Check Out K.W. and Kelsey McLindsey’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to K.W. and Kelsey McLindsey

Hi K.W. and Kelsey, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Born in Columbus, Ohio, K.W. McLindsey’s formative years were spent immersed in the natural wonders of Northern Michigan. As a youth, he could often be found exploring the forests, honing his artistic talents through drawing and writing, or treading the boards in local theater productions. After obtaining a degree in Theater Performance, McLindsey ventured to the Southern United States, where he pursued various acting opportunities for several years. However, the call of his cherished Michigan eventually drew him back following the 2020 pandemic. These days, McLindsey calls Grand Rapids home, sharing his abode with his wife, Kelsey, dog, and two cats. His time is devoted to cultivating a garden, crafting wine, and, true to his roots, losing himself amidst the woodlands that have forever captured his imagination.

In the year 2017 he and his partner were devastated to learn that his cancer had resurfaced once again. Undergoing treatment for the next year he could do nothing but heal and escape using his vivid imagination. From his hospital bed a story began to unfold into a great creative endeavor. With the help of many loving and supportive people, the McLindsey’s formed a small indie publishing company together to make their creative dreams a reality. The summer of 2024, six years after his remission, K.W. published the first of his series, The Autumn Guard: The Breaking of Winter, a whimsical fantasy set in a vast
medieval world inhabited by anthropomorphic characters. The series was inspired by his reverence for nature, and religious research with themes of perseverance, climate anxiety, and overcoming despair through community.

Kelsey, with her background in illustration and animation, designed and formatted the book. Currently Kelsey is working alongside K.W. to create the rest of the series as well as work as a tattoo artist in Grand Rapids as well as freelance illustrations inspired by her love for 90’s cartoons and television.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Cancer required so much mental recovery as well as bodily. As soon as we were able to start living in normalcy, the pandemic of 2020 began. While living in Atlanta, it was a real struggle to find stability. This did, however, give K.W. plenty of time to work on his first manuscript. It was a year later that we decided to head north to Michigan a place that had become a sanctuary for us both, and it came with all the stress and heartache of leaving friends behind and struggling to find a home. We were incredibly lucky to find our house, a fixer-upper that was over 100 years old. Since 2021 we’ve been renovating this house and are proud of the space we’ve made for ourselves here. Other than that there was so much anxiety still, a world that was seemingly spinning out of control, all the while we researched and worked to find a way to publish these stories for ourselves, to find a way to take some sense of power from the process and we’ve been met with so much positivity. We don’t regret the path we took and the hardships we’ve faced to get here.
We really believe it is only the beginning.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
We are a couple of artists that collect hobbies. K.W. is an author but not just that, he’s written and produced a comedy radio play, he’s a talented actor and voice actor having been in theater and film productions, most notably the 4th season of Stranger Things. He’s also an avid gardener and wine maker, and is very proud of the veggies and native flowers blooming in the yard right now.

Kelsey graduated with a B.S. in animation and after two very rough apprenticeships she’s working on becoming a tattoo artist in Grand Rapids. She also is working on a graphic novel of her own, hoping to make that another project The Loon and the Moon (their indie publishing company) will produce. She has designed logos and covers for several books and comics as well as other small businesses and entrepreneurs .

We create unique tales and artwork that revolves around nature, pop culture, and religion. We believe it is a disservice to never share what is stirring within us as hard as it can be to put themselves out there, in the end, every creative endeavor works to serve our souls.

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
The importance of finding places, people and hobbies that make you happy. It was so hard to have friends slip out of our lives because they couldn’t find a way to connect with us, whether it was because of their own mental struggles or circumstances, we learned how communication was vital in keeping those relationships alive. We learned how to let go of things that no longer served us and to be free to change as people.

The world events that are out of our control only pushed us further into the things we found joy in, and made us never take people and places for granted. You could say it pushed us further into our art and our relationships and our hobbies to overcome the anxieties we now had to carry through life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kwmclindsey.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authormclindsey/
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/lunarloontattoo_n_/