It’s easy when looking at the finished works of the people we admire to think that what comes out of their pens and pencils and keyboards is fully formed and finished.
It’s especially dispiriting to read their journals, the rawest form of their prose (one imagines) and to see how polished and lucid those are.
But though our work pales by comparison, every word we scribble in a journal, on a napkin, in a zine, every email we write or note we pass or text we send, it’s all words and it’s all language.
Every keystroke is a chance. An opportunity to get a little bit better.
There’s never a wasted word if we don’t let words go to waste.
This was a fun book, especially if you like Malcolm Gladwell-style books that orbit one idea. This book takes you all over the place, not just basketball, so I think you’ll have a lot of fun with it. If I didn’t already put in the last newsletter, I’ll be sure to include it in the next one.
In any case, don’t forget that we’re putting out our very first audio-mag on the theme: Social Distancing, essays from/on isolation. They must be 2,000 words or fewer (that’s a 15-minute read) and be original work. Email you submission to creative nonfiction podcast at gmail dot com, ya dig?
That’s as good a time as any to say that I’m thinking of all you out there. Some have it pretty rough. I can’t complain. I have shelter, food, clothes and a job (for now) that lets me work from home. And I’ve got this podcast that I get to make for you.
This show only work if you share it hand to hand. Be an Ambassador CNFer and spread what we’re doing around. @CNFPod on all the social platforms.
“A great story for me is one that engages me emotionally. It’s like a love affair.” —Fred Waitzkin
“A great story can light up the page.” —Fred Waitzkin
“The joy of it is writing those paragraphs.” —Fred Waitzkin
This week’s episode of CNF, aka The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, features Fred Waitzkin, the author of several books including Searching for Bobby Fischer and his most recent novel Deep Water Blues.
Lots of tasty nuggets in this episode. Maybe what struck me most about it was his sheer love of writing as a craft, as an art. So we talk about that, how his mismatched parents taught him what he knows, how he must take a break after each book, and the how he cracked the code of Deep Water Blues by writing a screenplay, of all things.
Be sure to subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts and if you’re feeling generous, leave a kind review over on Apple Podcasts.
Keep the conversation on Twitter @CNFPod and consider sharing the show with the people in your circle. Tag the show and I’ll jump in the fire with you.
Be sure to subscribe to the show wherever you get our podcasts. If you leave a review of the show, I’ll coach up a piece of your writing of up to 2,000 words. Write the review, take a screenshot when it posts, email me the screenshot, and I’ll reach back out and get going.
Jeff Goins, author of Real Artists Don’t Starve, came by The Creative Nonfiction Podcast. Photo credit Ashley Goins
By Brendan O’Meara
“You’ve gotta find new ways to have fun in old things.” —Jeff Goins, @JeffGoins.
All right, it’s The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I talk to badass writers, producers, and filmmakers about the art and craft of telling true stories, how they got to where they are, how the cope with crippling self-doubt, and the routines they enlist to get the work done. I’m your host Brendan O’Meara and today’s episode is a tight 30, man.
When you get somebody like Jeff Goins on the show, author of a quintillion blog posts and several books, including Real Artists Don’t Starve, you adhere to the time allotment. So this was a tight window, but I think it’s packed with great stuff. Amazing what you can get done in a tight window if you focus and don’t dither.
So, yes, a little house keeping is in order, as it usually is. You know where to subscribe to the show, don’t you? If you want to be in the know and get a little blip of goodness every CNFriday, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast/Play Music, Spotify, and Stitcher. That’s enough I think.
Yes, Jeff Goins is here and he’s the author of The Art of Work and Real Artists Don’t Starve and he sits in that Steven Pressfield/Seth Godin/Austin Kleon space of empowering you to make a go of it. We talk about how he was read the dictionary as a kid and breaking down the barriers between who we think the geniuses are (they’re more like us than we think), and a lot more. He’s @JeffGoins on Twitter and visit goinswriter.com for all sorts of goodies and to buy a bunch of his stuff.
Nothing wrong with a tight 30, right? It has a different vibe to it, but it’s no less valuable.
Thanks to Jeff, go check him out on the socials and thanks to our sponsors in Goucher College and Bay Path University tag teaming this Royal Rumble.
Be sure to give the show a follow across the socials, but more important, share it with a friend. You are the social network. Reviews are nice and welcome, but if you share it with your people, that means more. Tag me @BrendanOMeara and @CNFPod on Twitter, @cnfpod on Instagram and The Creative Nonfiction Podcast on Facebook. I’ll jump in the fire with you.
J. Hope Stein reads from her work with her daughter.
By Brendan O’Meara
Hey, this is the Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I talk to badass writers (like Mary Karr), filmmakers (like Lisa D’Apolito), and producers (like Scott Neumyer) about the art and craft of telling true stories. I try and unpack their origin stories to see how they became the artists they are. You might even learn a thing or two worth applying to your own work.
I’ve got J. Hope Stein for you today. Her latest book of poetry is titled Little Astronaut and it is about early motherhood. I don’t have nor want children. That is a spouse-approved sentence, and I loved this little book about being a parent. That should tell you something right there.
