I have learned as a reader who happens to be a writer that you never know when you’re going to bump into something new and interesting to influence your work. As examples, in the past week or so I’ve read three different types of document that inspired new thoughts and ideas for the novel I’m working on. One was a Substack memoir series; another a book review; the third a hybrid history-mystery-biography about a blackface minstrel star in the first half of the 20th century.

Many Men Watching

Martha Nichols’ Substack is called “Inside Reader” where she often writes about personal essay journalism, artificial intelligence, and all sorts of new shenanigans in the media world. I’ve known Martha for many years now and have immense respect for her knowledge about writing and her skill in particular as an astute essayist. (She also happens to have been my editor at Talking Writing magazine as well as The Harvard Business Review, among other things).

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