When I first read The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski, I was struck not just by the power of the book but by the parallels in the author’s biography at the end of the book. It was learning that there was some element of truth in this savage book about the human condition that put it at the top of … Read More
My Last Conversation With Prince, R.I.P.
I just heard moments ago the tragic news that Prince, one of the greatest recording and live artists of our time, passed away. Over the years of writing about music, I’ve interviewed him, seen him perform big and small shows, and even run afoul of him. The following obituary of sorts is from my last encounter with him, when the tables … Read More
Goodbye Merle Haggard: The Last Interview
Today, the world lost one of the greatest country musicians of all time. Merle Haggard, who died on the day he turned 79 today, is the American dream personified. Born to a hardscrabble family, he lost his father at age nine, was in juvenile detention homes by the time he was thirteen for shoplifting from a lingerie store, and was … Read More
The Year in Top Fiction Recommendations
On New Year’s Day, 2016, I looked at my bookshelf and thought it was time to read the stack of books that was piling up, most of them top fiction recommendations from others. It was time to re-enter the world that had inspired me to write in the first place: The intersection of imagination, craft, and storytelling. So I committed to emptying … Read More
Love In The Age of Hyperbole: Our Culture vs. Love
According to Billboard magazine, the greatest love song of all time is the Diana Ross and Lionel Richie duet “Endless Love,” in which she sings, “You’re every breath that I take/You’re every step that I make.” Spotify reports the most popular wedding song is John Legend’s “All of Me,” in which he proclaims, “Give your all to me/I’ll give my … Read More
The Quick-Start Guide to Healing Trauma and Psychological Wounds
A Framework For Transformation Over the course of writing The Truth, I came to develop a very specific take on healing trauma, specifically developmental trauma, as I slowly but surely reduced my own. As an overall framework for psychological healing, think of the childhood pain and shame we store—and the dysfunctional behaviors and thoughts created by them—as cancerous tumors attached to the heart … Read More
Why You Need a Ulysses Strategy
Too many people I’ve met this week are telling me something like this: Me: So what are your resolutions this year? Them: I’m not making any this year. Me: Why not? Them: Well, I would just make the same resolutions I made last year. And it’s depressing to know I didn’t do them. Others making resolutions confessed that deep down, they … Read More
How to Survive Family Holidays
During college, after returning from winter break, I griped to a friend: “It was great being home…for about two hours. But then my mom started pushing all my buttons and I was over it.” “Do you know why she pushes your buttons?” he asked. “I have no idea.” “Because she’s the one who put them there.” The holidays are here. … Read More
FIVE WAYS TO HAVE A BETTER RELATIONSHIP WITHOUT CHANGING YOUR PARTNER
Before writing The Truth, I thought that relationships were about finding the perfect–or at least the best–partner. Since writing The Truth, I now realize that they’re about becoming the best possible person you can be. And the success of a relationship has very little to do with the other person, but it is all about you and how you relate … Read More
The Truth: Officially A New York Times Bestseller
HarperCollins has confirmed that The Truth made the New York Times Bestseller List. Thank you — to my incredible street team. And of course to each of you who went out and picked up a copy, told a friend about it, supported bookstores, or came (or plans to come) to one of the tour stops. This would not have been … Read More