Episode 306: Dan Schwartz

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By Brendan O’Meara

Dan Schwartz (@CODanSchwartz) is an investigative journalist.

Good night, everybody! Get home safe!

OK, but, for real, Dan is a freelance journo whose most recent piece came out in the Atlantic. It deals with climate change and how local meteorologists are the best vectors for convincing the skeptics about the climate cancer. Read it here.

Fun fact: I wrote about a local weatherman. Not as adeptly as Dan handles his piece for the Atlantic, but, hey, I’m a man in the arena, bruh.

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Episode 122—Tracy Kidder on Writing Badly and Looking for People Over Subjects

By Brendan O’Meara

“The possibilities of doing something similar [to fiction] in nonfiction really did appeal to me.” —Tracy Kidder

“I don’t look for subjects. I look for people.” —Tracy Kidder

Are you riffin’ kiddin’ me!?

By virtue of today’s guest I’m assuming there might be a new CNFer or two to our little marauding gang of turbulent souls in this corner of the Internet.

Welcome. We play heavy metal music, we kick maximum ass, and we will, we will rock you. This is The Creative Nonfiction Podcast (subscribe!), the show where I speak to bad ass tellers of true stories about where they came from, what and who inspires them, and how they approach the work, so that you can apply those tools of mastery to your own work. I’m your mutha-riffin’ host Brendan O’Meara, hey, hey.

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Feeling the Heat: What It Feels Like to Have a Fire Burn Over You

Written by Brendan O’Meara (Hey, Folks, subscribe to the blog via email over there =======>)

Now, I’ve never personally experienced this and hopefully I never will. But my good friend in letters Brian Mockenhaupt (listen to Hashtag CNF for more of Brian) wrote a piece for The Atlantic about Lathan Johnson, a fire fighter, about what it feels like to have a fire burn over him and live to talk about it.

“You’re not always going to be able to outsmart a fire,” Johnson said. “I thought for sure I’d never have to use a fire shelter, and then I find myself shaking out one, pretty thankful that I had it.”

Brian is an incredible reporter with the writing skills to turn that reporting in compelling narratives. Brian was anthologized in Mark Sager’s Next Wave: America’s New Generation of Literary Journalists.

Go check it out and definitely check out Brian’s latest in The Atlantic.

Also get post fed straight to your email. Check out the form on the right rail. Much appreciated. Sometimes I give away free stuff!