Author dishes dirt, this time about herself

Bonnie Fuller describes how she moved up the ranks in magazines.
By PAULINE M. MILLARD
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bonnie Fuller is dishing the dirt -- but this time, it's about herself.
The magazine editor who has sat at the helm of YM, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Us Weekly and Star has taken her share of hits in the tabloids about her life and work.
Every story has two sides, though, and Fuller tells hers in "The Joys of Much Too Much."
Fuller dispenses some advice, but it's in the guise of an autobiography. She describes her childhood, in Toronto, as an awkward girl whom other kids would sometimes tease. She tells how she moved up the ranks from a cub reporter in Ottawa, eventually making her way to New York, where she hopscotched from one magazine to the next and found success at each.
Own perspective
It's fascinating and sometimes funny to hear Fuller's life from her own perspective, to read about the nights in dingy hotels while covering Paris fashion shows and about nursing two children back from life-threatening illnesses.
"Imagine a short brunette, with bitten-to-the-quick nails, flyaway hair, adult acne, with no family connections or money, no Ivy League or literary credentials, no appearances on a reality TV show. Imagine her thinking she could land the job of her dreams not once, but over and over again -- not to mention find a wonderful man to love, and learn to keep a pack of personal demons at bay."
One of the most poignant parts of the book is where Fuller offers a big "mea culpa" about why she lost her job as the editor in chief of Glamour, and why she realizes she may never again be welcome at the venerable Conde Nast.
Far from perfect
It's one of the many places where she acknowledges that she's far from perfect, and that her life is so busy it's sometimes a blur, but that's how she wants it. She makes a good case for extending oneself in the name of achieving everything one wants from life. She writes, "I don't think I'll be lying on my deathbed thinking, 'I wish I had gone to more meditation weekends.'"
Sometimes, it's hard to tell whom Fuller is writing for. The interview tips early on would seem to be perfect for recent college graduates trying to get a foot in the door. Later, though, Fuller devotes plenty of space to advice on managing family (she has four children) and career.
Fuller aims to inspire and empower women and, like everything else she puts her mind to, she succeeds. She's the first to acknowledge that there is no blueprint for success, and that much depends on luck and hard work, and on treating people with kindness and respect.
But like a good magazine editor, she doesn't bog her readers down in heavy prose. Fuller sprinkles her book with plenty of quick lines of advice, in case readers are just flipping through, gleaning for information, as they would a magazine.