Kandy Noles Stevens

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kandy.noles.stevens

Twitter: @realsweetgrace

Blog: www.kandynolesstevens.com

Website: www.mizstevenspublishingllc.com

Dr. Kandy Noles Stevens has a story for everything, loves connecting with nature and gives names to most plants and animals (just ask her about Frank sometime), loves gardening and cannot imagine a world without basil (or zucchini), and fills every glass of tea to the rim with ice first. She kiddingly describes herself as an educator by day and superhero by night. Dr. Kandy takes every opportunity to volunteer and give her time and talents for children, students, the elderly and the environment in her community. She is an award-winning educator who has taught everything from 2nd grade to graduate students and she loves making her favorite subjects come to life for others. She grew up mostly in Florida where she spent every day playing outside which is where she found a love for nature, animals and gardening. She was a chemist before becoming a STEM educator, but has spent a lifetime using her imagination to problem solve creative answers to math and science problems and to craft stories that reach people of all ages. She is the author of the compelling the redbird sings the song of hope: and other stories of love through loss and the children’s picture book (which was illustrated by her bonus daughter), Red was Blue. She and her daughters founded Miz Stevens Publishing LLC. In addition, to being a professor and writer, she travels around the country as an educational and inspirational speaker. She lives with her family, their dogs, a few homing pigeons, and a pesky robin who thinks he owns her mailbox.

My storytelling origins:

Growing up, any family gathering involved lots of amazing food, followed by hours of extended family sitting around a table, in the yard, or on the front porch just swapping stories. The joy and the laughter that came from those stories seemed to be engrained in my DNA. On my mother’s side of the family, when our family grew too large to gather around our grandparent’s table, all the children were relegated to the dreaded kids’ table. As the oldest grandchild, that move broke my heart because I was no longer in the center of the best storytelling. The second oldest and I decided to create our story world at the kids’ table were every family gathering we would transport ourselves from the converted carport now extra dining space in Pensacola, Florida to Paris. Beyond just fine dining in France, we created elaborate stories when we played at our grandparents, especially when we all got together at our family’s fish camp. Whether gathered with family or just at our homes, we spent the majority of our time playing outside and that is where I fell in love with nature. Even as a child, I could spend hours creating stories just simply watching insects work, listening to the birds sing, working in the garden, or swimming in the Gulf of Mexico. Every living thing had a story to tell and I imagined those stories come alive.

Why Imagination Matters:

My whole life I have had an active imagination and a sense of wonder with how the world works. Both attributes have been pivotal in my career as a scientist and as a STEM educator, but they have also fueled my ability to dream of possibilities. That ability is where most of my stories originate. In addition to having daily reading time as a ritual with our children, I would often make up stories to keep them entertained. We would name the pesky squirrels in the backyard and imagine elaborate stories about what they were doing. I did the same for my students, especially when I taught elementary and middle school. I would create characters who often added shenanigans to our assessments to give students a reason to laugh. The evil Dr. Cant-read would try to keep the 2nd grade class from achieving their reading goals, while Johnny Cheapskate flubbed up all his relationships but had most of his life revolve around scientific concepts.

An Author is Born:

Even with all those stories I created for those I loved; I never imagined that I would become an author. A family tragedy changed everything. My children were involved in a school bus crash which resulted in the death of our oldest son and severe injuries to two of our other children. Over the next few years, we spent most of our time in and out of hospitals, therapy centers, and doctor visits. During those dark days, I started a Caringbridge to keep others informed of our children’s progress. People started following our stories from all over the world. As our children began to need less medical care, keeping the Caringbridge site open didn’t seem necessary, but so many people all over the glove had become accustomed to our stories. I was asked to start a blog, which is still open today, www.kandynolesstevens.com. I share our life and often the perspective of life events through the lens of being an educator or as a grieving mom.

During some of our ordeal, someone asked me to share how my family made it through that life-changing moment, and that was how my first book became a reality. At first, I didn’t think I had much to say about grief and living through it, but when I really stopped to think I realized I did. It took eight years to write the book, but I love hearing from readers all over the world how my words touched their lives and how my stories helped them to feel not so alone in their grief.

The Stories Continued:

After the success of my first book, I realized that the stories I have created over the years have entertained children (and adults too), and that storytelling is a gift to share with others. As an educator, I see how often hope and inspiration can change the outcome of most situations, and that desire to bring joy to others is always a central facet of all of my stories. Some in family joke that my passion for uplifting others stems from my college cheerleader days. Most of my stories begin with a thought or an observation of something from real life and then I spend time thinking about how to make sense of the story to entertain and to uplift.

How Do I Find Balance:

The short answer – I take naps. Even my best friends tell me that I exhaust them sometimes. The reality is teaching is my passion, and writing happens in between my responsibilities as a professor and mom. Depending on the type of book I am writing, it may take years to complete or it may come together very quickly. Red was Blue popped up as an idea (in the middle of the night) on how to encourage children that not everything was cancelled during the pandemic, but also to acknowledge it is okay to have big emotions and to learn how to live through them. Writing was quick, revising and working the illustrator took months. While my imagination is always crafting new stories, I squeeze in writing every opportunity I can because I truly believe stories matter.