We recently had the chance to connect with CE Hunt and have shared our conversation below.
CE, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What’s more important to you—intelligence, energy, or integrity?
Integrity. I you don’t have integrity, why should anyone listen to you? All the intelligence or energy in the world is aimless, or worse, negative or selfish, if there isn’t something true and good driving it.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I create. I work at synthesizing writing, art, photography, history, culture, conservation and storytelling to entertain and, more importantly, inspire people to be their best, to be more thoughtful. I want to inspire people to be a participant in making the world better, more humane, healthier, culturally richer, freer and just.
I draw inspiration from a variety of sources, including art, photography, literature, travel, history, nature, sitting on a beach, just walking around cities or hiking in the wild or visiting a good Tiki bar or even dive bars, especially in New Orleans. People get real and really open up to you.
I will soon be publishing my third novel, “Twilight in the Quarter.” This novel will bring my Steve Miles trilogy to a close. My protagonist, Steve, grows a lot throughout the trilogy and in the finale, finally comes to grips some issues that have been unconsciously driving his life.
After publication, I’ll be researching my next projects. I may take a research, travel, growth, painting and photography sabbatical, but I’ll be back at writing soon. I have a few projects in mind. I also write for some magazines and other outlets. I’m currently working on an article for the magazine “Exotica Moderne” on a great new Tiki bar in Cambridge, MD, named the “The Dive Club” and a story being published in installments concerning a ghost in Presidio, Texas based on an old Mexican Revolutionary. I always have something going.
As for one unusual aspect to my work is that I enjoy illustrating my book covers.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
I write about this question in “Twilight in the Quarter.” Through a very unusual messenger, Steve Miles learns that his relationship with himself is critical to having healthy relationships with others. It is hard for people to be a great spouse, friend or even lover when one is filled with self doubt or feelings of inadequacy. A person must have a healthy sense of self, both strengths and weaknesses, before one can be a great partner. One can love who they are and still strive to be better.
Shame, self doubt, deception, excessive pride or arrogance are not the bases for a great relationship. One must have a healthy and reasonable self assessment and embrace both who you are and what you wish to be.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
“You’re going to be okay, kid! You are going to be successful, happy, live abroad a few years and have a rewarding social life.”
I struggled when younger. I was filled with feelings of inadequacy. I grew up with an older brother and sister. They both left home suddenly about my 8th birthday. I depended on them to understand my place in the world and how to feel about things. They were a great big brother and sister and that kind of made it worse in that they were very important to me and gave me a lot of support. In their absence, I struggled. I became less secure and started to have self-doubts. It led me to be very shy as a teenager. I finally blossomed my second year in college.
It wasn’t much fun, but there was an upside. I worked very hard in school and learned a great deal. I left college fairly knowledgeable about a very wide variety of subjects and had a degree of fluency in two languages beyond English.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
A fair and just world. My friends might say I dwell on this too much.
I’ve been blessed to have lived and visited a lot of places in the world. I know things don’t have to be in America as they are. Americans, on the whole, are a good people. I don’t like how divided we are. It just feels so manufactured by powerful people who are enriched by keeping us divided, and I think it actually facilitates even greater income inequality.
I write about this a bit in my novels hopefully in a constructive manner without being preachy. I don’t pretend to have all the answers. I just know we can do better than this and have a nation that is fairer, cleaner, healthier and richer in all the ways that matter including culture, nature and social wellbeing.
Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. If you knew you had 10 years left, what would you stop doing immediately?
Stop worrying and dwelling on negative things.
I’d try to focus on things that give me the most pleasure and lift up those around me. I know dwelling on negative things is counterproductive and really helps no one. I’d only focus on the negative things just long enough to see if I have a role or an opportunity to make them better.
Shouldn’t we strive to do this all our lives? Why is this so hard?
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ce-hunt.com
- Instagram: @c_e_hunt
Image Credits
CE Hunt
