the truth about the truth

(If you’re a book person and haven’t already discovered the delightful Marlon and Jake Read Dead People podcast featuring my old boss, Riverhead executive editor Jake Morrissey, and bestselling author Marlon James, check it out. Marlon James is Marlon James, of course, and Jake is an epic conversationalist. When I was his assistant, we’d spend the first half hour of every workday chatting in his office. Well worth a listen.)They say, “be vulnerable.” Actually, forget the anonymous they. I tell authors to be vulnerable. Tell the reader about your failures. Tell the reader about your most embarrassing mistakes. Help us relate.But authors don’t want to do that. They don’t want to reveal their humiliations and defeats. And that’s fair. I don’t want to, either. But advice without vulnerability sucks. We don’t buy the suggestions because, after all, they don’t know what it’s like. They didn’t start with my disadvantages. What worked for them may very well not work for me.This is so obvious…