Issue 53 / Fall 2014
53 / Mistakes
Bad tattoos, unintended pregnancies, medical errors, and more
Creative Nonfiction #53, our first-ever readers’ choice theme issue, is dedicated to MISTAKES. We’ve collected an explosive group of essays exploring wrong turns and missteps—from a dramatic prison protest to an ill-advised game of strip-spin-the-bottle, from a bad tattoo to the epidemic of errors plaguing our healthcare system. Together, these true stories grapple with questions that get at the heart of how to live.
Plus, why building a platform is a waste of a writer’s time, why publishing won’t make you happy, and why readers shouldn’t worry (too much) about the occasional typo. With illustrations by Kelly Blevins.
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Read this issue nowTable of Contents
What’s the Story #53
These stories, personal and political, grapple with important questions that ultimately get at the heart of how to live“Platforms” Are Overrated
Writers shouldn't worry so much about building a presence on social mediaDoes Publication Make Writers Happy?
The satisfactions (and inevitable disappointments) of sharing work with readersThe Correctors
Think you can be a copyeditor? It's more complicated than it looksThe Same Story
Two women, pregnant at the same time by the same manWhat You Learn in College
How to play strip spin-the-bottleThe Botch Job
A tattoo can be "bad" in so many waysDon’t Scream
Extreme forms of protest in a prison work campLessons
A pediatric surgeon can't be too carefulWrong Turn
A fateful moment of blindness behind the wheelStill, Standing
A nude model must choose his pose wiselyWithout a Tighter Breathing
Adventures in snake handlingMy Father
A portrait of a complicated manLetting Go of Shame
An interview with the winner of Creative Nonfiction’s $1,000 “Mistakes” essay contestMistakes in Ghost-Like Markings
"Without change, there is no real progression in the arts, resulting in no real progression of the mind"Charcoal