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Hey CNFers, The Front Runner is officially out. I like to think I don’t ask for much, but now is the time buy a copy or three and, if you read it, you know the drill, need ratings and reviews. I won’t read them because I don’t want to be driven insane, but that’s the world we live in: ratings and reviews. Your call to action to support the book, me, and ye ol’ CNF Pod. If you’re still on the fence, and why would you be, there’s an excerpt of the book over at Lit Hub. Dig it.
I also started what’s proving to be a pretty popular venture called Pitch Club. It’s at welcometopitchclub.substack.com and I have a writer audio annotate a pitch. It’s tactical and it’s practical. It’s going to help you get where you want to go.
Link to a mostly accurate transcript of Ep. 4751
Today we have Dane Huckelbridge. He returns (first appearance here) to the show to talk about Queen of All Mayhem: The Blood-Soaked Life & Mysterious Death of Belle Starr, the Most Dangerous Woman in the West. It’s published by William Morrow.
Dane is an interesting guy. He spends his life going between fiction and nonfiction. His last appearance on this show dealt with No Beast So Fierce about a man-eating tiger and his latest is part western, part murder mystery, part genealogy.
He’s the author of the novel Castle of Water and his work has appeared in Tin House, Lit Hub, The Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, and the New Republic.
Ok, but first, some of my usual housekeeping:
Dane can be found at danehuckelbridge.com and on IG @huckelbridge. In this pod we talk about
- Procrastination
- Writing around the uncertainty
- Not having much of a routine
- Spacing out
- Niche hobbies
- And staying motivated
Good stuff, good stuff, is that it for now? I think so …
CNFin’ Snippets from Ep. 475
On needing other interests…
“If you don’t cultivate other interests or travel or spend time with friends, this and that, you don’t have anything to write about.”
On spacing out …
“I’m embarrassed to admit if I just space out, which maybe it’s good, I don’t know. I think need it in a way, like I need a lot of downtime to just think about things, or not think about anything. So I feel a little guilty about that, but I don’t think I’m the only writer who does that, so maybe it’s part of the process.”
On ups and downs …
“I’ve been through enough ups and downs … not that I don’t care at all, but I know from experience anytime things are going well, to really enjoy it, but not get too comfortable, because it’s very likely things will there’ll be a downturn. And also, when things are really not going well not to throw in the towel and give up, because if you keep at it, things will eventually get better. And that’s that doesn’t happen to me just once. These kind of ups and downs have probably happened to me five or six times over my career as a writer, where I at different times felt like giving up. And then there’s a little miracle of some kind, or a little lucky break, and suddenly you’re back.”
On openings …
“I like the idea of starting with something to really draw the reader in. I think [the introduction to Queen of All Mayhem] accomplishes it, and it sets the tone right away that this is going to be a murder mystery.”
Dane’s Rec
Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
True Grit by Charles Portis
Parting Shot: Mr. Jonah
That was nice, that was fun. Dane’s a cool dude. I wish I was Dane, living in Paris, sippin’ on gin and juice.
So last weekend, we were attending an Emerald’s games, the minor league team in town. I’m one of those rare nerds who keeps score at baseball games. Keeps me engaged. Keeps me from drinking. In this game against the Vancouver Canadians, Jonah Cox, one of the fastest runners in all of minor league baseball, hit a tailing line drive to right field. The right fielder gambled by diving for the ball. He missed, and the ball rolled to the fence. You knew, at this point, Jonah had a chance at the rare inside the park home run. He’s screaming around the bases, second, third, he dove for the plate and beat the throw, a thrilling play.
Following the game, there was a pretty cool drone show, so we stayed late. After it was over, we exited the concourse and passed Jonah, and a couple of the other players, who, now in civilian clothes, had stayed to watch the drone show. There were also about eight young women to their side. To quote a 1990s baseball commercial featuring Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, chicks dig the long ball. Anyway …
As we exited the stadium I told Melanie that we had just passed Jonah and a couple others. “I should have him sign my scorebook.”
“Go back!”
“Should I? I mean, I don’t want to bother him.”
So I got a little nervous. But I went back into the stadium and meekly sidled up to Jonah and was like, “Hey Jonah, awesome inside the park home run.”
He said, “Thank you very much.”
“Would you mind signing my scorebook on your score line?”
“Sure, sure.”
He signed it, shook my hand, was super gracious and super nice and I walked away feeling like a little kid.
Let’s zoom in on this moment a little bit. I truly felt like a 10 year old. I’m 45 fucking years old. I was 21 when Jonah was born. He was born five weeks before 9/11 … like the OG 9/11, 2001. He turns 24 on August 4. He’s listed at 6-3, but I think it’s closer to 6-1, and I’m a mere 5-9 if my vertebrae are hydrated. But I felt like such a little loser. [IN A HIGH PITCHED VOICE] Hey Mr. Jonah, great game, can you sign my scorebook.
Melanie and I went grabbed some ice cream after the game and we joked around saying [IN A HIGH PITCHED VOICE] Mr. Jonah, wanna come and get ice cream with us? And so on…
Here I am, like an old dude in his eyes. Make no mistake. Remember when you were in your low 20s and you saw someone in their 40s? They were OLD. It was bizarre. I forgot for a moment that I’m this old creepy dude and I truly felt like a Little Leaguer asking for an autograph. To me, it’s a fun keepsake and I doubt Jonah will ever sign someone’s scorebook and I doubt he’s given it a moment’s thought since that Friday night.
I’m a guy who will find any excuse to beat the shit out of himself for the most minor infractions. And I didn’t even do anything wrong except maybe being a weirdo middle-aged guy asking for an autograph. There weren’t children around. Nobody paid them any attention, save for the beautiful group of young female baseball fans.
I remember feeling that way back in 2006 when I first met the writer Ted Conover. He was on the pod for Ep. 50, but I remember similarly feeling meek and shy. That’s the kind of kid I was growing up. Try to disappear and be invisible. Best to be invisible. Learned that from my mother. It’s best to be a doormat for people to walk all over than to cause a stir and if they stub their toe walking all over you, kindly apologize.
So, yeah, got an autograph, he couldn’t have been nicer, which was pretty cool. His sister is a star softball player for the U of O, so they got good blood, man, good blood.
Stay wild, CNFErs, and if you can’t do, interview, see ya!
Many Moons Ago
400 Episodes Ago
Chris Arvidson on “The Love of Baseball,” Deadlines, Pacing, and Curiosity
300 Episodes Ago
Cassandra King Conroy—Mid-Life Resurgence and Her Time with Pat Conroy in ‘Tell Me a Story’
200 Episodes Ago
Nile Cappello and Her Atavist Story ‘The Girt in the Picture’
100 Episodes Ago
Hattie Fletcher and Stephen Knezovich
- Should you use this, please check against the original audio and cite me and the show. ↩︎
