April 2019 – Home of The Creative Nonfiction Podcast

The To-Do List as Butterfly Net

By Brendan O’Meara

If you’re anything like me, you have a tendency to get easily overwhelmed.

Tasks pop into your head as fast as they leave. This is where the time-tested to-do list can act out another great function: a butterfly net.

Ideas can be like butterflies, all flittering around in aimless directions. You always say that you’ll remember that idea that popped into your head. Or you think you can keep it all straight.

Odds are you can’t.

So with your to-do list next to you at all times, use it like a butterfly net. When an idea or task pops into your head, immediately write it down on the list. This has a weirdly cathartic effect, like you actually captured the idea or task.

I find this relieves a lot of anxiety, especially since I work from home these days. My mind bounces from having to make new hummingbird water, to preparing for a podcast, to doing the dishes, to writing a column on deadline and so on.

Snatching ideas and tasks into my to-do list notebook secures them so I can act on them when I can.

The Aliveness of Silence

By Brendan O’Meara

After watching the brilliant documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor, I was especially struck by how silence is anything but quiet.

Silence is an ally.

As an interviewer, it helps coax more from people.

As a human, it makes you a better listener.

And a minute—60 seconds—is a long time. It is. And it can be a gift. I can recalibrate your mind. Temper anxiety.

I’m going to give you one minute of silence. You may use it however you want. You can breathe deeply for one minute, or maybe think about somebody special to you.

Here: Have a minute on me.

Yeah, But What’s In It for THEM?

By Brendan O’Meara

I’m a newsletter junkie and the best ones are the ones that have the reader in mind. And even something as simple as phrasing goes a long way.

What works for me, and I hope you keep this in mind for your readers, is when the author frames his or her suggestions in terms of what she thinks the end user will most benefit from. Austin Kleon does this perfectly.

Others, and I won’t single anyone out because I’m not about that noise anymore, will say things like: Song I’m listening to. Quote I’m pondering. Article I’m reading.

I. Don’t. Care.

That’s implicit in the recommendation and saying you’re pondering a quote is superfluous and downright egotistical.

I guest this is a rant of sorts, but when I see that I see someone who thinks he’s Moses coming down with the tablets.

But there is a lesson here that if we get by the stifling nature of always thinking about the audience, that keeping that in mind is a way to be of greater service, because all art must be in service of an audience. That audience, of course, is up to you.

Drop Sets

By Brendan O’Meara

In weight lifting there are these sets called drop sets.

What they are is you start with heavier weight and do, say, eight reps, then drop weight, do eight more reps, and so on, for about four to five total sets in quick succession.

What happens is that first round is real heavy, but as soon as weight gets stripped away, it’s easier until you get tired. And so on.

Point is, the hardest reps are the ones at the start, but once you get moving, the weight gets lighter.

Same goes for your art. The heaviest words are always the first ones, but they get lighter and lighter as you get moving, but first you gotta lift that heavy weight so you can get the cascading effect of the drop set.

Go On, Be Weird

By Brendan O’Meara

The only thing in this crazy game that gives you a leg up is you.

Take podcasting: The tendency is to want to imitate or copy other people and then just overlay what you’re saying through a filter of people who inspire you.

That’s okay … only to a point … because at some point you need to find out what makes you tick.

When you land on what makes you weird, and by weird I just mean what makes you you, then you need to double down on that and don’t apologize for it.

People might want to push you toward the middle, but you want to keep pushing back until you reach the edge.

Whatever it is that makes you weird, that’s where you need to live and for those who call you too weird, throw up your hands and say, Thank you, it’s not for you.

But for the people you resonate with because of your weirdness, you’ll be special and they’ll keep showing up so long as you do.

Episode 149: Anika Fajardo—Writing is About Communicating

Anika Fajardo, author of Magical Realism for Nonbelievers, stopped by CNF.

“Part of me thinks nobody should write a memoir.” —Anika Fajardo (@anikawriter on Twitter)

“Writing is about communicating, so that’s why we have to send things out. There needs to be a point where it goes out in the world and we communicate with a reader.” —Anika Fajardo (@anikawriter on IG)

By Brendan O’Meara

Here we are again friend. I’m in the midst of rebranding so you’re listening to CNF, the show where I talk to badass writers, filmmakers, producers, and podcasters about the art and craft of creative nonfiction.

Today’s guest is Anika Fajardo, the author of Magical Realism for Nonbelievers: A Memoir of Finding Family (University of Minnesota Press, 2019).

It’s in the same class as Jean Guerrero’s Crux, in my opinion. You can check out Jean’s episode here.

In any case, I hope decide to subscribe to CNF wherever you get your podcasts. And if you’d be so kind, I’d appreciate a rating or review over on Apple Podcasts. They help validate the show.

Also, keep the conversation going on Twitter by joining me @BrendanOMeara and @CNFPod. Tag the show and I’ll jump in the fire. It’s all good.

I think you’ll get a lot of tasty nuggets out of this episode. I hope you enjoy it and you share it widely with your CNFin’ friends!

Creative Inertia

By Brendan O’Meara

Lately I’ve been overwhelmed. Right now I’m overwhelmed. It’s taking everything out of me to write and record this little piece.

I almost didn’t do it.

But I made a deal with myself that I’d show up.

So I wrote one word and then the other words didn’t feel so heavy.

And suddenly the fly wheel is moving and it doesn’t want to stop.

And I don’t feel so overwhelmed anymore because movement is power. Movement creates inertia and creative inertia is intoxicating.

So pick the smallest possible thing and start.

Give, Give, Give, and Take

By Brendan O’Meara

It’s easy these days to want to broadcast your own work as part of the self-marketing, self-promotional machine. It’s only natural, but it can be tiresome and transparent to the recipient, the audience you seek to serve.

Instead, the greater self-promotional tactic—if you want to get cynical about it—is to always be giving. Always be sharing people’s work you admire without commentary.

“Retweet with Comment” is just another way to be intrusive.

It’s not too hard to put into practice, but when you see something, share something. Give to the community and it will give back. Maybe not immediately, but you’re not in this for the quick gain, are you?

In the digital potluck we routinely attend, you want to bring other people’s work to the dinner table.

You vs. You

By Brendan O’Meara

I’ve got news for you: You’re not in competition with other writers, artists, etc.

You’re only competition is you.

Who you were a ten years ago, five years, one year ago, yesterday.

Are you better or worse than that person?

That is the only metric that matters.

You Anoint You

By Brendan O’Meara

When I was talking to the great poet Jericho Brown, a mentor told him he would be a poet.

Just like that.

And he thought, and I’m paraphrasing. It’s that simple. I’m a poet because I declare that I am a poet.

Nobody will make that choice for you. Nobody will anoint you. You anoint you.

You are a writer when you decide to write.

You are a painter when you decide to paint.

But you must do the thing. The only person who needs to give you permission is yourself.

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