Creative Nonfiction Podcast – Page 19 – Home of The Creative Nonfiction Podcast

Episode 255: Maddy Crowell and the ‘Invisible Kid,’ Plus The Atavist Gets a New Look

Maddy Crowell comes by the show to talk about her new piece for The Atavist Magazine titled “Invisible Kid.”

I also speak with Jonah Ogles, the lead editor of this piece, and Ed Johnson, the designer who led the way in the redesign.

This episode is packed with goodness, much like its Atavistian predecessors in Scott Eden, Phil Hoad, and Lindsay Jones.

Consider subscribing to The Atavist and its once-a-month blockbuster piece of narrative nonfiction. Once a month, can’t beat it … sounds like my newsletter!

Anyway …

We dig into a lot of might juice, and I hope it brightens up your day and wherever you are on your writer journey.

Episode 252: 60 Songs that Explain the 90s … and The Ringer’s Rob Harvilla

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By Brendan O’Meara

Rob Harvilla (@harvilla), a Ringer staff writer and the mastermind behind the Spotify Original 60 Songs that Explain the 90s, comes by the show to talk about the flannel-clad 90s. As an aside, most of my wardrobe is flannel. I still wear some of my old flannel from this time. Anyway …

His podcast is great, especially if you love the 90s or came of age in the 90s, as I did.

So you know we dig into some of the great 90s vocalists, what these songs say about the 90s and Rob, and also how this podcast is actually stealth memoir over music criticism.

Hope you enjoy it. If you do, consider linking up to the show and tagging it @CNFPod. And if you want access to forthcoming audio magazines and want to support that endeavor (and pay writers!), head over to patreon.com/cnfpod.

Episode 249: Ximena Vengoechea on Life Audits, Listener Drain, and Reclaiming the Lost Art of True Connection

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By Brendan O’Meara

Ximena Vengoechea is here to talk about her new book Listen Like You Mean It: Reclaiming the Lost Art of True Connection (Portfolio).

I’ll be honest … this book made me realize what a horrible listener I am. For real.

But I put on my big-boy pants and started applying many of the tools in this wonderful book.

So far as self-helpy-type books go, Ximena’s is right up there with Seth Godin’s The Practice and Annie Duke’s How to Decide.

Episode 248: Humble and Important Gifts with Bronwen Dickey

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By Brendan O’Meara

“My mind is a very bad neighborhood and I should not go there alone,” says Bronwen Dickey in her fourth trip to the podcast

She was here for Ep. 21, 45, 137 and now 248.

It’s always a good time when I get to catch up with her.

Episode 247: Jason Naylor, In Living Color

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By Brendan O’Meara

How’s this for a pull quote from Jason Naylor (@jasonnaylor on Instagram):

How do you find your style? How do you find your voice. And the truth is, I think that you don’t find it until you stop trying to find it. You just make work. If you’re a writer, you just keep writing. If you draw, then you just keep drawing, and the more you do it, you start to see patterns, you start to see a rhythm in what you’re doing. And then one day you look back and you realize, ‘Oh, I actually I can see that I have a voice.’

How brilliant is that?

Episode 246: Jenni Gritters on the Freelance Life, Not Waiting for Perfect, and Sh*t Sandwiches

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By Brendan O’Meara

Jenni Gritters is here.

She’s a freelancer and she is not a struggling freelancer in the ways that many of us identify as a struggling freelancer, which is to say: we po’.

Jenni, @jenni_gritters, along with her co-pilot on The Writers’ Co-op Podcast Wudan Yan, are thriving. Through strategy and rigor, Jenni is a six-figure earner, this during the pandemic, this when many writers are struggling to make a go of it.

She turned her skill into money, which allows her to double down on her skill and do more projects that are more personal-driven.

I like to think of some content/branded writing gigs like when Jake Gyllenhaall does a blockbuster movie so that he can then do the art-house stuff he probably wants to do. Book your Marvel movie, then go write your memoir. Haha.

Episode 245: Phil Hoad and his Atavist Story ‘Cat and Mouse’

Phil Hoad

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By Brendan O’Meara

Phil Hoad (@phload) is a journalist based in the south of France and his latest piece is featured in The Atavist. It’s titled “Cat and Mouse.”

It tells the story of two animal rights activists and their drive to find who they think is a serial killer of cats, rabbits, and foxes, but mainly cats.

In this bonus episode, I speak with lead editor Jonah Ogles (@jonahogles) about Phil’s pitch, what makes certain pitches have legs while others don’t, and the importance of figuring out how to end things. It’s much like when I spoke with Atavist editor-in-chief Seyward Darby.

Then Phil unpacks the story from there.

Episode 244: Jackie MacMullan on the Fear of Failure, Writing that Teaches You, and the Final Chapter of ‘Best American Sports Writing’

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By Brendan O’Meara

Jackie MacMullan, the legendary basketball writer, is on the podcast to talk about judging what we know to be the final installment of The Best American Sports Writing.

She’s chronicled the NBA (big ups to Louisa Thomas) since the early 1980s for The Boston Globe, Sports Illustrated and now ESPN.

Her five-part series on mental health in the NBA was widely lauded and a must-read.

Episode 243: Claire McNear of The Ringer Talks All Things Writing, Jeopardy!, and the Late Great Alex Trebek

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By Brendan OMeara

Claire McNear is a staff writer for The Ringer and the author of Answers in the Form of Questions (Twelve).

“The times that I write best, the times that I’m able to write a lot are the times that I’ve got a fire under me. And that is what happens with a deadline. That is what happens when it’s 10 p.m. and you’ve written like, 150 words that day,” Claire says on the podcast.

Episode 241: Carolyn Holbrook and the Indispensable Nature of Writing and Teaching

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By Brendan O’Meara

“I do a lot of encouraging people to journal and to just write it out, sing it out, dance it out, whatever you need to do,” says Carolyn Holbrook, author of Tell Me Your Names and I Will Testify: Essays (University of Minnesota Press).

Brendan’s Monthly Newsletter: First of the month! No spam! Can’t beat it!

Brendan’s Monthly Newsletter: First of the month! No spam! Can’t beat it!