"Writing Wednesdays" #4: On Research, Or What I Learned from a Single Sheet of Fool's Cap

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I've been lucky in my career in having a few really terrific mentors–just guys who've taught me stuff about writing and work. The best is Norman Stahl, the cosmically brilliant documentarian, novelist and military historian. Do you know people who've got a lot of bullshit? Norm has the least of anybody I've ever known. In fact I would say Norm has absolutely NO bullshit. Here's one thing he told me:

"God created the single sheet of yellow fool's cap to be exactly the right length to hold the enti