May 2019 – Page 2 – Home of The Creative Nonfiction Podcast

Win the Hour, Win the Day

By Brendan O’Meara

It’s so easy to get swamped and say that the book project is too big, or I have too much weight to lose, and then you end up sitting around doing nothing and feeling lousy.

The scope is too big.

But what if you broke down what it would mean to have a successful 60 minutes? What if you attacked each hour of the day with focus and rigor?

You know the old sports cliches of take it one game at a time. Well, what if you took it one hour at a time? Do the tasks that will give you great satisfaction in this hour.

Regroup. Reload. And get after the next hour. You win that hour. You start stacking up those hours. And those hours become a day. And those days become weeks.

Win micro to win macro.

Be Ready For Luck

By Brendan O’Meara

Breaking Bad had a niche audience through four seasons. It was a hyper-serialized show, perfect for binge watching…except binge watching wasn’t exactly a thing back in 2010, even 2011.

The show was critically acclaimed and doing its thing.

Then all four seasons were dumped on Netflix, which was starting to stream entire seasons of shows.

The Breaking Bad was “discovered,” and it blew up. It had one of the great final seasons and an audience hungry for what would happen.

The creators of the show could not have known that binge watching would be a thing. Breaking Bad happened to be perfectly suited for it when Netflix started streaming.

As good as Breaking Bad was, it needed luck to blast it out of the stratosphere.

But they weren’t waiting to make a good show as Netflix came along. They did the work, great work, and were ready for when the Netflix lightning strike came.

Point being, you need to be doing your thing and maybe, maybe, maybe, you’ll get lucky. But don’t expect it. Use obscurity to get great at your craft and when you’re good, maybe luck will be on your side and you’ll be ready for it.

Hand Saw? Power Saw?

By Brendan O’Meara

I was cutting some wood for the base of a compost tumbler.

I used a hand saw because I don’t own a circular saw (yet).

It was tough and it took roughly five minutes of steady sawing to get through the wood. A power saw would’ve done the job in three seconds.

The hand saw needed more exercise and was, admittedly, deeply satisfying.

Though a power saw would’ve been far quicker, but less physically taxing. This gets to the point of working hard vs. working smart, and only you can make that determination, the one where you feel you’ve earned the privilege to work smart.

What do you value more? The grind or the short cut? It’s your call.

Don’t Write, Just Type

By Brendan O’Meara

There’s a difference between writing and typing. Writing is artful and can be a bit stifling.

Typing is mechanical. Fingers moving over a keyboard.

Instead of writing, why not try typing? Why not sit in your chair, set a timer for 20 minutes, and see what comes out of those fingers. You might type 1,000 words if you don’t stop. And those words will be free and they will be bad, but they will be something.

And something is better than nothing.

For example, the other day I worked on this children’s sports book for 30 minutes straight and didn’t stop. That was a significant amount of volume. Most it is garbage, but I’m good with garbage. It was liberating to sit there and not think, just type, and let the writing come later.

Episode 152: Philip Gerard—Fiction, Nonfiction, and the Writer’s Magical Combination

Philip Gerard returns to the show to talk about his latest book The Last Battleground.
Photo credit Alan Cradick

“For a writer, ignorance and curiosity are a magical combination.” —Philip Gerard

“I always tell my students if you can’t find it, you don’t have it.” —Philip Gerard

By Brendan O’Meara

Hey, CNFers, I’m thrilled to welcome back Philip Gerard. Philip joined me nearly 120 episodes ago and it’s great to have him back to talk about his latest book The Last Battleground: The Civil War Comes to North Carolina (University of North Carolina Press, 2019).

His historical novel, Cape Fear Rising, is celebrating its 25th anniversary, so we dive into that as well. It is published by Blair.

Philip is also an accomplished musician and recorded this song and video as a trailer for The Last Battleground. Check it out:

Be sure to subscribe to show, CNFers, on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher. I make this show for you, so I’d deeply appreciate it if you shared it across your social channels. If you have a spare moment, leaving a rating or review helps with the show’s packaging. Helps validate the entire enterprise.

You can join me on Twitter @BrendanOMeara and @CNFPod, Instagram @cnfpod, and Facebook @CNFPodcast. If you tag me or the show I’ll be able to give you digital fist bumps.

Books by Philip Gerard

Too many to list! So visit this link to browse.

On Laziness

By Brendan O’Meara

I’ve wondered about this a lot lately. Am I lazy? Sometimes I feel like it because it doesn’t feel like I’m accomplishing a whole lot.

Maybe you feel this way too.

And what makes me really drill down on it is watching Chef’s Table on Netflix, specifically the episode with Christina Tosi. She’s a work horse and before she made a name for herself, she worked all day. Long days.

Then, in her spare time, late a night, she’d noodle with recipes: this after cooking all day. This is how she came up with some of her most innovative and groundbreaking ideas.

This is hard work. This is the extra mile so few of us are willing to take.

Looking outside my genre of interest makes me see what hard work is. I see it in people like Tosi, the obsession, the drive, the passion.

We then have to ask ourselves at the end of the day: Did I do enough? Did I push myself? If Netflix ran a docuseries on my life, would it look like that? Because that’s what it takes to make it.

Let that be the wake up call. See how they work and overlay those habits to your craft. These people weren’t anointed. They did the work, far more than we give them credit for, and we’re likely doing far less work than we should.

So, let’s go, let’s get to work and make our mark.

Book Debt

By Brendan O’Meara

You know what this is. You have a pile of books you want to read. And the pile keeps growing.

The only way to pay off the debt is read through the pile, but the pile keeps growing.

Your unread to read ratio far exceeds your capacity to keep up.

The pile starts to stress you out.

You start reading only to get through books, not because you enjoy them.

Interest keeps growing. The pile gets bigger.

You must stop going into debt. You must pay down the principle.

Stop going to the library. Stop buying books.

There is book debt forgiveness. You can hold that book that’s been in the pile for ages and ask yourself the hard question: Will I read this? If not, either donate it, return it, or shelve it.

Do yourself a favor and read down your book debt.

We Are Never ‘Aspired’

By Brendan O’Meara

We are always aspiring, no matter our degree of mastery.

Few things grind my gears more than hearing people say they are an “aspiring” fill in the blank. Especially in Twitter bios.

Aspiring is a way for you to cop out when your work stinks. Well, I’m just aspiring, I haven’t made it yet.

None of us ever “make it.” We are all aspiring.

Strike that word from your bio and own what you are. You aren’t an aspiring writer; you’re a writer. You’re not an aspiring stand-up comedian; you’re a stand-up comedian.

Using a word like aspiring makes you look like the amateur you’re trying to avoid.

Cutting Some Slack

By Brendan O’Meara

I skipped two days of this daily pod-blog thing.

I doubt the world was up in arms, but I’m mildly disappointed in myself because I said I’d do it every day for 100 days in a row.

But the weather was nice and I didn’t feel like being on a computer this weekend.

The world will very much keep on spinning on the days we don’t show up.

The problem becomes if we make a habit of not showing up.

That, my friend, is not an option.

Hard Before Smart

By Brendan O’Meara

The problem with hack culture is that many people seek the short cut before they’ve even taken a step on the longer path.

People are seeking the hack before they’ve muddled through the brush.

You earn smart work by working hard through endless drafts and frustrating hours in the workspace.

And you can never know what smart work is unless you’ve put in the time and realized, oh, yes, this makes way more sense. But until you’ve put in enough repetitions, you can’t make that discernment.

And even when you’ve earned smart work, you might find the longer path is more scenic and takes you places you might not otherwise have gone.

But, please, for your own sake, quit looking for the smart way until and unless you’ve put in the long, hard work to know the difference.

MONTHLY NEWSLETTER!: Once a Month. No Spam. Can’t Beat It.

MONTHLY NEWSLETTER!: Once a Month. No Spam. Can’t Beat It.

MONTHLY NEWSLETTER!: Once a Month. No Spam. Can’t Beat It.

Books by Philip Gerard

MONTHLY NEWSLETTER!: Once a Month. No Spam. Can’t Beat It.

MONTHLY NEWSLETTER!: Once a Month. No Spam. Can’t Beat It.

MONTHLY NEWSLETTER!: Once a Month. No Spam. Can’t Beat It.

MONTHLY NEWSLETTER!: Once a Month. No Spam. Can’t Beat It.