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“You get rejected, and it’s like, well, fuck you. Who cares?” — Roz Chast, cartoonist for The New Yorker
Continue reading “Episode 486: Cartooning is the Children’s Table of Art, says Roz Chast”
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“God, I feel like I’m still enduring that, like it’s this sort of ongoing thing where I’m not sure I ever if I’ll ever get to a place where I feel like my work and ambitions for the work and daydreams about writing and art-making ever meet my taste.” — Patrycja Humienik, author of We Contain Landscapes: Poems
Continue reading “Episode 485: Tensions and Textures with Poet Patrycja Humienik”
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“I am tyrannical about noise and about quiet. I don’t feel that I can control the amount of mess I make. I mean, I know I can, but I kind of can’t. And there’s just so many things about my character that are really detrimental to having a writing process, which I need, and it’s just so opposed to everything that’s going on in my disgustoid little spirit.” — Rax King, author of Sloppy.
Continue reading “Episode 484: Rax King is Sloppy”
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Hey CNFers, The Front Runner is officially out. I like to think I don’t ask for much, but now is the time buy a copy or three and, if you read it, you know the drill, need ratings and reviews. I won’t read them because I don’t want to be driven insane, but that’s the world we live in: ratings and reviews. Your call to action to support the book, me, and ye ol’ CNF Pod. If you’re still on the fence, and why would you be, there’s an excerpt of the book over at Lit Hub. Dig it.
Next two events are July 27 at Gratitude Brewing for a live taping of the podcast, 1 p.m. and July 31 at Laurelwood Golf Course from 3-6 p.m.
I also started what’s proving to be a pretty popular venture called Pitch Club. It’s at welcometopitchclub.substack.com and I have a writer audio annotate a pitch. It’s tactical and it’s practical. It’s going to help you get where you want to go.
“Yeah, join the club of people who feel inadequate.” — Dana Jeri Maier, a cartoonist and author of the graphic book on creativity Skip to the Fun Parts.
Continue reading “Episode 480: Dana Jeri Maier Doesn’t Trust Anyone with a Neat Desk”
photo “courtesy” of CNN.com
Become a Patron!This is the way.
The Mandalorian and his kind live by a simple code, always punctuated by saying “This is the way.”
What codes do you live by? What codes were you at one time or another TOLD to live by? Do you admire codes and singular devotion, or do you feel unfairly shackled to a way of life? Has a code led you to the right path or down the wrong? Capt. Fantastic (“Power to the people. Stick it to the man.”) lived by a code, but it put his several children at odds with the world and nearly paralyzed one child.
Essays should be no longer than 2,000 words (a 15-minute read, bear in mind that, in the end, these are audio essays. Write accordingly.). Email submissions with CODE in the subject line to creativenonfictionpodcast at gmail dot com. Original, previously unpublished work only, please. Oh, and I pay $25 per accepted essay. It’s not much, but you can buy a couple burritos with it.
There is cash on the line, so send me your best, fully formed pieces and consider becoming a patron to help put money in the coffers that helps put money in the pockets of writers.
DEADLINE: Oct. 31, 2025
Simultaneous submissions are fine, but if your piece is accepted elsewhere or you’re holding out for a more “prestigious” publication, please let me know ASAP as I read these essays very closely and even give rejected essays detailed notes for improvement.
This is the way.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever!
Hey CNFers, The Front Runner is officially out. I like to think I don’t ask for much, but now is the time buy a copy or three and, if you read it, you know the drill, need ratings and reviews. I won’t read them because I don’t want to be driven insane, but that’s the world we live in: ratings and reviews. Your call to action to support the book, me, and ye ol’ CNF Pod. If you’re still on the fence, and why would you be, there’s an excerpt of the book over at Lit Hub. Dig it.
Next two events are July 17 at Elliott Bay Books in Seattle at 7 p.m. and July 27 at Gratitude Brewing for a live taping of the podcast, 1 p.m.
I also started what’s proving to be a pretty popular venture called Pitch Club. It’s at welcometopitchclub.substack.com and I have a writer audio annotate a pitch. It’s tactical and it’s practical. It’s going to help you get where you want to go.
“I don’t have to state too baldly what that all means. And because I think part of it is that I’m incapable of stating things like that baldly. I’m not smart enough. I lack the language and the real rhetorical muscle to state things baldly. I’d rather not hit it on the nose, because I have bad aim.” — Nick Paumgarten, staff writer for The New Yorker
Continue reading “Episode 478: Nick Paumgarten says, ‘The Reporting Suggests the Root System’”Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever!
Hey CNFers, The Front Runner is officially out. I like to think I don’t ask for much, but now is the time buy a copy or three and, if you read it, you know the drill, need ratings and reviews. I won’t read them because I don’t want to be driven insane, but that’s the world we live in: ratings and reviews. Your call to action to support the book, me, and ye ol’ CNF Pod. If you’re still on the fence, and why would you be, there’s an excerpt of the book over at Lit Hub. Dig it.
I also started what’s proving to be a pretty popular venture called Pitch Club. It’s at welcometopitchclub.substack.com and I have a writer audio annotate a pitch. It’s tactical and it’s practical. It’s going to help you get where you want to go.
“There is this myth that you are a writer only if you are butt in chair, banging away at your keyboard for eight hours and then the rest of the time on a fainting couch somewhere, noodling over your ideas. And that kind of imagery does a lot of damage to young writers today.” — Yi Shun Lai
Continue reading “Episode 474: How to Reconfigure the Fireworks with Yi Shun Lai”By Brendan O’Meara
Ok but listen: I don’t like Amazon.
I don’t have a Prime account.
I very, very, very rarely order anything from Amazon. But I realize I’m in the vast minority there.
That said, for authors big and small, Amazon ratings and reviews matter. Many book readers (the few who remain) out there buy their books from Amazon. Or, if they don’t, they look for the validation of a highly rated title. I’m assuming on that last bit of insight.
So I’ve been taking great joy in leaving short Amazon reviews for authors who come on this podcast, something I’ve historically not done.
Continue reading “The Joy of Leaving Amazon Reviews: Getting Two Feet Inbounds”Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever!
A mostly accurate transcript for Ep. 4721
“As soon as I heard people refer to writers as actual people, I thought, ‘oh, my god, is that an option? Because I choose that option.’ And I just latched onto it immediately.” — Melissa Febos, from Ep. 472
Continue reading “Episode 472: Melissa Febos and the Art of Personal Exploration with ‘The Dry Season’”Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever!
A mostly accurate transcript for Ep. 4701.
“It’s also just confidence and knowing that it’s still there, and knowing that you are a writer when you are not writing.” — Megan Baxter, from Ep. 470
Continue reading “Episode 470: Megan Baxter is Into Rewilding Her Writing”