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Episode 289: The Atavist’s ‘Feast for Lost Souls’ with Annelise Jolley and Zahara Gomez

Annelise Jolley and Zahara Gomez teamed up to create “A Feast for Lost Souls” for this month’s piece for The Atavist Magazine.

What an incredible story about a group of women who hunt for the bodies of their “disappeared” loved ones, but find ways to honor them through cooking. The Memory Recipe Book is what Zahara helped develop, along with the widows and mothers, to pay tribute to their lost sons and husbands.

Zahara also created a few mini-documentaries as part of this story to go along with Annelise’s incredible reporting and writing of the piece.

Audio Magazine Issue 2: Summer

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By Brendan O’Meara

After much deliberation and deep thoughts (haha), I’m taking the audio magazine 100% public.

Why?

Well, it comes down to reach. Writers want to be read (in this case heard). The Patreon audience is going to be significantly smaller than the public feed for the podcast.

Issue 1 was downloaded about 800 times. Issue 2 went out to about 15, 16 people, since it was Patreon-only.

I polled the Patreon audience because I didn’t want to violate their trust and what they signed up for. 100% of them said to take it to the largest possible audience.

They will get other goodies and perks as a result.

That’s a conversation for another time.

So, for now, enjoy original work from Jake Gronsky, whose essay deals with the end of his minor league baseball career, Krystina Wales, whose day at the beach reveals more than she bargained for, Carrie Hagen, whose found a savior in the unlikeliest of places, and Matthew Denis, who takes us to a special place of his childhood summers. Add to that three original poems from Jorah LaFleur, and you have you a summer-themed issue bound to warm you up.

Hope you brought your sunscreen!

The Patreon audience makes it possible to pay writers for their work, so please consider becoming a member and all that comes with it. Lots of bang-for-buck, IMO!

Episode 288: And the Category Is … Ricky Tucker!

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Sponsor love: West Virginia Wesleyan College’s MFA in Creative Writing

By Brendan O’Meara

Ricky Tucker (@Rick_Tuck_Lit) is a writer, teacher, and voguer. That last one is significant because he’s the author of And the Category Is … : Inside New York’s Vogue, House, and Ballroom Community (Beacon Press).

In it, Ricky takes us into the subculture of ballroom and refuge and freedom it provided the LGBTQ+ community. In this conversation we talk about the fine line between appreciation and appropriation, house mothers and fathers, finding family, writing as service, and how Ricky found his way to being a writer.

Episode 287: Boomerang with Achy Obejas

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Sponsor love: West Virginia Wesleyan College’s MFA in Creative Writing

By Brendan O’Meara

Achy Obejas is a Cuban American writer, translator, and activist whose work focuses on personal and national identity.

She’s here to talk about her book of poetry Boomerang/Bumeran (Beacon Press), which is English and Spanish.

Achy also is the author of the novel Days of Awe and the story collection The Tower of the Antilles.

In this conversation, we talk about:

Episode 286: Jen Winston on Essay Collection as Memoir

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Sponsor love: West Virginia Wesleyan College’s MFA in Creative Writing

By Brendan O’Meara

This was a treat, getting to speak with Jen Winston, the debut author behind Greedy: Notes from a Bisexual Who Wants Too Much (Atria).

In this episode we talk about:

Episode 285: Tony Perrottet and ‘The Butcher of Havana’

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By Brendan O’Meara

Tony Perrottet is a journalist, historian, and author of six books.

His latest piece is “The Butcher of Havana,” this for The Atavist Magazine.

We talk about the central figure, Herman Marks, an American who became the chief executioner for the Cuban revolutionaries. It’s an incredibly gripping read.

Episode 281: Susan Orlean Tackles Ledes, Generating Story Ideas, and ‘On Animals’

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By Brendan O’Meara

Susan Orlean makes her third trip back to the podcast (Ep. 61 and 121), this time to celebrate her latest book, a collection of her magazine work on animals titled … On Animals.

She’s the best selling author The Library Book, Rin Tin Tin, and The Orchid Thief. She’s been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1990s and, as many of you know, seeing a Susan Orlean byline is something like appointment reading. It’s special.

In this episode, we talk about:

Episode 279: Athena Dixon on Opening Doors, Day Jobs, and the Personal Essay

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Sponsor love: West Virginia m Wesleyan College’s MFA in Creative Writing and The Facing Project’s Empathy Prize for Nonfiction

By Brendan O’Meara

What a treat!

It’s Athena Dixon (@AthenaDDixon), the author of the essay collection The Incredible Shrinking Woman (Split Lip Press).

Had a great chat about day jobs and threading the work you want to do around that, how there’s no “writer’s life,” but rather just a “writer living.” That’s a direct quote from her Hippocamp talk this year.

Her essay collection delves into her identity as a Black woman, divorce, relationships, sex, the masks we where, and so on. Highly recommend.

Episode 277: Allison K. Williams Talks Planned Practice, Living a Writer’s Life, and Her New Craft Book ‘Seven Drafts’

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By Brendan O’Meara

Allison K. Williams is back! (@guerillamemoir) She is here to talk about her incredible new craft book Seven Drafts: Self-Edit Like a Pro from Blank Page to Book, a book that digs into the nitty gritty of editing.

What is so great about this book is you can be a seasoned, skilled writer/editor and this book will level you up. The book is a gift, and so too is Allison.

She’s the 2021 Literary Citizen of the Year for Hippocamp. She’s also the social media editor (?) for Brevity Magazine, and many of her craft essays for Brevity are adapted in Seven Drafts. Dig it.

In any case, we dig into lots of stuff about editing, story holes, retyping entire manuscripts, and what it means to cultivate a “writer’s life.”

Consider supporting the podcast and the audio magazine by heading to Patreon.com/cnfpod. There, you can earn transcripts, coaching, editing, and get exclusive access to the audio magazine.

Episode 261: Wudan Yan and Jenni Gritters Talk All Things Coaching, Freelancing, and Mindset Monsters

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By Brendan O’Meara

Wudan Yan and Jenni Gritters are back!

They host The Writers’ Co-op Podcast, and it is back for Season 3, a season in which they focus on coaching.

Lots of good stuff here including:

Why Jenni “left” journalism
Building confidence
Business plans
Mindset monsters
And freelancer archetypes

Follow Wudan and Jenni on Twitter, as well as @CNFPod, and learn more about them, their work, and their services at their websites.

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