He came by the studio and brought his own very good microphone, so the two of us got to make eye contact. What a concept!
Sure, this is a very specific book that will have appeal largely — if not only — for Oregonians, but we do riff on whether or not political cartoons are journalism, his creative process for working through ideas, getting people to have better “art self esteem,” and a lot more.
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.
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.’
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.
She’s so damn cool and her style of drawing and writing is so fun and whimsical. I think you’re gonna dig her.
We talk about:
Her childhood growing up in Columbia
Fear and anxiety
Ira Glass and the creative gap (video below)
Developing along with her audience
And how drawing can alleviate your anxieties
Consider leaving a kind review on Apple Podcasts so more CNFers like YOU will see it. Subscribe to my monthly newsletter where you’ll get great reading recommendations, be entered in raffles for books and maybe, just maybe, be invited to a Zoom Happy Hour on the first of the month, the day the newsletter goes out. You’ll have to subscribe, open the newsletter, and follow the link at the appropriate time.
You can follow them and their stationery story at ashandchess.com and follow them on Instagram @ashandchess.
We dig into where they grew up, how they met, the “so 2018” way their book came to be, and much, much more.
Keep the conversation going on social @CNFPod and consider sharing the show across your networks. If you tag the show, I’ll be sure to give you some love, most likely in the form of a James Hetfield GIF. Also consider leaving a kind review on Apple Podcasts. It would give me and the show a great boost.
“My writing life is being surrounded by 15 half-empty coffee cups which I keep dipping my paint brush into accidentally.” —Rachel Dougherty (@racheldoughertybooks)
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.
Sign up for the monthly newsletter: book recommendations, cool articles, and what you might have missed from the world of the podcast.
Debbie Millman, host of Design Matters, author of several books, and a titan in branding, joins me on the podcast. Photo credit: John Madere
By Brendan O’Meara
“Getting to know who someone is, going into their world, when I research someone I feel like I’m entering their world and almost becoming them and seeing the world through their eyes in an effort to figure out what’s important for them to talk about.” —Debbie Millman (@debbiemillman)
Welcome CNFers, I’m @BrendanOMeara, Brendan O’Meara in real life and this is @CNFPod, or The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak to badass writers, filmmakers, and producers about the art and craft of telling true stories.
If you want to get better at the form, you’ve come to the right place. This is our little corner of the Internet. If you’re here for the first time, welcome, welcome, crack open a notebook, pour yourself a cup of coffee and settle in, CNFers. You’re gonna find we do things a little different on this show.
Where to start? My guest is Debbie Millman. Yes, you heard that correctly. Your ears did not deceive you. I didn’t bother digging too deep into Debbie’s origin story because there are several podcasts where she dives into that and I wanted to spare her from repeating herself. Maybe I was too timid in that regard, but I figured I’d steer the ship toward other things.
At this point in the introduction is usually where I riff on what’s going on, maybe offer some insights into how you can improve your work by sharing something I find helpful. But…sometimes the most helpful thing is getting the f*ck out of the way.
In seventeen words Debbie Millman is a writer, designer, educator, artist, brand consultant, and host of the podcast Design Matters.
But in a single word? Debbie is an inspiration. She made a name for herself as a graphic designer and branding guru after years and years of rejections, failures, and false starts. She’s persistent sometimes, she admits, to a fault.
Her writing is tight and playful. It’s deep, meaningful, resonant, and beautiful to look at as most of her essays are illustrated in her whimsical way of inking and penciling.
As for her career in branding, if you’ve seen the Burger King logo, various Pepsi products, Tropicana, Haagen Daas, and Twizzlers (totally twisted), then you’ve seen her work. If it makes the supermarket look prettier, odds are Debbie had a hand in that.
She was the president of Sterling Brands for 20 years, and under her stewardship grew the company from 15 employees to 150.
But after a decade of being a titan in her field, from 1995 to 2005, often at the expense of her own creative projects, her writing, her drawing, her painting, she was granted the opportunity to host an internet radio program that, I must add, she had to pay to produce, called Design Matters. This was in 2005.
Fourteen years later and she’s still doing it and for my money she, along with Joe Donahue of WAMC Northeast Public Radio, are the best interviewers around. I have a reason for this and I talk about this with Debbie.
She has interviewed Milton Glaser, Malcolm Gladwell, Anne Lamott, Seth Godin, Shepard Fairey, and hundreds more. Design Matters is a testament to her endurance and generosity. It wasn’t until she had done the show for several years that it really began to gain traction, win awards, and become the behemoth that it is today.
I could go on and on and I must apologize for my titanic nerves in this episode. I mean, I suffer from them all the time, but this one was especially bad, for that I’m sorry, but getting the chance to speak to Debbie for nearly an hour was such an esteemed honor that I had trouble keeping my you-know-what together.
Okay, I hope you dig what Debbie and I made for you. Enjoy….
If you haven’t already, consider subscribing to The Creative Nonfiction Podcast on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher and subvert the algorithms across the social platforms. If you liked the show, share it with just one friend. Email them the link or share it on social media. And tag me @BrendanOMeara and @CNFPod so I can toast to your awesomeness.
Consider leaving an honest review on iTunes as well. I want to see it hit 100 ratings. We’re gonna get there in 2019, but it starts with you. If you have five minutes to spare, please give the show some love.
Thanks to our sponsors in Goucher College’s MFA in Nonfiction as well as Creative Nonfiction Magazine.
