Sponsor love: West Virginia Wesleyan College’s MFA in Creative Writing
Hey, CNFers, Chip Scanlan is here!
Here’s a little ditty from his website:
I am a writer. An author. A writing coach who has helped thousands of writers discover the writer within us all.
And his new book Writers on Writing: Inside the Lives of 55 Distinguished Writers and Editors is out now. And for $10 on Kindle ($15 for paperback) you get insights from the likes of Susan Orlean, Bronwen Dickey, Tommy Tomlinson, David Finkel, Roy Peter Clark, Rosalind Bentley, and many, many more.
In the book, Chip (@chipscanlan) asks four questions of every person:
- What is the most important lesson you’ve learned as a writer?
- What has been the biggest surprise of your writing life?
- If you had to use a metaphor to describe yourself as a writer, what would it be?
- What’s the best piece of writing advice anyone every gave you?
But in our conversation, we trace Chip’s story as a writer (and what turned the light on for him). We talk about his career in newspapers, delicately answering questions, and letting curiosity drive your reporting. We also talk about his decision to self-publish this collection of interviews and what that experience was like. He wrote about it for Poynter as well.
The show has a new Instagram handle, @creativenonfictionpodcast, and you can always keep the conversation going on Twitter @CNFPod.
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, 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. I just paid out the writers from the last audio magazine. You make that possible. The show is free but it ain’t cheap.
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