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.
“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.
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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.
Harrison Scott Key came back to the show to talk about his amazing work. Since that day way back in 2013, Harrison has published his first memoir The World’s Largest Man about his father, which also won the Thurber Prize for the funniest book in the country. And his latest book, Congratulations, Who Are You Again?, Was my single favorite book from 2018.
This one was so funny, inspiring, and entertaining that I took it with me on walks and when I found a crack in my schedule I’d pick this thing up and read a few pages if I could while my boss wasn’t looking.
But we’ll get to that. I guess I forgot to mention that this is The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak to badass writers, filmmakers, and producers about the art and craft of telling true stories. I also unpack their origins and how they approach the work in the face of day jobs and crippling self-doubt. Am I projecting. Perhaps.
Do you subscribe this here podcast? You can find it just about anywhere and if you dig this show and others, link up to it on your social media platforms. You are the social network, CNFers. Rage Against the Algorithm. And if you have a minute or two, please give the show a rating over on Apple Podcasts. Follow the show @CNFPod on Twitter and @BrendanOMeara on Twitter.
What else, oh, yes, subscribe to my monthly newsletter. It’s chock full of my reading recommendations and what you might have missed from the world of the podcast. Once a month. No spam. Can’t beat it.
So Harrison came back to the show and as always I try and cut down these interviews by about 10-15% and I simply couldn’t do that with this one. Couldn’t do it, so I hope you enjoy the big man himself, Harrison Scott Key.
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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.
Writing tip #1: Jack up your verbs. Too many passive verbs (to be, have, make) flatten yr page like a steel wheel roller. Witness Lowell: ‘The night attendant, a BU sophomore/ROUSES from the mare’s nest of his drowsy head…He CATWALKS down our corridor.’ #AmWriting#writingLife
