Am I a writer? Where should I get ideas? Is my writing any good? How did my favorite authors make it big? The act of writing is a daunting task for many people, and becoming a “writer” means so much more than putting pen to paper.

Dean Nelson embraces the questions that plague writers by turning to some of the best-known authors of our time. With encouragement, advice, and refreshing honesty, writers discuss their own beginnings, struggles, and victories in a manner that will make readers say, “I can do that.”

In Talking to Writers: The Craft of Nonfiction, readers will hear from Anne Lamott about what she means by writing to heal herself, from David Brooks about what it takes to craft an informed opinion, from Tracy Kidder about the need for revision, and from Elizabeth Gilbert about being humble. Among the many other featured writers are Jeannette Walls, Cornel West, Nick Hornby, George Plimpton, and Susan Orlean, and more.

Bringing together interviews from thirty years of the annual Writer's Symposium by the Sea, Nelson reveal writers' motives, connect dots to their past, acknowledge their struggles, and often begin sentences with, “I've never said this publicly before…” The revelations are honest and encouraging, with a good dose of humor, to give writers of every level courage and support necessary to live the writing life.