Chase Jarvis shares some wisdom about creating without judgement, from his excellent book, Creative Calling.
Let me know what you think! Twitter @CNFPod.
Create without Judgement with Chase Jarvis
Tag: Brendan O’Meara
Episode 170: Leslie Jamison — Make It Scream, Make It Burn, and the Bounded Infinity of Nonfiction
“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)
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.
Keep the conversation going on Twitter by tagging me and the show @BrendanOMeara and @CNFPod. Digital fistbumps for those who do it. I hope I’ve made something worth sharing with your people, so please link up to the show and encourage your CNFin’ buds to subscribe!
Episode 168: Rachel Dougherty — Nonfiction for Kids, Day Jobs, and Finding Confidence
“My writing life is being surrounded by 15 half-empty coffee cups which I keep dipping my paint brush into accidentally.” —Rachel Dougherty (@racheldoughertybooks)
I don’t have kids, but I love the idea of writing nonfiction books for kids. If that’s your jam, or a jam worth undertaking, then Rachel Dougherty is going to Blow. Your. Mind.
This was a fun episode where we talk about day jobs, confidence (or a lack thereof), finding time to do work that matters, and so much more.
Rachel is the author and illustrator of The Secret Engineer: How Emily Roebling Built the Brooklyn Bridge. She’s a Philadelphia-based illustrator, children’s author, and lifelong knowledge-hunter. She works in acrylic paint, ink, and pencil smudges, using humor and color to inspire curious young minds. Rachel is passionate about US history, scruffy little dogs, and board games. [I didn’t ask her about board games. I wish I had.]
Listen, social media is a lousy way to promote a podcast, but it’s a great place to keep the conversation going. I hope I’ve made something worth sharing, so let’s keep it up on Twitter @CNFPod, Instagram @cnfpod, and Facebook @CNFPodcast. Tag me and the show and I’ll jump in the fire.
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Episode 167: Steven Hyden—Woodstock ’99, ‘Break Stuff,’ and Books as Roadtrips
View on Zencastr
“You tend to agree more with the people who don’t like what you do more than the people who do like what you do.” — Steven Hyden (@steven_hyden)
Hey, CNFers, glad you could make it. Got Steven Hyden for you. He’s a rock critic for Uproxx and his podcast Break Stuff about Woodstock ’99 is the stuff of legend. So I reached out to him.
We talk about that, books as roadtrips, and how you can have, perhaps, “questionable” taste, but still be a good read.
He makes mention of Chuck Klosterman being an inspiration given they come from similar backgrounds: remote upbringing yet somehow made a go of it in mainstream rock criticism.
Keep the conversation going on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. I hope I’ve made something worth sharing, so share widely. And if you’re feeling kind, leave a review on Apple Podcasts.
Books by Steven Hyden
Your Favorite Band is Killing Me: What Pop Music Rivalries Reveal About the Meaning of Life
Twilight of the Gods: A Journey to the End of Classic Rock
Hard to Handle: The Life and Death of the Black Crowes—A Memoir
Episode 166: Kate Hopper—Slap the Bass
“Every piece of writing is going to be hard in some way, and you just have to know that, and sit with it and keep going forward, and you will have a breakthrough at some point if you don’t give up.” —Kate Hopper
By Brendan O’Meara
Hey, there, CNFers, Kate Hopper (@MNKateHopper) joins me to talk about her True Story essay “Stumbling into Joy.” In case you couldn’t tell from the title of this episode, she learns to play the bass guitar in her forties. It’s pretty rad.
Please subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts. We’re on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher. It is always my hope that I’ve made something worth sharing, so if you like this, please pass it along to the people you think would benefit from it. You are the social network.
As always, keep the conversation going on Twitter @CNFPod and Instagram @cnfpod. Also Facebook, so go like the page there. I respond to everything, so please tag the show on your preferred network and we’ll connect.
Thanks to Goucher’s MFA in Nonfiction, Bay Path University’s MFA in Creative Nonfiction, and River Teeth for the support.
Episode 165: Steven Kurutz—The Power of Libraries, Getting to New York, and ‘Fruitland’
By Brendan O’Meara
Welcome back, CNFers! The 301 Redirect is live so you should be getting that bump of CNF now in your feeds. Sorry about that missed week there. Things got broke. Acutally, things are still mildly broken with some older episodes. The podcast gremlins are on it.
Steven Kurutz is here. He’s a features writer for The New York Times, and it was his essay for Creative Nonfiction’s True Story, “Fruitland,” that made me want to reach out.
This was a fun one and I hope you dig it. If you do, please share it with your immediate network. That’s how I want this show to keep growing, not by interrupting people with Facebook ads, but by you deciding it has value and sharing it with your friends. Hand to hand. You’re the social network, man.
If you dig the show, consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts.
Keep the conversation going on Twitter @CNFPod. Let me know your thoughts. Podcast for your thoughts.
Episode 164: Donna Talarico—Literary Citizenship and Hippocamp 2019
“I like to joke that this [conference] is my investment in literary citizenship.” —Donna Talarico (@donnatalarico)
CNFers! There’s a coupon code IN THIS EPISODE for a massive discount on your last-minute registration for Hippocamp 2019! But you gotta listen.
Oh, hey, this is CNF, the show where I talk to badass people about the art and craft of telling true stories. Welcome.
I ask that if you dig the show, you share it with a few of your friends, link up to it on social, and tag the show @CNFPod on Twitter and @cnfpod on Instagram. We’re on Facebook too. I’ll jump in the fire with you.
If you’re feeling kind, leave a review on Apple Podcasts. We’re still on Mission 100 and we’re 28 away. There’s 28 of you out there, right? I sure hope so.
Big thanks to our patrons this week in Goucher College’s MFA in Nonfiction, Bay Path University’s MFA in Creative Nonfiction and Riverteeth, a journal for creative nonfiction.
Sign up for the newsletter. Once a month, no spam, can’t beat it. Anything else, CNFer? Enjoy the show!
Episode 163: Fred Waitzkin — How Writing a Book is Like a Love Affair
“A great story for me is one that engages me emotionally. It’s like a love affair.” —Fred Waitzkin
“A great story can light up the page.” —Fred Waitzkin
“The joy of it is writing those paragraphs.” —Fred Waitzkin
This week’s episode of CNF, aka The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, features Fred Waitzkin, the author of several books including Searching for Bobby Fischer and his most recent novel Deep Water Blues.
Lots of tasty nuggets in this episode. Maybe what struck me most about it was his sheer love of writing as a craft, as an art. So we talk about that, how his mismatched parents taught him what he knows, how he must take a break after each book, and the how he cracked the code of Deep Water Blues by writing a screenplay, of all things.
Be sure to subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts and if you’re feeling generous, leave a kind review over on Apple Podcasts.
Keep the conversation on Twitter @CNFPod and consider sharing the show with the people in your circle. Tag the show and I’ll jump in the fire with you.
Episode 161: Mark Kram Jr.—Letting the Dust Clear, Being a Late Bloomer, and Smokin’ Joe
“This is not something that comes overnight. It’s a long, arduous road,” says Mark Kram Jr.
Mark Kram Jr., author of Smokin’ Joe: The Life of Joe Frazier, joined me for a great conversation about his early career and the struggles he overcame.
He learned on the job, more or less. He said he was a late bloomer (Something I can attest to. Still waitin’ on my bloom.)
He also wrote Like Any Normal Day, and edited a book of his father’s best writing Great Men Die Twice.
Mark has won the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing and has been anthologized The Best American Sports Writing six times.
As always, if you dig the show, please share this across your social networks. Tag the show @CNFPod on Twitter and I’ll jump in the fire with you. You can subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts.
Episode 160: Chuck Klosterman — ‘Raised in Captivity,’ Being Straightforward, and How Nonfiction is Closer to Bowling
“I think that very often when anybody is writing a book, they lose track of the fact that the book can be whatever you want.” —Chuck Klosterman
“Nonfiction is closer to bowling. It can be perfect.” —Chuck Klosterman
Hey, CNFers, look who came over to CNF Pod HQ! It’s Chuck Klosterman, one my favorite authors for how he’s able to turn a phrase, dollop profanity, and be the mind I wish I had.
Chuck’s latest book is Raised in Captivity: Fictional Nonfiction, and we take a dive into what makes this collection of short stories — his first collection of short stories of his eleven books.
Keep the conversation going on Twitter @CNFPod. Let me know what you think. Tweet out what you love. I’ll tweet back horns and skulls.
I hope you have as much fun listening to this as I did conducting the interview and later editing it for production.