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Lew-Ellyn Hughes and the importance of roots

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Maine Stories can be bought on Hughes’ website, or at Devaney Doak & Garrett in Farmington.

GREENVILLE – A local columnist and long-time Mainer has published a collection of her writings in a new book entitled “Maine Stories.”

Lew-Ellyn Hughes, a regular contributor to western Maine’s The Irregular, derives her inspiration from the cool mountain breezes that she tends to stand in the path of.

“The Maine coast gets all the attention. But the real hard core people live out here in the rural areas,” Hughes said.

Hughes comes from a long line of Mainers- her ancestors settling here in the per-revolutionary war days. Hughes, however, had a unique experience with a military man for a father.

“So much of my life experience took place outside of Maine,” she said.

She and her siblings were carted from state to state, moving with her father’s placement, and were always encouraged to live like the locals. It was a full immersion experience for Hughes, and one that she said has made her life richer.

“As a Mainer growing up in exile I had the advantage of seeing things differently. I always knew I would move back here as soon as I could,” she said.

Her grandparents were stationed in Greenville, where Hughes and her family would spend their summers.

“It was very important to them that we all grew roots there,” she said.

Lew-Ellyn Hughes relaxes in one of her most inspirational settings- camp.

As sure as Hughes was about her future life in the mountains of Maine, she felt the opposite about being a writer. Her short attention span and her continued desire to be fully immersed in the culture around her lead to small bits of thoughts, memories and stories that Hughes manages to get down into words. It’s not a hobby that comes easily to her, but one that she has chosen to fill her life with.

“I’ve been a writer since I was a child, but I didn’t really know it. Most kids, with their spelling words, would write things like ‘the cat sleeps on the couch’ but I would hand in sentences like ‘the cat lounges under the lemon tree with an evil desire in her heart,'” Hughes explained.

After submitting a letter to the editor for a Southern Maine newspaper, Hughes was offered a job as a columnist. Things rolled on from there, with other column positions opening up, including ‘Away With Words’ which she crafts for The Irregular. At one point she was writing for five different papers, while also managing her own bed, breakfast and bakery in Stratton and freelancing for the occasional magazine.

These days Hughes has scaled back. She sold Diamond Corner Bed & Breakfast, along with the bakery, and has trimmed down her columnist jobs to just the one.

“I retired for about two weeks and then realized I don’t twiddle my thumbs very well,” she said.

She compared her writing to her stint as a business owner. “I didn’t care for the cooking, but I liked feeding people,” she said.

In the same way, Hughes said the best part of her writing career is making people feel things with her words. Whether it’s laughter, or nostalgia, or a sparked day dream of the future, Hughes considers the reader response as her biggest reward.

“I walked into a local restaurant once and a man looked at me and said ‘you don’t know me, but you make me cry.’ What do I even say to that?!” Hughes said.

Lew-Ellyn’s new book ‘Maine Stories’ can be found on her website here as well as at Devaney Doak & Garrett Booksellers in Farmington. As always, Hughes encourages people to write to her with questions, comments or to share their own stories at lehughes2016@gmail.com.

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1 Comment

  1. I worked with LE at a nursing home some years ago. She was the charge nurse there. She is a very compassionate person. I have followed her stories she writes weekly and enjoy them all. She has a great sense of humor and is a friend to all. Congrats on your book..hope to see you soon!

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