I can’t speak highly enough about it. It’s hilarious and heartfelt.
In this episode we chat about:
Holding onto positive thoughts in a negative world
The scary nature of hitting publish
Her comic workflow
Balancing images and prose and lots more
You can now become a Patreon member of the CNFin’ community. I have four tiers of membership and if you do the math on the BIG tier, it’s actually a killer deal.
Becoming a member supports the podcast, supports the audio mag, grants you exclusive content, transcripts, and access to me as an editor and coach. Every dollar goes into producing the show and leading to more creative independence, which means I can make more cool stuff for you.
I know it’s a big ask, but I figure it’s better than a tip jar as you’ll get some cool stuff in exchange for your membership.
Keep the conversation going on social media @CNFPod and consider leaving a kind review on Apple Podcasts. They help with the packaging of the show. If you can’t or don’t want to leave one on Apple, you can email me a review and I’ll read it on air and use it as I court sponsors.
Don’t forget to subscribe to the free monthly newsletter where I share reading recommendations, articles, blogs, and what you might have missed from the world of the CNFin’ podcast. First of the month. No spam. Can’t beat it.
Edward Parnell, the author of Ghostland: In Search of a Haunted Country(William Collins), comes by the show to talk about the new book, a book that is part travel log, culture log, and memoir.
It is a haunting read, a mournful read, so naturally I dug it.
We talk about our shared love of Kurt Vonnegut, keeping the fun in writing, his approach to take this book away from the traditional grief memoir path, and lots more.
Keep the conversation going on social media @CNFPod and be sure to sign up for the monthly newsletter where I give out reading recommendation, podcast news, and writing tips. This month I plan to try something new: An exclusive Zoom link to have a little happy hour. First of the month. No spam. Can’t beat it.
She’s got a new book out called The Unreality of Memory (FSG, 2020). It’s a killer collection of disaster essays and what we’ve come to expect from Elisa, which is to say deeply intellectual, observant, incredibly researched with just a dash of the personal.
As always, be sure you’re subscribed to this podcast wherever you listen and consider leaving a kind review on Apple Podcasts.
Keep the conversation going on social media @CNFPod across the big three. I’ll be emerging from my social media detox soon since I finished the latest draft of my memoirvel.
If you have questions or just want to say hello to the show, click on the appropriate button, leave a message, and I’ll be sure to address the best questions I get. Don’t be shy š
I brought back the Bookshelf for the Apocalypse, a CNF Pod deep cut of how I’d ask guests what books were so important to them that they’d pack them in their survival pack for the end of the world. You have that to look forward to towards the end of the show. Enjoy, friend.
In this episode we also talk about his soiree in novel writing and how writing four failed novels put him on the path he’s on now. We talk about his approach to research and how he organizes is. Lots of great stuff here.
I hope ya dig.
As always, be sure to subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts and if you’re feeling kind, leave a nice review on Apple Podcasts.
Keep the conversation going on social media by pinging the show @CNFPod on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. And if this show means anything to you and your circle of CNFers, please share it. This only spreads hand to hand.
Lots of fun speaking to Rani about how her parents nurtured her creative side, but were worried about she’d make a career out of creative work.
We talk about day jobs, imposter syndrome, growth/fixed mindsets, power heels, and dude hats.
She’s the founder of Fuss Class, a south Asian satire site. Very Onion-esque. Rani hangs out on Instagram @raanstermonster. She came to play ball.
I think you’ll have fun with this one and I’d love to hear from you if you did. Email the show and ping us on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.
We need more submissions to our first ever audio magazine. The theme is Social Distancing: Essays from Isolation. 2,000 words/15-minute read. Deadline is MAY 1. Email your essay with SUBMISSION in the subject line to creativenonfictionpodcast at gmail dot com. I can’t wait to hear what you come up with.
Questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to reach out. This a community. We’re in this mess together. Share this episode with your people and encourage them to share it to. If you don’t feel the need to share it, then I’ve failed at making something remarkable. And I’ll keep working harder and harder so that it continues to earn your endorsement and, more importantly, your valuable time.
So many great insights about negative self-talk, what they feel is fundamentally lacking in most self-help books, and how to ultimately be kinder to yourself.
This book comes at a good time because things are rough. Things are topsy-turvy. We need people like Jolenta and Kristen doing their thing and thankfully their work is out there for us.
As you know, you can keep in touch on social media by following the show @CNFPod wherever. Also, if you’re feeling kind, consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. Share this show if it means something to you. We’d be honored if you did.
[Again, no art because my website host hasn’t fixed the issue yet.]
This was a fun book, especially if you like Malcolm Gladwell-style books that orbit one idea. This book takes you all over the place, not just basketball, so I think you’ll have a lot of fun with it. If I didn’t already put in the last newsletter, I’ll be sure to include it in the next one.
In any case, don’t forget that we’re putting out our very first audio-mag on the theme: Social Distancing, essays from/on isolation. They must be 2,000 words or fewer (that’s a 15-minute read) and be original work. Email you submission to creative nonfiction podcast at gmail dot com, ya dig?
That’s as good a time as any to say that I’m thinking of all you out there. Some have it pretty rough. I can’t complain. I have shelter, food, clothes and a job (for now) that lets me work from home. And I’ve got this podcast that I get to make for you.
This show only work if you share it hand to hand. Be an Ambassador CNFer and spread what we’re doing around. @CNFPod on all the social platforms.
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your pods and to subscribe to my monthly newsletter. Social media is @CNFPod, though, as many of you know, I’ve scaled back quite a bit on this.
You might be wondering, what the riff? Why isnāt there an interview in this slot right now?
Well, this happens, at times, when people cancel on me or miss their appointment and my scrambling to fill the time slot comes up empty. In the creative vaccum that is the time in and around Christmas and New Years, itās often a losing battle.
My advice to you is, maybe check out some of the interviews that have accumulated in your feed. Thereās no shortage. A new interview will be here next week with Kristina Gaddy, and weāve got exciting ones coming down the pipeline with Tim OāBrien, Pamela Coloff and Rachel Aviv, just to name a few.Ā
Also, in my effort to better serve you, the listener, Iād love to know what I could be doing to better address your needs as a creator in this genre. Do you like the origin questions? Do you like the tactical stuff? Would you like things to stay the same? Am I hitting the right beats that make you energized about your own work? This podcast is for you. I make this for you. Without you there is no CNF. I want to make a show worth sharing and itās only worth sharing if you are able to add those valuable insights to your cart and check out better for it. So please email the show creativenonfictionpodcast at gmail . com or brendan at brendanomeara . com with your insights. It doesnāt have to be long, but as the show enters its eighth year, I want to make sure I havenāt lost touch with the people who matter most: you.
But this is also a time for me to share a great quote from Charles Bukowski about writing and it goes to the heart of what I think it means to be a writer and an artist.
He writes,
Too many writers write for the wrong reasons. They want to get famous or they want to get rich or they want to get laid by the girls with bluebells in their hair. When everything works best, it’s not because you chose writing but because writing chose you. Itās when youāre mad with it, itās when itās stuffed in your ears, your nostrils, under your fingernails. Itās when thereās no hope but that.
He goes on ā¦ then says:
It was cancer madness. And it was never work or planned or part of a school. It was. Thatās all. We work too hard. We try too hard. Donāt try. Donāt work. Itās there. Itās been looking right at us, aching to kick out the closed womb. Itās all free, we neednāt be told. Classes? Classes are for asses. Writing a poem is as easy as beating your meat or drinking a bottle of beer.
So, as we approach this new year, maybe we donāt need to overthink it. We donāt need permission from anyone. We donāt need another online class from a āmasterā who, by the way, didnāt need an online class to do the work sheās so famous for. If we approach the work with generosity and rigor, and put our best word forward every time, then thatās the victory.
When four guys in northern california got together and started playing heavy metal music, sure, they had dreams of going out on the road, but it always about the music in that garage. Those guys, give or take because one got booted out of the band and one died in a bus crash, made it because they had always made it.
We make it in this business when we decide. Thereās no arrival. Malcolm Gladwell is jealous of Michael Lewis.
So, we make it when we decided to arrive. I hope you decide right now to own it. Own the title. Own your shitty work. It wonāt be shitty for long.
I wish you the best arrival in 2020 and beyond. Letās get after it this year.
Support the show by linking up to it on your social platforms, engaging with the show on Twitter, IG or Facebook, and consider leaving a review or rating on Apple Podcasts. We’re real close to 100. Let’s get there and see what happens.
