Three Creeks Press is the latest incarnation of a writing project over two decades in the making and, God willing, has at least a few more in front of it.
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| The first issue of the Kramer Paper To see what it looks like today, see "What is the Kramer Paper." |
This blog has its roots in the Kramer Paper, a newsletter I made for family and close friends. I released the first issue when I was just a wee lad, in October, of 2000; we were taking a plane ride to Nashville, TN the next day and I thought we should have some entertainment. Over the next few years, I continued to create newsletters, aside from a few hiatuses, and Kramer Papers are still being produced today.
I briefly experimented with blogging in the 2010s, creating an actual online version of the Kramer Paper itself. In hopes of running the online edition better, I began reading about Pro-blogging. But while the tips seemed helpful, it appeared that the objective of these professional blogs (and, I assumed, any effective blog) was not to use the blog as an artistic outlet, but to climb the ladder into relevance and write content that will grab the attention of search engines. I can respect the effort and calculation that goes into running such a blog, but I wasn't interested in restricting my writing that way. The Kramer Paper had always been a hobby for me, a way for me to explore and share the way I see the world around me. I decided that if that's what blogging was, then blogging wasn't for me. I threw the baby out with the bathwater.
While I ended up reverting to print, I'm glad I went through that journey. At the time, I was still running the Print Kramer Paper as I had when I was a boy, and in the process of examining writing advice and talking to friends who read it, I decided that I needed to re-imagine the Paper, and make it something new, and I am very pleased with the result. As I experimented with the blog, I examined what I wanted to say, and what sort of topics I wanted to cover. The Kramer Paper emerged stronger because of that. But I think abandoning my attempt to run a pro-blog was a good choice as well. That isn't the vision I have for the Kramer Paper. And that's ok.
As my writing has changed though, the articles in the Kramer Paper have turned into longer detailed essays. The Paper ballooned to 12-14 pages, and postage requirements did likewise. At times, I have found myself needing to chop articles out of the Paper to keep it short enough to mail first class. At the same time, I discovered that there are in fact many blogs that feature creative writing, so my writing style may not be as out of place as I had feared.
I decided it was time to return to the internet, but not to replace the print publication, but rather to supplement it. I will continue to make Printed issues--I enjoy formatting the documents almost as much as writing itself--but it seems that this project has outgrown the confines of the printed publication that gave birth to it. It's under a different name, though the Kramer Paper name and issue number can still be found at the bottom of each post.
As I've said many times before, I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy putting it together.
God Bless!
Steven
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