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Episode 406: When to Share a WIP with Darrell Hartman

Darrell Hartman (@dwhartman on IG) is a writer and the author of The Battle of Ink and Ice: A Sensational Story of News Barons, North Pole Explorers, and the Making of Modern Media (Viking).

This was Darrell’s first real ambitious project, having written nothing much longer than 3,000 words before. It’s a wonderful book that takes place in the early 20th century but feels incredibly of the moment. People worried about newspaper influence back then the way we worry about social media influence today.

Darrell also talks about when he’s ready to share a work in progress and simplifying the structure when it became evident that the structure was dictating the terms, not the story itself. Really rich stuff.

Episode 405: Hallie Lieberman and the Drawer of Dead Pitches

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By Brendan O’Meara

Hallie Lieberman (@hallielieberman) has now written for The Atavist Magazine twice, her latest chronicling the crimes of “The Handcuff Man” in her “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.”

Hallie writes a lot about the sex industry and LBGTQ+ issues. She’s also the author of Buzz: A Stimulating History of the Sex Toy.

This conversation was a trip. Hallie is a force of nature, candid, and joy to speak with and, I hope, a joy for you to listen to.

In this episode we talk about the draw of dead pitches, rejection, perseverance, and how to find wills.

Episode 404: Hanif Abdurraqib’s Nod to Witnessing in ‘There’s Always This Year’

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By Brendan O’Meara

Kinda crazy, right? That someone like Hanif Abdurraqib (@nifmuhammad) would agree to be on this little podcast, which just turned eleven on March 20.

Hanif needs next-to-no introduction, but here’s a little bit about him. His book A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance was a finalist for the National Book Award. He’s the author of the essay collection They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us and the poetry collections A Fortune for Your Disaster and The Crown Ain’t Worth Much. His latest book is There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension (Random House).

It’s a masterpiece; Hanif is a masterpiece.

In this conversation, we talk about productivity, envy, specificity, intentionality, and a nod to witnessing. It’s great stuff, great talk.

Episode 403: Elizabeth Rush Moves Toward Exactitude

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By Brendan O’Meara

Elizabeth Rush returns, friend. This is her third trip to the show, this time to celebrate The Quickening: Creation and Community at the Ends of the Earth (Milkweed).

Liz also is the author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore (Milkweed). Both are wonderful books.

The Quickening deals with climate change and motherhood and shines light on the lesser celebrated laborers that make treks to the Antarctic possible. Oh, yes, she was the writer in residence aboard a giant boat that went to the Thwaites Glacier.

Episode 402: The Stentorian-Voiced Dudely Bro-ness of Rob Harvilla

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By Brendan O’Meara

Rob Harvilla (@robharvilla) returns to talk about the end of his world famous podcast 60 Songs that Explain the 90s and the book based on the same name.

In this conversation we talk about several of his episodes that made an impression on me, namely the “Sabotage,” “It’s Good to be King,” “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” and “Enter Sandman.” We talk about a lot of things that his podcast has meant to him since he conceived of it in 2020, that year we still haven’t seemed to leave yet.

Episode 401: Jessica Camille Aguirre on Racking Up Rejections, Online Nothing Burgers, and The Atavist’s “Watch It Burn”

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By Brendan O’Meara

Jessica Camille Aguirre (@jessicacaquirre) is a freelance journalist based out of Berlin, Germany, and she’s got a ripping piece for this month’s Atavist, “Watch It Burn.” Two scammers, a web of betrayal, and Europe’s fraud of the century.

It deals with carbon credits and the scammers were quick to pounce on this upstart industry.

Episode 400: Richard Blanco on Fever Writing and Finding the Poem within the Poem

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By Brendan O’Meara

For Episode 400, we wanted to go big, presidential-inaugural-poet big. Richard Blanco, @poetrichardblanco on IG, author of the collection Homeland of My Body (Beacon Press), graced out airwaves for a milestone episode.

Great talk about the messiness of writing a book, showing early drafts to students to let them see what a bloody mess the process is, and Richard reads two poems from HOMB.

The list of Richard’s accolades are bonkers-crazy. In 2023, he was won the National Humanities Award and he was named the first ever poet laureate in Miami-Dade County. He’s the author of two memoirs, The Prince of Los Cocuyos and For All of Us, One Today: An Inaugural Poet’s Journey.

The show’s Instagram and Threads handle is @creativenonfictionpodcast.

And you know I’d rather you sign up for my Up-to-11 Newsletter. Signup form is below you and to your right. Book recs, book raffles, cool stuff curated by me for you, fun and entertaining. First of the month. No spam. Can’t beat it.

Consider supporting the show via Patreon patreon.com/cnfpod. Shop around if you want to support the community. The show is free but it ain’t cheap.

Free ways to support the show?

Subscribe and download and share across your socials. And don’t forget to consider leaving a kind review on Apple Podcasts. Those go a LONG way.

Now in Paperback: ‘Simple is the Way to Go’ with Mirin Fader

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This originally aired on December 10, 2021 as Episode 291.

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By Brendan O’Meara

What’s not to love about Mirin Fader (@mirinfader)?

She’s an incredible writer and reporter. She’s a senior staff writer for The Ringer. On top of that, she’s generous and insightful, and she brought all of that and more to this episode of the podcast.

We talk about her feature on Tyler Skaggs, a notable selection for Year’s Best Sports Writing.

We also dig into her biography Giannis: The Improbable Rise of an MVP.

We talk about failure and persistence and writing and ledes. This is a dream conversation if you’re into the nuts and bolts of writing and reporting long features and books.

Her feature on the late Gigi Bryant also was a notable selection for YBSW, so that’s yet another feather in Mirin’s hat.

The show’s Instagram and Threads handle is @creativenonfictionpodcast.

Consider supporting the show via Patreon patreon.com/cnfpod. Shop around if you want to support the community. The show is free but it ain’t cheap.

Free ways to support the show?

Subscribe and download and share across your socials. And don’t forget to consider leaving a kind review on Apple Podcasts. Those go a LONG way.

Episode 399: William Ralston Recounts a Harrowing Rescue for The Atavist

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By Brendan O’Meara

William Ralston is a freelancer journalist and he comes on the show to talk about “Mayday,” his long feature about a harrowing rescue of four children after a deadly plane crash for The Atavist.

Right from the start, William grabs the reader and doesn’t let you go, man. Maybe you’ll consider subscribing to The Atavist Magazine. I don’t get any kickbacks, so I do it out of the goodness of Grinch-sized heart (before he serves up the roast beast).

William’s work has appeared all over the place. He’s a dogged reporter, so we get into that quite a bit.

This conversation gets into trust, as well as learning how to write before you’re ready. Jonah Ogles also stops by to give some of those valuable insights into the editor side of the table.

The show’s Instagram and Threads handle is @creativenonfictionpodcast.

And you know I’d rather you sign up for my rage-against-the-algorithm. Signup form is below you and to your right. Book recs, book raffles, cool stuff curated by me for you, CNFin’ happy hour or writing group, writing prompts, fun and entertaining. First of the month. No spam. Can’t beat it.

Consider supporting the show via Patreon patreon.com/cnfpod. Shop around if you want to support the community. You make that possible. The show is free but it ain’t cheap.

Free ways to support the show?

Subscribe and download and share across your socials. And don’t forget to consider leaving a kind review on Apple Podcasts. Those go a LONG way.

Now in Paperback: Leslie Jamison — Make It Scream, Make It Burn, and the Bounded Infinity of Nonfiction

The writer Leslie Jamison (USA), August 15, 2017, New York, New York. Photograph by Beowulf Sheehan mail@beowulfsheehan.com

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By Brendan O’Meara

This originally aired on September 27, 2019 as Episode 170.

“Essays took on this energy for me in part because they’re unofficial and in part because they brought me in contact with the world that felt really generative.” — Leslie Jamison (@lsjamison on Twitter)

New “now in paperback,” this with Leslie Jamison. Turns out she has a new memoir out called Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story, and, yes, we’ll hustle to have her back on the show for it.

Always nice when you can have straight-up badasses like Leslie Jamison on the show. I’ve spoken with some great essayists on the podcast, like Elena Passarello, Elizabeth Rush, Natalie Singer, among others.

In this episode we riff on how she had to let language to the work for her and not let the language be this shiny veneer without substance, the bounded infinity of nonfiction, and much, much more.

Her new book is Make It Scream, Make It Burn (Little, Brown, 2019) and it’s a joy to read. Leslie is also the bestselling author of The Empathy Exams, The Recovering and the novel The Gin Closet.