Why length matters
Developing control as a writer through disciplined attention to length
How permission can lead to more authentic truth
Winning permission to enter whaling camp and the promise of honesty
Facing the final final deadline
Dave Rose had his wry smile even as he told me why we needed to finish up his book faster than we …
How to record your elders’ stories before it’s too late
Generations pass on funny stories and family myths without really trying. That’s not what I’m …
The skill and ethics of a great investigative journalist
Recently I used a computer shortcut Rich Mauer taught me 35 years ago. A little later, I got news he …
How to detect exaggerations and lies
A journalist pulled out a notebook in a bar in a tiny town in Alaska and started to write down the …
Throw away your list of questions
Here are some of the rules I’ve learned from doing thousands of interviews. Real people are more …
How to manage the tricks of memory
Working with Senator Lisa Murkowski for years on her recent book, I came to know her two ways: …
How a brilliant writer can break the rules and get away with it
I saved Werner Herzog’s memoir for a year, until I would have time on vacation to thoroughly enjoy …
Here’s the path out of editing hell
Bad editing is torment. Office workers know what I am saying. After unclear initial direction, a …
When to make big decisions about your writing
Yesterday I completed final revisions on two books, both of them projects I started more than five …
Back in the trenches of local science reporting
Writing projects sometimes start at odd places. I met John Upton in a coffee shop near the Port …
My dad’s big gamble and how he told of it
As Charles's father demonstrated, quality matters even for a self-published memoir
Is a good book a window or a tile?
My son Robin was about five years old when he asked me at bedtime one night, “Is a computer screen a …
Lying in a memoir is just plain lying
My rule is extreme and increasingly unpopular. I say everything in non-fiction should be true. You …
The mind-meld of a great idea
Dr. David Nash and I had thought Covid had killed our book idea. But in August of 2020, we …
My first big break
Among the great (and some hilariously awful) editors I have worked with over the decades, Rebecca …