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Why Lisa Murkowski’s book took 5 years to write
Working with Senator Lisa Murkowski at home in New Jersey. (Rights reserved, no reuse without permission.) My collaboration with Senator Lisa Murkowski began in her office in the Hart Senate ...
Learning to see again
I looked at my wife across the table and suddenly saw how beautiful she is, as if seeing her for the first time. And then, halfway through that spark of ...
How to write clicky headlines (and how I learned)
Newsrooms had changed when I went back, in some ways for the worse. But for all I disliked about internet journalism, I learned rapidly. The internet gives instant feedback. That’s ...
The words I needed during my career freefall
Ken Banta of the Vanguard Network At 55 years of age, I dove off a career cliff. I left Alaska, where I had worked in journalism, broadcasting, and politics my ...
Why historians are indispensable
An online inflation calculator declares that a dollar in George Washington’s pocket was equivalent to $34 today. That’s nonsense. The value of money can’t be converted between different historical eras ...
My new book and its long path to existence
It’s a uniquely satisfying feeling, opening a box that delivers a new book you have written. I had that pleasure last week, and in the days since I’ve kept Our ...
He taught me the most important writing lesson
I never had a better boss than Tom Gibboney, the publisher at a weekly in an Alaskan fishing village where I covered little league baseball, the boat harbor, and eccentric ...
How to mix a cocktail of metaphors
One of my witty writer friends responded to my newsletter about style by suggesting I write next time about mixed metaphors. And he gave an example from my own piece ...
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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