Includes bibliographical references (pages 221-226).

Caveat emptor -- Preface: Welcome to my chew toy -- The past's vigor -- 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 -- Sacred carnality -- 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 -- Why memoirs fall -- An incomplete checklist to stave off dread -- Michael Herr: start in Kansas, end in Oz -- Against vanity: in praise of revision.

A renowned Syracuse University professor builds on her memoirs and literary anecdotes to outline her personal writing process while identifying the elements of a successful memoir.