“The more you can immerse yourself in a story the better you can write about it.” —Julian Smith (@julianwrites)
“You gotta fall in love with your subject and sometimes people have to pull you out.” —Julian Smith (juliansmith.com)
Julian Smith is a freelance journalist covering science, conservation, and adventure for publications like Smithsonian, Wired, Outside, Men’s Journal, National Geographic Traveler, and The Washington Post.
He co-authored Aloha Rodeo with David Wolman, a fellow journalist he worked with before on this Epic Magazinepiece about two warring ice cream trucks. It’s…epic.
Amanda Petrusich is on the main stage for Episode 153.
By Brendan O’Meara
“The work itself, the process has to sustain you.” —Amanda Petrusich (@amandapetrusich Twitter)
“It’s like wet jeans, that’s the feeling of generating a bunch of crappy writing.”—Amanda Petrusich (@amandapetrusich IG)
Amanda Petrusich, staff writer for The New Yorker, joined me for a spirited conversation about her approach to writing criticism and the grind she endured to get where she’s at.
It was this great piece she wrote on Metallica that made me want to reach out to her. The way to this man’s heart is through Metallica.
“That’s what makes a great story is having character, and setting, and narrative moments and dynamic change.”
“I’m not really just there for the information. I want to be able to understand a character and their motivations and their experience on a deeper level.”
“A good idea knows no experiences level or age.”
Well, here are CNFers, this is CNF, the creative nonfiction podcast where I speak to badass artists about the craft of telling true stories.
Ian Frisch, a master a freelancer and author of Magic is Dead, joins me this glorious CNFriday.
There’s so much great freelancer wisdom in this episode. I know your’e gonna dig it.
Anika Fajardo, author of Magical Realism for Nonbelievers, stopped by CNF.
“Part of me thinks nobody should write a memoir.” —Anika Fajardo (@anikawriter on Twitter)
“Writing is about communicating, so that’s why we have to send things out. There needs to be a point where it goes out in the world and we communicate with a reader.” —Anika Fajardo (@anikawriter on IG)
Here we are again friend. I’m in the midst of rebranding so you’re listening to CNF, the show where I talk to badass writers, filmmakers, producers, and podcasters about the art and craft of creative nonfiction.
In any case, I hope decide to subscribe to CNF wherever you get your podcasts. And if you’d be so kind, I’d appreciate a rating or review over on Apple Podcasts. They help validate the show.
Also, keep the conversation going on Twitter by joining me @BrendanOMeara and @CNFPod. Tag the show and I’ll jump in the fire. It’s all good.
I think you’ll get a lot of tasty nuggets out of this episode. I hope you enjoy it and you share it widely with your CNFin’ friends!
Hey, CNFers, I’m Brendan O’Meara and this is The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I talk to badass writers, filmmakers, radio producers, and podcasters about the art and craft of telling true stories. I try and chart their journeys through the arts and reveal how they deal self-doubt, anxiety, and still manage to get the work done.
Be sure to go subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher.
Oh, and I’m doing the thing again, that thing that where I offer editorial coaching of up to 2,000 words of your writing in exchange for a review on Apple Podcasts. Post your review. They take up to 24 hours and email me creativenonfictionpodcast at gmail dot com with a screenshot of the review and i’ll reach out and help out with a piece you’re working on up to 2,000 words, a $150 value.
Okay, so I’ve got the amazing, incomparable and, jacked Jericho Brown. Here’s a little bit about Jericho, whose new book, The Tradition, published by Copper Canyon Press:
Jericho Brown is the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard, and the National Endowment for the Arts, and he is the winner of the Whiting Writer’s Award. Brown’s first book, Please (New Issues 2008), won the American Book Award. His second book, TheNew Testament (Copper Canyon 2014), won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. His third collection is The Tradition(Copper Canyon 2019). His poems have appeared in The Bennington Review, Buzzfeed, Fence, jubilat, The New Republic, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, TIME magazine, and several volumes ofThe Best American Poetry. He is an associate professor and the director of the Creative Writing Program at Emory University.
jerichobrown.com
If you want to read poetry that knocks the wind out of you, read Jericho.
This is one of my all-time favorites as we approach 150 of these things. We talk about his exercise routine, how poets are a special kind of nerd, experiences over destinations, his invented poetry form the Duplex, discipline, and so much more.
You’re gonna want a notebook, man.
Go follow Jericho on Twitter @jerichobrown and keep the conversation going with me @BrendanOMeara and @CNFPod on TWitter. IG is @cnfpod and Facebook is The Creative Nonfiction Podcast. Email the show creative nonfiction podcast @ gmail dot com and maybe I’ll read it on the air.
Share this show with a friend. You are the social network. I can tweet out a show all day long, but it comes down to you, friend. Rage against the algorithms.
“Maybe the world will always be crazy, and creative work will always be hard. Then the question becomes: How do you keep going?” —Austin Kleon
“Even if you’re a company of one, you need some R&D time.” —Austin Kleon
Welcome to The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak to badass writers, filmmakers, producers, and podcasters about the art and craft of telling true stories.
Today’s guest is one of my favorite writers: Austin Kleon. His latest book, Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad, is an amazing little book that does what it sets out to do. If you’re in the Portland, OR area on April 11, he’ll be at Powell’s talking the talk. For more tour dates, go here.
In this episode we talk about his early days as a librarian, how his books talk to each other, researching in public, re-pitching art as a verb (when people desperately want to be the “noun,” and, of course, how to keep going.
Keep the conversation going on Twitter by pinging me @BrendanOMeara and @CNFPod, Instagram @cnfpod, and Facebook at The Creative Nonfiction Podcast. Please subscribe to the show and share it with a friend. And be sure to tag me so I can give you a digital fist-bump.
Scott Eden , investigative reporter for ESPN the Magazine.
By Brendan O’Meara
“The structure should grow organically from the material.”
“At what point are you taxing the reader, knowing when the reader has had enough.”
“I hated [calling people] at first, just terrified of calling people., but I’ve gotten over it. It took years.”—Scott Eden
Here we are again. Today I welcome Scott Eden, an investigative reporter for ESPN the Magazine. His piece on maligned former NBA referee Tim Donaghy was a piece two years in the making and came out in February.
As you may or may not know, this is The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak to badass writers about the art and craft of telling true stories.
“If I fail, I want to fail because of me. If we succeed, I want to succeed because of us.”—Vlad Yudin (vladar.com)
“You can’t become best friends with the subject of a documentary. You have to make it objective. I like for the audience to make their own decisions.”—Vlad Yudin
Today’s guest is Vlad Yudin, a Russian-born documentary filmmaker best known for the trilogy of Generation Iron bodybuilding films. His Vladar Company makes and producers lots of films in the fitness industry and we unpack a lot of what makes him a particularly free spirit.
In case you’re new to the show, I should mention that this is The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak to badass writers, filmmakers, and producers about the art and craft of telling true stories, how they got to where they are, what struggles they deal with, and how they still manage to get the work done.
Be sure to subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts and keep the conversation going on Twitter @BrendanOMeara and @CNFPod. You can also follow the show on Facebook and Instagram.
Pulling straight from Vlad’s bio on the vladar.com website:
Born and raised in Central Russia, filmmaker Vlad Yudin grew up in Moscow before moving to New York where he would pursue his career in film. In 2008, Yudin formed The Vladar Company to create a platform for production and distribution of various feature and documentary projects. Some of the produced titles include “Last Day Of Summer,” “Big Pun: The Legacy” and most recently the documentary box office hit, “Generation Iron” that went on to become one of the top five documentary’s at the box office for The Vladar Company in 2013. Vlad will continue to produce under the Vladar banner as well as handle the operations and overlook the expanding catalogue of Vladar’s media content.
Visit vladar.com for a list of all the movies he produces and to find links on where to find them. The first Generation Iron film and the Ronnie Coleman film are my faves, FWIW.
“I want to do right by these people. I want to tell a story that honors the stuff they did.”—Blake J. Harris (@blakejharrisNYC)
Ah, yes, it’s The Creative Nonfiction the show where I speak to badass writers, filmmakers, and producers about the art and craft of telling true stories. For episode 143 I have Blake J. Harris, author of Console Wars, and most recently The History of the Future: Oculus, Facebook, and the Revolution That Swept Virtual Reality.
Jeff Goins, author of Real Artists Don’t Starve, came by The Creative Nonfiction Podcast. Photo credit Ashley Goins
By Brendan O’Meara
“You’ve gotta find new ways to have fun in old things.” —Jeff Goins, @JeffGoins.
All right, it’s The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I talk to badass writers, producers, and filmmakers about the art and craft of telling true stories, how they got to where they are, how the cope with crippling self-doubt, and the routines they enlist to get the work done. I’m your host Brendan O’Meara and today’s episode is a tight 30, man.
When you get somebody like Jeff Goins on the show, author of a quintillion blog posts and several books, including Real Artists Don’t Starve, you adhere to the time allotment. So this was a tight window, but I think it’s packed with great stuff. Amazing what you can get done in a tight window if you focus and don’t dither.
So, yes, a little house keeping is in order, as it usually is. You know where to subscribe to the show, don’t you? If you want to be in the know and get a little blip of goodness every CNFriday, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast/Play Music, Spotify, and Stitcher. That’s enough I think.
Yes, Jeff Goins is here and he’s the author of The Art of Work and Real Artists Don’t Starve and he sits in that Steven Pressfield/Seth Godin/Austin Kleon space of empowering you to make a go of it. We talk about how he was read the dictionary as a kid and breaking down the barriers between who we think the geniuses are (they’re more like us than we think), and a lot more. He’s @JeffGoins on Twitter and visit goinswriter.com for all sorts of goodies and to buy a bunch of his stuff.
Nothing wrong with a tight 30, right? It has a different vibe to it, but it’s no less valuable.
Thanks to Jeff, go check him out on the socials and thanks to our sponsors in Goucher College and Bay Path University tag teaming this Royal Rumble.
Be sure to give the show a follow across the socials, but more important, share it with a friend. You are the social network. Reviews are nice and welcome, but if you share it with your people, that means more. Tag me @BrendanOMeara and @CNFPod on Twitter, @cnfpod on Instagram and The Creative Nonfiction Podcast on Facebook. I’ll jump in the fire with you.
