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This episode of our podcast is a tribute for a giant figure in the history of North Carolina. Governor Jim Hunt served for 16 years and he led the way in education reform in our region of the country. The modern North Carolina owes much to his leadership in the state. 

It also is a tribute to one of the great reporter of our time, journalist Peter Arnett. He had a distinctive voice that you recognized from the moment he spoke his first words in any report. He was on the front lines of war zones, revolutions, and manhunts all over the world from war torn regions of the Middle East, to Africa, South America, and Europe. He won two Pulitzer prizes. He passed away at age 90. 

This episode is also dedicated to three friends:  Dr. Fred Paul Norman, who helped me lose 100lbs and is the founder of the Myrtle Beach Diet Center in the community where we record these shows, Gerry McDaniel who was an activist in our community for years and former Vice President Dick Cheney who we forgot to mention in our 2025 wrap up episode despite having done two shows when he passed away earlier this year. 

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Happy New Year 2026!! 

In this episode we say farewell to many iconic figures on the national scene, and here locally where we record this show. 

Sadly, we had so many passings in 2025 we are having to divide the New Year show in half this year. This episode we look back at the many people we lost this year. 

This episode is especially dedicated to a good friend from my college days at Lander University, who was also my first party Chairman in the College Republicans, Brian McCarty, he was one of those few figures both in life, and especially in politics, that you never heard a hard word said about nor did he have one to say about anyone else. He will be missed by all who knew him. 

In our episode tomorrow night we will look forward at the many projects in store for next year. 

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Ernest Hemingway's life was a testament to his belief in living authentically and drawing from rich, personal experience for his writing. His three primary homes in
Key West,  Havana, and Ketchum were more than just residences; they were essential backdrops and sources of inspiration for his work, each intrinsically linked to his lifestyle and creativity. Unifying these locales, and a symbol of his deep connection to the sea, was his beloved fishing boat, the Pilar.

In Key West, Florida (his home during the 1930s), Hemingway found a laid-back, "bohemian" atmosphere that fostered a disciplined writing routine in the mornings and deep-sea fishing adventures in the afternoons with local friends, later dubbed the "Key West Mob". The house on Whitehead Street, a National Historic Landmark, provided a stable base where he wrote works like To Have and Have Not and numerous short stories.

His time in Key West served as a gateway to Havana, Cuba, where he eventually moved and lived for over two decades, longer than anywhere else. His home there,  Finca Vigía (Lookout Farm), offered the quiet and space where he wrote some of his most celebrated work, including For Whom the Bell Tolls and the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Old Man and the Sea. It was from the nearby village of Cojimar that he and his captain, Gregorio Fuentes, would set out on the Pilar.

The 38-foot custom Wheeler yacht, the Pilar, was a constant companion for 27 years, serving as an escape from the pressures of fame and the setting for big-game fishing exploits that earned him a reputation as a founder of sportfishing. The boat was a personal and literary anchor, its name a nickname for his second wife Pauline and a character in For Whom the Bell Tolls. It became a literal and figurative vessel that carried him to the experiences he translated into raw, real stories.

Finally, Ketchum, Idaho, became his autumn retreat and final home in the late 1950s, after planning to leave Cuba amidst political tensions. In the rugged landscape of Idaho, he hunted and fished the rivers and plains, finding a different kind of solace. It was here, struggling with deteriorating health and depression, that he ultimately ended his life in 1961, leaving behind a legacy deeply tied to the physical locations that shaped his life and literature.

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In this epsode we examine the mythology around the life of Ernest Hemingway. How it has shaped his place in american Literature. We follow him from war to Key west, to Havana, Cuba. 

Then we travel out west as the Castro Government takes control of Cuba and the ongoing bad blood between the American Government and Castro make it impossible for Hemingway to return to his beloved home in Cuba. We see Hemingway sink into the depression that will eventually lead to his suicide in Idaho. 

This is that part of the story. 

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This episode is the first of three episodes that centers on the biggest star in all of American Literature, the great Ernest Hemingway. 

Ernest Hemingway's writing tips center on a minimalist style, a disciplined work ethic, and his famous "Iceberg Theory" (or theory of omission), which suggests that the deeper meaning of a story should be implied rather than explicitly stated. 

Here are his core writing tips and advice:

Style and Technique

• Be brief and use simple language: Employ short sentences and paragraphs to create a direct, clear, and impactful prose style. Avoid flowery or ornamental language, adverbs, and adjectives wherever possible.
• Write one true sentence: When experiencing writer's block or starting a new piece, focus on writing one simple, honest, and factual sentence you know to be true. This can provide the anchor to build the rest of the story.
• Show, don't tell: Instead of describing emotions or themes directly, present the specific actions, dialogue, and details that allow the reader to infer the underlying meaning and emotion for themselves.
• Master the "Iceberg Theory": The visible part of your story (the words on the page) should only be a fraction of the whole. The majority of the meaning, informed by the writer's deep knowledge of the subject and character motivations, should reside as subtext beneath the surface.
• Use vigorous English and strong verbs: Employ active voice and precise, powerful verbs to drive the narrative and avoid passive constructions or weak language. 
  
  

Process and Discipline

• Establish a consistent routine: Hemingway was highly disciplined, waking early (often between 5:30 and 6 a.m.) to write in a quiet, distraction-free environment for several hours each morning.
• Stop while you're still "going good": To avoid writer's block, always stop writing for the day when you still know what will happen next. This leaves something in the "well" for the next morning, making it easier to start again.
• Edit ruthlessly: Expect the first draft to be poor and embrace the revision process. Hemingway famously rewrote the ending of A Farewell to Arms 47 times, believing that all good writing requires meticulous editing and rewriting.
• Read widely and compete with the "dead greats": A writer should read everything to understand what has been done and set a high standard for their own work by competing with established masters.
• Live first, write later: Draw heavily on personal experience, observation, and research. The authenticity in his writing came from truly knowing his subjects (hunting, fishing, war, love) and filtering them through an intimate viewpoint. 
  
  

By adhering to these principles, Hemingway aimed to create prose that was honest, authentic, and emotionally resonant, allowing the reader to experience the story as if it happened to them personally. 

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Two Great authors and one inspirational city are the focus of this episode. 

Sinclair Lewis 

Sinclair Lewis's writing advice, often delivered directly to his students or in letters, focused on the practicalities of a writing life and the raw discipline required. Some of his most memorable guidance includes the reminder that "real writers" are unstoppable and the emphasis that writing is simply hard work. 

Focus and discipline

• Don't fool yourself. Lewis advised writers, "You can fool the critics but never yourself". 
• Embrace the hard work.
• Ignore discouraging words. 
• Turn off distractions. 

Writing craft

• Write with your ear. Lewis insisted that writers and readers should use their ears, not just their eyes.
• Write what truly interests you. He advised, "Write about what really interests you... and nothing else". 
• Be painstakingly clear. 
• Save your drafts. He suggested that if you give up on a piece of writing, you should put it in a drawer instead of throwing it away. He found that much of his best work came from revising or rewriting things he had abandoned years earlier.
• Know your words.
• Consider not using a typewriter.

Advice to his students

When Lewis taught at the University of Minnesota, he had some pointed words for his class. : 

• Compete with the best. 
• Possess a "divine egotism". Lewis encouraged a form of confidence and ambition in his students.
• Live righteously. 

Tennessee Williams 

Based on his journals and interviews, Tennessee Williams' writing advice centers on honest, emotionally-driven storytelling and consistent practice. He encouraged writers to focus on the human heart, avoid distractions, and embrace the fragile, conflicted parts of themselves and their characters. 

Write honestly and from within

• Focus on inner tension. 
• Be autobiographical. 
• Identify with vulnerable characters. Williams found it easier to write about people who were fragile, lonely, or on the verge of hysteria,
• Embrace the full messiness of your characters. He encouraged writers to let their characters "fight," "claw their way toward something," and be "messy and holy and tired" instead of being quiet and acceptable. 

Overcome your inner critic

• Believe in your first draft.
• Believe in yourself.
• Recognize the dual nature of your work. After the first draft, Williams noted that a play is never as good or as bad as you think it is. The truth lies somewhere in the middle, and a writer must push past these self-assessments. 

Cultivate a strong work ethic

• Work every day.
• Revise relentlessly. 
• Be a "wasteful writer." Williams admitted to generating a lot of material that he didn't use, going through multiple drafts before finalizing a work. For him, a lot of writing was necessary to arrive at what was good. 

Capture and express emotional truth

• Don't bore the audience. 
• Tell the truth, even if it's shocking. 
• Find inspiration in small observations.

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This episode gathers some great advice from the best authors of our current time. It is a fun episode. 

The collective writing advice from these authors emphasizes core principles of discipline, clarity, honesty, and reader engagement, while acknowledging that individual processes can vary (e.g., plotters vs. "pantsers").

Common and Diverse Themes

• Discipline and Consistency: King, Mosley, and Oates all stress the importance of a regular, consistent writing schedule, often daily, to build momentum and allow ideas to "bubble up" from the subconscious.
• Clarity and Simplicity: Vonnegut, King, and Mosley advocate for clear, simple language, avoiding jargon or overly "fancy" words to ensure the reader is engaged and can easily understand the story.
• Reader Empathy: A central tenet for Vonnegut and King is to respect the reader's time and attention, making sure every sentence moves the story forward or reveals character, and that the reader feels their time was not wasted.
• Honesty and Personal Voice: The authors encourage finding your own natural voice and writing about subjects you genuinely care about, believing this authenticity is what truly connects with readers.
• The Primacy of Story/Character over Plot: King and Mosley are notably skeptical of rigid plotting, preferring to place interesting characters in a situation and discover the story as they write. Conversely, Vonnegut suggests starting as close to the end as possible, implying a clear destination is necessary.
• Rigorous Editing: There is universal agreement on the necessity of editing. King suggests cutting 10% of a first draft and letting it "marinate" before revisiting, while Vonnegut talks about having the "guts to cut" anything that doesn't advance the narrative.

Individual Author Highlights

• Kurt Vonnegut: Famous for his "8 Rules," including the instruction to make awful things happen to characters "so that the reader may see what they are made of" and to use the time of a stranger wisely.
• Walter Mosley: Emphasizes that writing is a form of self-discovery and encourages writers to "write without restraint" in the first draft, exploring the darker sides of characters to make them believable.
• Stephen King: Strongly advocates for reading a lot and writing a lot, viewing writing as a form of "telepathy" where the writer transmits thoughts to the reader. He advises avoiding passive voice and adverbs.
• Lee Child: Stresses that "character is king" and that the writer's main qualification is being a reader. He also has specific advice on pacing, suggesting writing "fast stuff slow, the slow stuff fast".
• John Grisham: (Specific tips were not available in the provided snippets, but his work is a prime example of effective, fast-paced plotting that aligns with many of the above principles, particularly the idea of starting close to the action and keeping the reader engaged).
• Joyce Carol Oates: Focuses on using physical details and setting to reveal characters' interior psychological conditions, with details carrying implicit meaning within the story.

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Pat Conroy’s writing tips focus on using personal experience to craft honest, passionate prose. His advice emphasizes deep exploration of one's inner world, dedicated hard work, and the importance of reading widely. 

On finding your subject

• Write to understand your own life. Conroy wrote to make sense of his own story and invited readers to join him in the journey. He believed a writer's "central agony cowers in the limestone cave, licking its wounds, awaiting my discovery of it".
• Draw from your memories. Conroy frequently mined his difficult childhood, particularly his father's violence, as the central truth of his work. He wrote for the "people who can't speak" and explored where his life and relationships had gone off course.
• Use your life as fuel, not as a script. As a "creative non-fiction" writer, Conroy used his experiences to inform his fictional stories and craft complex characters, rather than simply presenting estranged family members with their names changed.
• Gather stories. Conroy was an avid collector of stories, treating them like "rare stamps" or a library of music. He was known to claim a good story for his own writing if he heard it. 

On the writing process

• Write the first draft by hand. Conroy famously wrote the first drafts of his books on long yellow legal pads with a pen, preferring to lose himself in the narrative flowing from his hand.
• Dedicate yourself to hard, fanatical work. Conroy described writing as "hard labor and one of the most pleasant forms that fanaticism can take." He believed nothing lazy should ever enter his books.
• Practice with an "ironclad" schedule. Writing requires discipline and a consistent schedule. Conroy committed to a routine no matter where he was, knowing that the process "does not permit much familiarity with chaos".
• Go deeper, then go deeper again. He instructed writers to dive past the surface of their narratives. Your job, he said, is to discover the angels or demons—the enigmas—buried within you.
• Write for yourself. While Conroy loved his readers and answered every letter he could, he believed that ultimately, you write for yourself. Your art is "desperately trying to make its own voice heard to you"—you just need to listen. 

On language and craft

• Listen to the sound of your sentences.  He insisted words had to "come out right".
• Pursue amplitude and exactness. Early in his career, Conroy was drawn to extravagance, but over time, he learned that "exactness is a virtue in even the most word-possessed writer". His writing balances lyrical, lush prose with simple and well-stated truths.
• Capture the spirit of a place. Conroy was a master of place, especially the South Carolina Lowcountry. He advised writers to make locations concrete, exact, and so vivid that they are indispensable to the story.
• Trust the power of story. The most powerful words, according to Conroy, are, "Tell me a story." 

On reading and learning

• Read everything, especially your contemporaries. 
• Read 200 pages a day. 
• Embrace the long apprenticeship. Conroy believed that his first, "naive" book, The Boo, taught him that he had a long way to go and would have to work as hard as any writer alive to master his craft. 

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James Bond meets Harry Potter in this episode of our series. Two favorites of mine from across the pond in this special edition. 

Ian Fleming's writing tips emphasize speed, research, clarity, and sensory detail to keep the reader engaged and "turn over the page". He wrote primarily for "pleasure and money," aiming to create compelling thrillers rather than "Literature with a capital L". 

Here are his key writing tips and habits:

The Writing Process

• Write Fast and Never Look Back
• Edit Later
• Establish a Routine 
  
  

Style and Content

• Blend Fact with Fantasy: Use real-world facts, locations, and brand names to ground the more fantastical plot elements in reality. This gives the story authenticity and stimulates the reader's senses, a technique known as the "Fleming effect".
• Prioritize Clarity and Concision
• Focus on Sensory Details:  Describe food, drink, clothes, and locations to provide a vivid, vicarious experience.
• Create Strong Villains
• Hook the Reader: The most important rule: "You have to get the reader to turn over the page". He used plot hooks (often involving sex or violence) at the end of chapters to compel the reader to continue.
• Vary Sentence Length
• Listen to Your Audience: Fleming was sensitive to feedback from his readers and adjusted his approach based on their expectations, such as ensuring Bond traveled to exotic locations after a UK-only novel ( Moonraker). 
  
  

Mindset

• Write for Pleasure and Money: He was unashamed about his motivations, believing a writer's life was a good one, offering a decent living if film deals and other rights were secured.
• Be Aware of the World
• View Writing as a Craft: He considered himself a "writer" rather than an "author" or "artist," viewing writing as a craft where one constantly learns by studying peers. 

J.K. Rowling emphasizes discipline, extensive planning, and resilience as core to her writing process. Her tips focus on the craft and the emotional connection to the story. 

Key writing tips from J.K. Rowling include:

• Read Extensively Rowling consistently advises aspiring writers to read as much as possible. This helps you analyze what works and what doesn't, discover your preferences, and eventually find your own distinctive voice.
• Plan Meticulously Rowling is a thorough planner who mapped out the entire seven-book Harry Potter series before completing the first novel, using detailed, color-coded spreadsheets and outlines. Knowing the overall arc and destination provides structure, allowing for creative freedom along the way.
• Be Disciplined
• Rewrite and Edit 
• Develop Complex Characters Give characters flaws and contradictions, making them morally complex and realistic. This allows readers to relate to them on a deeper, more human level.
• Write What You Know (Emotionally) While not a literal tip to only write from personal experiences, Rowling suggests drawing from your own emotions, truths, and instincts. She used her personal struggles with depression as the raw material for the Dementors, for example.
• Minimize Adverbs 
• Be Resilient and Have Courage
• Protect Your Writing Time 

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In this episode we look back at the man who can lay claim to having written the longest sentence in American Literature. He also wrote the story, "A Rose For Emily" which is a play that our host, Randal Wallace,  once played the part of Homer Barron, the unfortunate beau of Ms. Emily, who they would later find dead in her bed years after he disappeared.  

William Faulkner offered extensive advice on writing during his time as a writer-in-residence at the University of Virginia and in various interviews. His tips emphasize passion, discipline, and a ruthless dedication to craft over commercial success or style. 

Core Philosophy

• Be writing, not "a writer": The act of writing is about movement and activity; adopting the static label of "a writer" can lead to stagnation.
• Write for pleasure, not money: Relying on writing for income or external approval can compromise artistic integrity. Keep your writing amateur in spirit and get another job to pay the bills.
• Embrace failure as growth: You will never achieve absolute perfection, and that is a healthy condition. The goal is a "splendid failure" that drives you to improve with each new work, always striving to be better than your past self.
• Be ruthless for your art: The writer's only responsibility is to their art. Everything else—honor, pride, security—goes by the board to get the book written. 
  
  

Craft and Technique

• Focus on core human conflicts: Faulkner believed that enduring stories focus on "the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself," such as love, honor, pity, and sacrifice.
• Prioritize character: According to Faulkner, if you understand your characters, they will drive the narrative, and the writer's job is to record their actions and words.
• Don't overthink style: Style should serve the story and is not a goal in itself. There are no mechanical rules for writing.
• Use dialect sparingly: A few touches of recognizable dialect are better than extensive use, which can confuse readers. 
  
  

Process and Habits

• Read extensively: Faulkner advised reading all kinds of literature, good and bad, to learn from other writers.
• Stop while you're inspired: To maintain momentum, stop writing for the day when you're in a good flow and know what you'll write next.
• Make time for writing: Faulkner contended that anyone claiming they lack time to write is mistaken; even ten minutes can be used, and ideas should be written down immediately.
• Combine experience, observation, and imagination: These elements are crucial for a writer, and they can compensate for each other's absence. 

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