thought for these Times… and All Times

These may seem like frightening times and in purely human terms, perhaps they are, but if they are, those demons we grapple with are of our own making.

As for me… I am calm.

I remain joyful and grateful.

As a Marine and Dignitary Protection/Counterterrorism/and Emergency Response Specialist I was always calm when things seemed desperate… because… why not?

The tougher it got and the closer to death I was the calmer I became.

There is a certain peace in letting go of expectations and simply doing what you can do and accepting what you can’t.

Life will unfold as it will and there has as of yet never been a time in human history where these same old dark stories has not played and replayed - it’s always the same people with different faces.

All I can do…all any of us can do is stand firm without fear or anger or hate but rather with courage, compassion, and love.

We should never become what we loathe.

I feel sad for those who throw their lives away on anger, fear, and hate.

These things destroy souls from the inside.

Love heals.

I can’t control what happens, but I can control my response (not reaction), and in doing so … I lead by example.

Whenever something that reflects the tragic darkness in humanity does occur - we are called upon to choose between reflecting deeper darkness - or replacing it with brighter light.

And, you mat be wondering...

"What can I do? I'm just one person!" - said 8. billion people.

At no time did Jesus, Buddha, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. or Black Elk teach anger, hate, fear, or vengeance.

They all taught courage, wisdom, forgiveness, and love.

That’s the philosophy I follow.

Love is my religion.

So my friends, let’s lead the way together… and turn the corner in a new and healthier direction.

Let’s never lose sight of our individual role in making this world a better place…

Healing not Harming

Here is one final thought I offer in hope that it helps us to keep our positive perspective and avoid allowing “circumstances” to cause us any discomfort…

Remember:

If you are sad you are allowing yourself to exist in the past- and the past no longer exist except in your mind… it’s over.

If you are anxious you are allowing yourself to exist in the future and the future doesn’t exist yet… it hasn’t happened.

If you LIVE in the Now you can choose to focus on all that is strong and beautiful in life… and you can be strong and beautiful yourself. So… why not?

Namaste’ Y’all

Thinking of "my literary children"

“Casting Homeward is Steve Ramirez’s best book to date. Within it, he brings a much-needed soothing voice to this era of cacophony.”

~ Monte Burke, New York Times best-selling author of Saban and Lords of the Fly

In many ways, Casting Forward took me a lifetime to experience and writer. In mere human temporal terms, about two years. Each of my literary children takes me about two years of my near constant attention and daily renewal of a sense of passion and purpose to write - but they are born upon a foundation of struggle and triumph where the struggle is long and the triumph seems ephemeral. So it is not hyperbole to say that this set of four books and many stories, lessons, and pleadings are my literary children and perhaps the last best gifts I have to give to this wounded, burning, lovely, magical world.

I don't want to let the cacophony of tyrants, would be tyrants, and fearful fools to drown out the messages of hope and joy and urgency that theses books and their vital remembrances and refrains have to offer - in the creation of a new movement of human beings who recognize the "Power of One" and the great gift we are squandering as we amuse ourselves by "playing with the box."

I hope you will Travel With Me on this journey and the ones yet to come. Each builds upon the other. The four books of the "Lyons Press Casting Series" bring us "full circle" back to the Home we have been given and the one we are creating. They are sunrises that remind us that the sun will set again - all too soon.

Namaste' Y'all...

~ Steve

The Imperfect Texan Buddha and Warrior -Poet

Mending the Line

“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.”

~Haruki Murakami

Last night was a rough one.

I have been sleeping pretty well recently which is an unusual joy for me, but last night was filled with unpleasant "PTSDreams" that woke me - again and again.

This week is a medical visit and test week which I always find unnerving and is a trigger for my PTSD - the feeling of helplessness and waiting.

And there has been a lot of waiting in trepidation in my life from waiting alone in an empty room for my mother to come and dole out my punishment for being born, to waiting alone on a Marine Corps security post for the attack to come from the Islamic Jihad, to waiting alone in an emergency room with leads on my chest as they prepared me for the MRI to see how much damage was done to my concussed head. Always, there is waiting alone and a sense of helplessness and some dreaded outcome.

But the brutal beatings and the attempted bombings and the many patch ups that have been done on my high-mileage bio-vehicle have been part my journey - just like morning coffee and birdsong, love in the afternoon, and good food, wine, and laughter in the evening.

It's just life for an Imperfect Texan Buddha and Warrior -Poet who has been "destroyed" again and again but has never been defeated.

It is in hardship that we are all defined.

I recognize my my many broken places but choose my response to them.

Do you?

It takes practice and, I am always relearning what I've always known.

As I write this it is the morning after the night that left me disquieted and unrested - but I am counting my many blessings.

And now I am sipping my glorious Peruvian coffee while watching the chickadees, wrens, titmice, cardinals, and finches at my feeder and the black chinned hummingbirds hovering over my pollinator gardens.

I am living a grateful life.

No matter our hardship we all have reasons to be grateful as long as we are breathing.

Let's all be resolved to get stronger and more brilliant at our broken places and to allow the light to shine in between the cracks.

Even on a cloudy day, there is Joy in the promise of raindrops and wildflowers.