As I gravitated toward a professional phase of the obesity thread of my life, I recall my friend Scott Heller advising me to check out The Biggest Loser, so that I might potentially graft onto its burgeoning following. He had the right sense, but I declined then and have been declining ever since.

Close readers of the blog know that I have occasionally hosted the work of others, and what follows below is a special treat. Rarely do celebrated authors ask if they can drop by, but that is the case here: Bruce DeSilva is an Edgar Award-winning novelist who is about to release his third book, Providence Rag. Bruce and I were colleagues at the Hartford Courant, and he was even my tenant for a month when his temporary need overlapped with my temporary vacancy. During our time at the Courant, Bruce shifted from reporter to writing coach, a path that eventually led to a high position at the Associated Press. It's easy to see now the common footing of what he preached about narrative nonfiction to Courant reporters and what he pours into his novels.

During the 40 years I worked as a journalist, I was troubled by brilliant writers such as Truman Capote and Norman Mailer, who delighted in blurring the lines between faction and fiction. How is a reader supposed to know how much of “In Cold Blood” or “The Executioner’s Song” is literally true and how much was tweaked for the sake of the narrative?

This is the last in a series of eight posts detailing concepts and attitudes for sustainable personal change. As one would expect of someone maintaining a 155-pound loss for more than 20 years, my examples have to do with food and weight, but their point is to illustrate how anyone can achieve and maintain healthy change. Today’s concept:  “Change is a choice.”

This is the seventh in a series of eight posts detailing concepts and attitudes for sustainable personal change. As one would expect of someone maintaining a 155-pound loss for more than 20 years, my examples have to do with food and weight, but their point is to illustrate how anyone can achieve and maintain healthy change. Today’s concept: “If you’ve had enough, have you done enough?”

This is the sixth in a series of eight posts detailing concepts and attitudes for sustainable personal change. As one would expect of someone maintaining a 155-pound loss for more than 20 years, my examples have to do with food and weight, but their point is to illustrate how anyone can achieve and maintain healthy change. Today’s concept:  “Not everything has to make sense.”

This is the fifth in a series of eight posts detailing concepts and attitudes for sustainable personal change. As one would expect of someone maintaining a 155-pound loss for more than 20 years, my examples have to do with food and weight, but their point is to illustrate how anyone can achieve and maintain healthy change. Today’s concept:  “Working together isn’t enough.”

This is the fourth in a series of eight posts detailing concepts and attitudes for sustainable personal change. As one would expect of someone maintaining a 155-pound loss for more than 20 years, my examples have to do with food and weight, but their point is to illustrate how anyone can achieve and maintain healthy change. Today’s concept:  “Working together is a selfish act.”

This is the third in a series of eight posts detailing concepts and attitudes for sustainable personal change. As one would expect of someone maintaining a 155-pound loss for more than 20 years, my examples have to do with food and weight, but their point is to illustrate how anyone can achieve and maintain healthy change. Today’s concept: “It matters.”

This is the second in a series of eight posts detailing concepts and attitudes for sustainable personal change. As one would expect of someone maintaining a 155-pound loss for more than 20 years, my examples have to do with food and weight, but their point is to provide both concepts and practical steps anyone can take to achieve and maintain healthy change. Today’s concept: “It’s never one thing.”

This is the first in a series of eight posts detailing concepts and attitudes for sustainable personal change. As one would expect of someone maintaining a 155-pound loss for more than 20 years, my examples have to do with food and weight, but their point is to provide concepts and their practical outgrowths to help anyone achieve and maintain healthy change. Today’s concept: “It’s all one thing.”

Over the past 10 years or so, I have involved myself in two discussions professionally: causes and remedies of obesity, and saving the planet from global climate change.