By Brendan O’Meara
Matt Bell (@mdbell79) is here. Why? He’s got a great craft book out called Refuse to be Done: How to Write and Rewrite a Novel in Three Drafts.
What a great handbook to walk you through the generative pages and then the arduous task — the REAL work — of refining, rewriting, and revising.
This book will teach you patience.
This book will teach you perserverance.
This book will teach you the meaning of work.
Continue reading “Episode 305: Matt Bell”
Michelle Weber and Catherine Cusick are the editor-in-chief and publisher of Pipe Wrench Magazine, a new venture that aims to fix what’s broken in journalism and publishing.
This is a fun conversation about the founding of the magazine and Michelle and Catherine are doing to help change the culture. You can find Issue 1 here, and they just went live with Issue 2 this week.
The pair overlapped at Longreads and parlayed much of that experience into Pipe Wrench, so we talk about that, among other things.
At one point Cartherine brings up this notion of “ramen startups,” and she’s referring to a blog post from Paul Graham. This means keeping things lean and nimble and not overextending and growing too fast.
Great talk!
OK, so keep the conversation alive @CNFPod and consider becoming a CNFin’ member at Patreon. There’s where you get exclusive access to the audio magazine, get asked to ask questions of guests, transcripts, coaching, and more. For just $2 a month, you get access to a killer audio product, and we’re going live with Issue 2 in mere days! Patreon.com/cnfpod
Joe Drape is back to talk about his latest book, The Saint Makers: Inside the Catholic Church and How a War Hero Inspired a Journey of Faith.
Joe is a sports writer for The New York Times covering college football and horse racing, among other feature assignments.
In this episode we talk about diagramming stories the way you would diagram a sentence and
Joe is the author of several books including American Pharoah, Our Boys, and Black Maestro.
I want to give a shoutout to Hippocamp 2021! It is happening! Registration opens May 15. It’s a writers’ conference for CNFers like you. Check it out.
Julie DiCaro came by the show to talk about her new book Sidelined: Sports, Culture, and Being a Woman in America.
It’s a fine read, written by someone who definitively has something of value to say. You can find her on Twitter @juliedicaro.
It’s an engaging, entertaining, and sobering read about feminism and the sorry state of women’s representation in sports journalism.
Continue reading “Episode 253: Julie DiCaro Won’t Be ‘Sidelined’”
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.
Continue reading “Episode 249: Ximena Vengoechea on Life Audits, Listener Drain, and Reclaiming the Lost Art of True Connection”
By Brendan O’Meara (@CNFPod)
V.V. Ganeshananthan is the author of Love Marriage, an essayist, and a journalist. She also teaches at the MFA program at the University of Minnesota. She’s on Instagram and Twitter.
Whitney Terrell is the author of The Good Lieutenant. He also is a journalist who covered the Iraq War. He teaches at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He’s on Instagram and Twitter.
They co-host the Fiction/Non/Fiction Podcast as part of the Lithub network of podcasts. It’s on Instagram and Twitter.
Continue reading “Episode 237: A Fiction/Non/Fiction Festival with V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell”
Ho! Ho! Ho! CNFers!
What’s that under the tree? It’s Lamorna Ash here to talk about her wonderful debut work of nonfiction Dark, Salt, Clear: The Life of a Fishing Town (Bloomsbury).
Great talk with Lamorna as we dig into how she’s dealing with the pandemic, feeling trapped at sea, drawing inspiration from other forms of art and so much more. She’s 26 years old and you can tell she’s going to be a star. Maybe she already is!
Say hi on social media @CNFPod and, if you have time, leave a kind written review on Apple Podcasts. Almost at 100. Been sitting there for a long, long time.
Being a member on Patreon is HUGE. You’ll be supporting the audio magazine, supporting writers, and making the product possible. No members means no magazine. If you liked Issue 1 of the magazine, consider supporting the next one.
For $4 a month, you’ll get access to new transcripts, the forthcoming audio magazines, and other goodies exclusive to members. Check it out.
Pete Croatto (@petecroatto on Twitter) is here to talk about freelancing, writing, and his new book From Hang Time to Prime Time: Business, Entertainment, and the Birth of the Modern-Day NBA (Atria Books, 2020).
Where’s the juice? Where’s the juice in the enterprise?
Continue reading “Episode 231: Pete Croatto on Listening, Showing His Work, ‘From Hang Time to Prime Time,’ and Adding that Ding”The juice is in coming up with an idea and convincing an editor that the idea is worth pursuing, convincing a person, selling a person on that idea. When I get an idea for a story, it’s almost a giddy feeling. It’s a feeling that that you have a secret that no one else knows about, so you want to just tell as many people as you can about that. It’s like gossip, it’s a big piece of juicy gossip, and you want to share it and get it in the right hand.
Pete Croatto from Episode 231 of The Creative Nonfiction Podcast
Kermit Pattison (@KermitPattison) steps up this week to talk about his new book Fossil Men: The Quest for the Oldest Skeleton and the Origins of Humankind (William Morrow, 2020).
It’s a great read about the rivalries among scientists, the purity of the mission, discovery and inquiry. Kermit does an admirable job of making this science accessible.
We talk about:
Keep the conversation going on social media @CNFPod. Consider leaving a kind a review of the show wherever you listen to podcasts. I’ll be sure to read it on the air and give you the love you deserve.
A Patreon page is coming VERY soon, so I want to prime the pump for that. I’m excited to offer some cool goodies and access and coaching for those who are willing to take the leap. It’ll help keep the lights on. This enterprise is free, but it ain’t cheap!
Norton Anthology of Poetry
A John Le Carre novel
Collected Works of Charles Dickens
Fossil Men
A blank journal
A special call out to journalists and nonfiction writers who could use some extra support in these unpredictable times. Writers House Pittsburgh is accepting applications for a 6 month residency starting as early as January 2021. The Writers House is a physical home and long-term residency seeking to provide housing stability, mentorship, and community when you need it most. Head over to WritersHousePittsburgh.org to learn more. Applications will close on November 30th.
By Brendan O’Meara
Is there anybody out there better than Patrick Radden Keefe? There are a few on his level, but I wouldn’t say anyone is better and here he is.
He says, “What can I leave out? And that point where I can start leaving things out becomes very liberating because then, in a way, the reporting continues, but it’s narrowing.”
He’s the author of three books (and a fourth coming out in 2021) and it’s his latest book, Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland that was on everybody’s list, like, Barack Obama’s list. I’m just tickled I have the same initials as Obama.
Patrick also is the host of Wind of Change, the incredible podcast that tries to solve the mystery behind the Scorpions song “Wind of Change” and whether or not the CIA had a hand in writing it.
Keep the conversation going on social media @CNFPod and consider leaving a kind review of the podcast so more people can find it, CNFers like you. It only takes a few minutes to tap away but will have a HUGE impact on the show.
Say Nothing
Snakehead An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld & the American Dream
Chatter: Uncovering The Echelon Surveillance Network And The Secret World Of Global Eavesdropping
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
Pnin by Nabokov
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
The Last Sumaruai by Helen Dewitt