Tag: Writing Tips

Episode 223: ‘Why Are You Making it, and Who is it for?’ with Kristen Meinzer

Kristen Meinzer

By Brendan O’Meara

“I spend a lot of time thinking about promotion. This isn’t Field of Dreams,” says Kristen Meinzer, @kristenmeinzer on Twitter.

You might remember Kristen from her first soiree on the podcast a few months ago when she and Jolenta Greenberg came by to talk about the book they co-wrote, How to be Fine.

She’s back for a solo show to talk about her book So You Want to Start a Podcast: Finding Your Voice, Telling Your Story, and Building a Community that Will Listen (William Morrow, 2019).

I’m self-taught, been doing this thing for eight years, and I found so many incredible nuggets in this book. The thing is, it’s ostensibly about podcasting, but you can apply the principles to anything.

We talk about structure in writing and in podcasting, why are you starting a podcast and who is it for, pet peeves in podcasting, mistakes new producers make, promoting a show, and what exactly a producer does.

Good stuff.

Please subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts, tell a friend, and consider leaving a kind review on Apple Podcasts. Keep the conversation going on social media. It’s @CNFPod across Twitter, IG, and FB.

Kristen’s Bookshelf for the Apocalypse or Library for the End of the World (in pictures!)

Leave the show a voicemail and I’ll answer your question on the show!

Gotta get that monthly newsletter! Here’s a link to the archive. It only goes back to March 2019, but you’ll get the drift.

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Episode 166: Kate Hopper—Slap the Bass

“Every piece of writing is going to be hard in some way, and you just have to know that, and sit with it and keep going forward, and you will have a breakthrough at some point if you don’t give up.” —Kate Hopper

By Brendan O’Meara

Hey, there, CNFers, Kate Hopper (@MNKateHopper) joins me to talk about her True Story essay “Stumbling into Joy.” In case you couldn’t tell from the title of this episode, she learns to play the bass guitar in her forties. It’s pretty rad.

Please subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts. We’re on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher. It is always my hope that I’ve made something worth sharing, so if you like this, please pass it along to the people you think would benefit from it. You are the social network.

As always, keep the conversation going on Twitter @CNFPod and Instagram @cnfpod. Also Facebook, so go like the page there. I respond to everything, so please tag the show on your preferred network and we’ll connect.

Thanks to Goucher’s MFA in Nonfiction, Bay Path University’s MFA in Creative Nonfiction, and River Teeth for the support.

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Episode 158: Naomi Gordon-Loebl—F*ck, Yeah! Essays

Naomi Gordon-Loebl

“There’s always gonna be people who are better than you, and there’s also people who’re gonna be worse than you, but that can’t be the reason you write or don’t write.” — Naomi Gordon-Loebl (@naomigloebl)

Hey, CNFers, welcome to this installment featuring Naomi Gordon-Loebl, an essayist and journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Hazlitt, and more.

She grew up in a communal household in Brooklyn, has a twin sister, won the parent lottery, and is finding her footing as a writer passionate about LGBT issues, but it was her NYT essay on getting the “yips” that made me reach out.

Keep the conversation going on Twitter @CNFPod and Instagram @cnfpod. And consider leaving a kind review on Apple Podcasts.

Thanks be to Goucher College’s MFA in Nonfiction and Bay Path University’s MFA in Creative Nonfiction for supporting this show.

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Episode 143—Blake J. Harris Talks Virtual Reality, Facebook, and His Unlikely Path to Nonfiction Writing

Blake J. Harris wrote the definitive book on virtual reality. Photo credit Katie Wanner

By Brendan O’Meara

“I want to do right by these people. I want to tell a story that honors the stuff they did.” —Blake J. Harris (@blakejharrisNYC)

Ah, yes, it’s The Creative Nonfiction the show where I speak to badass writers, filmmakers, and producers about the art and craft of telling true stories. For episode 143 I have Blake J. Harris, author of Console Wars, and most recently The History of the Future: Oculus, Facebook, and the Revolution That Swept Virtual Reality.

Continue reading “Episode 143—Blake J. Harris Talks Virtual Reality, Facebook, and His Unlikely Path to Nonfiction Writing”

Mary Karr’s Writing Tips

By Brendan O’Meara

So…this will be an ongoing blog post whereby I embed Mary Karr’s invaluable—and free!—writing advice. You usually have to drop $20 at a bookstore for this kind of stuff.

She’s somebody so wise and so forthcoming about the process and how many drafts it takes her to finish a poem. 

Enjoy!

Continue reading “Mary Karr’s Writing Tips”