Very interesting. Stopped by his house in February in Key West (first visit was in 1969). Really an interesting place and man. Made a lot of enemies and a lot of friends. We went to Sloppy Joes where he ate and drank and wrote, and the original watering hole around the corner (Captain Tony's). He used to sit by the fireplace there and write. Very cool to be there and see his study at his home.

Hemingway has left such an impact on me as a writer, it's hard to even explain. He never worked for Hollywood, like Fitzgerald and Faulkner, which I think was for the best. Hemingway was his own writer. The collaboration of the movie industry was simply not something he would take to.

Not an expert on Hemingway. But I found it curious that when he began to have some success, people began talking about his style. And he had no idea what they meant. But he worked at his craft. He wrote 35 endings before sending For Whom The Bells Toll to his editor. The editor rejected the ending- so he wrote 32 more.

While the ring of truth in this line from the speech reverberated -- and reverberates still -- it also struck me as a great "way in" for designing the worldview of an existential hero: "...and if he is a good enough writer he must face eternity, or the lack of it, each day."

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