From the Book - First edition.
Preface: Welcome to my chew toy --
The truth contract twixt writer and reader --
Why not to write a mernoir: plus a pop quiz to protect the bleeding & box out the rigid --
A voice conjures the human who utters it --
Don't try this at home: the seductive, narcissistic count --
How to choose a detail --
Hucksters,the deluded, and big pat liars --
Interiority and inner enemy--private agonies read deeper than external whammies --
On finding the nature of your talent --
The visionary Maxine Hong Kingston --
Dealing with beloveds (on and off the page) --
On information, facts, and data --
Personal run-ins with fake voices --
On book structure and the order of information --
The road to hell is paved with exaggeration --
Blind spots and false selves --
Truth hunger: the public and private burning of Kathryn Harrison --
Old-school technologies for the stalled novice --
Major reversals in Cherry and Lit --
An incomplete checklist to stave off dread --
Michael Herr: start in Kansas, end in Oz --
Against vanity: in praise of revision.