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How permission can lead to more authentic truth
Winning permission to enter whaling camp and the promise of honesty ...
Who are better writers, the old or young?
From the cover of The Wild Braid by Stanley Kunitz. Young people have more vivid imaginations—there’s neuroscience on that—sharper memories, and quicker access to information. Old people know more—not more ...
Why some good books should remain unpublished
George Fischer, his father Louis Fischer, and Vic Fischer. George Fischer wrote 19 autobiographies without ever planning to publish them. And he could have. Not only was he a talented ...
Social media will not make you an author
Beginning authors often receive the advice that to publish a book they need to develop a large social media following. Or, I would add, you could become a rock star ...
How non-fiction books get published
Publishing a book is easy, but selling books is hard. For the most part, only books from mainstream, traditional publishers reach wide readerships, and those big publishing houses have many ...
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 don’t get to make anything up. Authors talk about “different kinds of truth,” or ...
How to record your elders’ stories before it’s too late
Hands of Mr. Henry Brooks. Library of Congress. Generations pass on funny stories and family myths without really trying. That’s not what I’m talking about. The truth is perishable. You ...
Bill McKibben, social progress, and the empty church
In this dark time for our country, we could use the progressive, unifying influence of the mainline Protestant churches, which have largely lost their membership and influence over the last ...
Charles Wohlforth has written many of his own books, has ghost-written others, and helps many writers find their own way into print. Learn how to work with Charles.
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