So, we asked Hughes to take a moment out of his still-busy writing schedule to share his wisdom and tips on becoming a better writer, as well as to learn a bit more about him.

Q. After 56 years as a writer and editor, what advice do you have for beginners or anyone who wants to be a better writer?

A . Buy Stephen King’s amazing book, On Writing, A Memoir of the Craft. “It’s a short book,” the bestselling author notes in a foreword, “because most books about writing are filled with bull****.” I couldn’t agree more. There’s no BS in King’s bare-knuckled book, which Time magazine calls one of the top 100 nonfiction books of all time. King’s fundamental advice is that if you want to be a writer, “you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”

My mother, a former teacher who studied literature at UC Berkeley, had me hooked on reading and writing before kindergarten. Then, as a 14th birthday present, she gave me a subscription to The New Yorker, the world’s greatest magazine. I was mesmerized by the writing—still am, 65 years later—and the breadth of subjects covered in each issue, from presidential politics to the mating habits of meerkats. The great cartoons are like the croutons in a Caesar salad.

Q. What’s your favorite book?

A . Joseph Heller’s Catch 22, a masterpiece that took him years to write because he revised it so painstakingly. My favorite nonfiction book is Murray Morgan’s Skid Road. Anything by Robert Caro or Tim Egan is also a master class in storytelling.

Q. For you, how much writing is “a lot”?

A . At least a thousand words a day, five days a week, with journal entries on weekends. That doesn’t mean all of those words are always worth keeping. Stephen King says you have to be willing to “kill your darlings”—stuff you really like that, in the final brutal analysis, fails to propel the narrative. One of my typical 5,000-word oral history profiles goes through at least eight revisions. A teammate calls it “sanding.” That’s a good analogy.

My major project this year was a final edit of former governor Dan Evans’ long-awaited autobiography. Together, we trimmed it by more than a third—100,000 words. It wasn’t without pain.

Q. What’s the best writing assignment you’ve ever had?

A . Being a restaurant reviewer for the Northwest Best Places guidebook in the 1990s. I helped travelers discover that Aberdeen boasted a superb Northern Italian restaurant: Pierre Gabelli’s hole-in-the wall Parma, where the boar rigatoni was sublime. In Montesano, Candi Bachtell’s Savory Faire elevated a turkey pesto sandwich to greatness. And the Ocean Crest at Moclips, happily still with us after all these years, has a menu to match the view.

Though I no longer get paid to eat, I still share restaurant reviews online. I’ve spent the past half-century in search of the best Neapolitan pizza in the Northwest. I found it a few weeks ago in an old coal town called Wilkeson in the foothills of Mount Rainier. Ask YouTube about “The Carlson Block,” salivate and get ready for a weekend road trip. That said, you can get still a great, gooey American-style pizza at Casa Mia in Hoquiam. I’m in a photo on the wall from 1960.

Q. You’ve lived on the Harbor all your life. Did you ever consider leaving?

A . I had several offers over the years, notably from The Seattle Times. I jumped at the chance to become chief historian for the Office of the Secretary of State 14 years ago in part because I could just commute. There’s something about this place—warts and all—that has kept me here.

The sad grittiness that’s so off-putting to visitors when they drive through threadbare downtown Aberdeen is offset by the area’s natural beauty and affordability. I live not far from Bowerman Basin in a house I couldn’t afford in Olympia, let alone Seattle. I like the people here too—for their resilience and honesty—though it worries me that I see so many signs, literally and figuratively, of bitter, feckless discontent.

My biography of former U.S. Senator Slade Gorton is a highlight of my career. I believe it paints a vivid picture of a brilliant, complicated, controversial man unafraid to challenge leaders of his own party. Gorton was one of the first major office-holders in America to call for Nixon’s resignation over the Watergate coverup. Forty-six years later—appalled by Donald Trump’s attempt to “shake down” Ukraine’s president—Gorton said too many Republicans were betraying their country and the Constitution by refusing to confront the fact that the president should be impeached. Gorton’s deathbed request to his pastor during the 2020 presidential campaign speaks volumes about his patriotism. “What shall we pray about today?” the minister asked. “I’d like to pray for my country,” Slade said.

Q. You were famous in The Daily World newsroom for offering a Bob Dylan quote for practically any situation. Are you doing the same thing now at the State Library?

A . Absolutely. I saw Dylan at Carnegie Hall in 1963 when he could really sing. He now sounds like a frog with strep throat, but his poetry is still mesmerizingly topical. Consider this:

While preachers preach of evil fates

Teachers teach that knowledge waits

Can lead to hundred-dollar plates

Goodness hides behind its gates

But even the president of the United States

Sometimes must have to stand naked

Q. Of all the people you’ve interviewed over the years, who is the most memorable?

A . Arnold Samuels of Ocean Shores, whose family narrowly escaped Nazi Germany in 1937. After high school in Brooklyn, Arnold returned to Europe as an American GI, working undercover behind enemy lines. He helped liberate the horrific concentration camp at Dachau. And at war’s end, served in the Counter Intelligence Corps with another 22-year-old sergeant, Henry Kissinger. While researching Arnold’s life story, we discovered that he and Billy Joel had the same uncle!

Q. Any regrets?

A . I wish I could solve who killed Laura Law, the young labor activist brutally murdered in Aberdeen in 1940. That story has haunted me since childhood when I first heard it from my uncle. He was a business agent with the International Woodworkers of America during that polarizing era.

I also wish I had the proverbial nickel for every time some one tells me how great The Daily World was back in my day. Often, they’re the same people who used to tell me it was “the daily disappointment,” never mind that our 20-person news staff won a slew of awards every year.

The decline of community journalism is an American tragedy. I retired from journalism because chain ownership’s insistence on extracting unconscionably high profits meant more and more layoffs. Advertisers and readers, meantime, bought into the notion that quality news ought to be available for free. Now, practically no one is watching the store at city hall or the courthouse. And social media is rampant with rumors, lies, fear and loathing. With no robust media to analyze political candidates’ true views, the toxic Kool-Aid of deception is on tap by the gallon. I’m praying for my country.

Q. What have you learned in your 78 years?

A . Have a regular colonoscopy, take care of your back and keep your I-love-yous up to date.

Written By: Gail Greenwood Ayres

Far from falling on their faces, the Bee Organic Farm stand sold out in just one hour. They brought more produce the next week, but still sold out quickly. It seemed the training had paid off. They had created a demand. Now they had to find a way to meet that demand.

Over the next year, Horton made improvements to increase efficiency. Thanks to grants, he was able to hire some help and also partner with the agriculture program at Elma High School. Since then, he has expanded to include not only the Aberdeen Sunday Market, but also the farmers markets in Montesano and Elma. Additionally, he sells tomatoes through Haggen grocery stores and offers produce through his website (https://www.beeorganicfarm.com/) and the Southwest Washington Food Hub (https://shop.swwafoodhub.com/).

The Hortons practice regenerative farming, a more ambitious cousin of organic farming. Beyond simply addressing the harm caused by pesticides, regenerative farming focuses on growing crops in a way that actually improves soil fertility, increases biodiversity and generates greater yield.

Additionally, because fresh-picked produce delivers the most nutrition and the best flavor, the Hortons set an ambitious rule for themselves. That is, they bring their produce to market within 24 hours of harvesting. That means long Saturdays and early Sunday mornings in the gardens. But, as the Hortons’ fiercely loyal customers will attest, the backbreaking labor pays off.

Sunlight fills a quaint little coffee shop, Elixir. Karen Harris Tully sits in a chair by the window sipping her tea; writing. It’s here on the docks alongside the Willapa River that the award-winning author opens her journal, jots down a few thoughts and crosses off a couple of tasks on her to-do list.

Karen, 42, who moved to Raymond in 2005, creates intricate stories with strong female protagonists for the young adult science-fiction reader.

She authored the trilogy, “The Faarian Chronicles,” which follows protagonist, Sunny Price, 15, as she is forced to move from Earth to her mother’s home planet. The first book in the series, “Exile,” published in 2015, took Karen more than 10 years to write.

Her book’s release party happened around the same time as the birth of her second child. But all that time writing paid off.  Two years later, that first book earned a finalist spot – one of the top five in the nation – from the 2017 Kindle Book Awards! This summer Karen and her “smart, handsome and supportive husband” Mike stayed busy with their kids’ sports, baseball, tumbling and soccer, and still made time for gardening, berry picking and keeping the kids happy with chocolate chip cookies. And Karen has also continued a prolific writing career, including a recent stint as a regular columnist at The Daily World in Aberdeen, reflecting on the effects of the coronavirus on day-to-day life. 

In her young adult fiction, Karen creates fantastical foreign worlds with humans and aliens, and brings it all together in coming-of-age adventures. She says she uses her bachelor’s degree in political science and economics from Western Washington University daily “to inform my world-building.”

Karen’s fire to write for the young adult sci-fi reader was ignited after having some strange fantastical dreams, which she began crafting into adventure tales. She says her influences include “Harry Potter,” “Pride and Prejudice,” “Trixie Belden” and “The Hunger Games,” as well as her love for science-fiction cinema and television sci-fi series. “I remember watching ‘ET’ in the theater. My mom and I watched ‘Star Trek’ when I was little, and I watched ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation,’ ” she says, “I loved it; I watched every one of them.” When they read her books, her readers travel faster than light speed to distant stars.

“Imagine being based on Jupiter, at the dawn of the next age,” Karen says, “when humans are about to venture off to a new galaxy to explore and settle a new planet like Alpha Centaur, which is a real star system made up of three stars, Proxima Centauri, Beta Centauri, and Alpha Centauri AB.”

Hidden Dragons

In addition to good news for her current readers that “Galactic Dreams Volume 3” is due out before the end of the year, Karen shares good news for dragon fans. She’s currently creating tales with all types of dragons.

“There are dragon myths in nearly every culture,” she says, “flying feathered dragons, lake dragons, with healing powers, two-legged dragons from all over the world. Humans tell dragon myths all over the world,” she says, “but what do the dragons think of that?” She hopes to explore that question as she continues her writing career, which keeps her busy full time as she creates, edits and markets her stories.

Karen’s books can be purchased from Amazon, as well as at Grays Harbor Farmers Market in Hoquiam, Alder & Co. in Raymond, Pacific County Museum in South Bend, and North Cove Treasures, Treats & Trinkets. To follow her journey as a writer, check out her website at karenharristully.com; follow her on Facebook as Karen Harris Tully, or @KHarrisTully on Twitter and khtully on Instagram.

Rex Valentine wrote his first poem, an ode to SPAM, 83 years ago. Now 87 years old, the Elma resident continues writing poetry and composing music. “I’m just trying to keep everything going,” he added with a chuckle, “At my age, it doesn’t go like I planned, but I’ve sure had fun along the way.” A gifted storyteller, poet and musician, Valentine grew up in the Wynoochee Valley on a primitive dairy farm. His father taught him the value of hard work, and his mother saw to his education, teaching him to read at the age of three. Both parents instilled in their children a lifelong love of music.

Days began early on the farm, with Rex and his brother Randy milking cows to the beat of the songs they sang while they worked. Those early rhythms spilled into hundreds of poems through the years, as Rex turned his experiences into verse. His poetry captures the stories of his childhood for his grandchildren and preserves a rich history of Western Washington in the first half of the twentieth century. Valentine credits his Montesano High School English teacher, John Terry, with cementing his interest in writing poetry. However, other concerns soon intervened, and poetry fell to the back burner.

Valentine married young, eventually raising a blended family of 11 children. He built several successful careers through the years, including real estate and dairy farming. Along the way, he grew proficient at dowsing, the practice of using divining rods to locate water for digging wells. Music accompanied Valentine throughout his adult life. In addition to composing, he has sung for audiences across the Pacific Northwest. In fact, he sang baritone in a barbershop quartet that won a national championship in 1963, and also sang the national anthem at local sports events for 45 years.

In addition to writing several volumes of poetry, Valentine is also a gifted vocalist and composer. (Photo by Juliana Wallace) Then, in 2002, Valentine’s mother passed away, and he discovered that she had carefully saved his early poems. He began writing again, entering poetry contests and eventually publishing six books of poetry and stories. Intent on honing his craft, he enrolled in a college poetry writing class in his sixties. The additional polish did the trick, and he started winning national and international contests.

Valentine has written several volumes of award-winning poetry, a children’s book, a book on dowsing and numerous songs. (Photo by Juliana Wallace) To discover Valentine’s work, check out his website at www.rexbvalentine.com. In addition to several books of poetry and a volume on dowsing, he has also written an acclaimed children’s story, “Tiddlywinks, the Little Horse with Three Ears.” Look for Rex Valentine’s books at www.rexbvalentine.com and Amazon, as well as at your local library.

Preserve Beauty

The little pansy poked its pretty face

up through the concrete crevice on the walk.

It’s singleness of purpose filled the space,

a tiny crack made for one spindly stalk.

Now why would nature send its beauty queen

to grace a graying path of cement stone,

where careless feet its royalty dethrone?

The Lord of beauty, love, and elegance,

is not particular where sows his seeds.

A drab and dingy place he might enhance

with lovely flowers ‘mid the grisly weeds.

So little purple pansy hold your ground.

May beauty be a beacon to your place,

that all who pass go carefully around

and see the smile upon your pretty face.

– Rex Valentine

 

Wildflowers and Love (Sonnet #24)

A prairie harbors treasures found in spring.

Its see-through grassy dress will come alive

with Nature’s own corsage; a lovely thing,

whose brill’ant colors suddenly arrive.

The yellow Johnny jump-ups set the pace.

The violets and bluebells follow suit.

Wild strawberry’s white blossoms fill the space

where later, one can pick its sweet red fruit.

Nostalgically, my grandmother I see,

she’s stooping down, her apron spreading wide

enveloping the flowers picked for me.

Her sparkling eyes meet mine with love and pride.

Oh prairie, take me back to long lost joy,

To Grandma’s love, and flowers for this boy.

– Rex Valentine

 

From Belt to Suspenders

(Sonnet #9)

My belt size is increasing

as I am growing older.

I’m really not obesing,

just narrowing my shoulders.

But now my pants are dragging;

my belt is at a tilt.

So I have stopped all bragging

about how well I’m built.

I think I’ll wear suspenders;

they’ll give me peace of mind,

and when I’m doing benders

you won’t see my behind.

Does it really matter

if I keep getting fatter?

– Rex Valentine