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Personal News and/or Shoutouts for Pals
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.
“I always say, with pitches, make it as easy for an editor to say yes as possible.” — Amanda Heckert, executive editor of Garden & Gun Magazine
Link to a mostly accurate transcript for Ep. 4761
Today, I’ve got Amanda Heckert. She is the executive editor of the magazine Garden & Gun. She’s something of a wunderkind in the editing world. She was the editor-in-chief at Indianapolis Monthly and a senior editor at Atlanta Magazine. She’s married to Justin Heckert, who is brilliant in his own right as a narrative journalist.
Amanda has the steady hand of a seasoned coach. I’ve often mused that I’m like ten years behind most people in my career. Amanda is like 20 years ahead of most people. She’d scoff at that assessment, I’m sure, but it’s kinda true. OK, maybe 15 years ahead.
Garden & Gun is one of the foremost magazines doing narrative journalism in the country, centering southern stories dealing with the land. To say you’ve written for Garden & Gun, that’s one of those feathers in your cap and probably one of the first three pubs you’ll mention in your pitch to editors. It’ll raise an eyebrow, man, and that’s due in large part to Amanda’s stewardship.
Be sure you’re checking out gardenandgun.com to read the esteemed work being done. You can find Amanda on IG @amandabheckert
In this pod, we chat about:
- How she tells her writers to let it rip (within reason)
- How she found empathy for the writer side of the table, and how writers can better understand the POV of the editor side
- Writing a great pitch
- How a story is a horse the writer is the rider
- And the arc of her career that brought her back to her native South Carolina
Great chat, real rich stuff, parting shot on being diagnosed with De Queravain tenosynovitis, but for now, here’s Amanda freakin’ Heckert.
CNFin’ Snippets
On not knowing what clips were …
“I got a call back from Atlanta Magazine that said they were looking for interns and to send them my clips. And I said, ‘Absolutely, I will.’ And then I had to Google, what are clips? Because I did not know what they were.”
The story is the horse …
“The story is the horse, and the writer is the rider of the horse, and you as the editor, need to help guide them along. And if the rider starts to fall off, you put them back on, and it’s your job to lead them safely into the barn. At no point should you shove the rider off the horse, get on yourself and ride it into the distance.”
On letting it rip …
“I’m also a big fan of let it rip. I mean, I’d much rather a writer when they turn something in, and I’m not talking about like I’ve assigned it at 2,000 words, and you’re turning in 5,000 words. I mean, there is the level of respect there where it’s like, okay, kind of got 3,000 words to cut. But I think it’s much easier for a writer to just let it rip, and I’d rather them get it all out there and then we can dial back if we need to. I don’t like writers to feel like hemmed in too much, getting in their head too much.”
On how to sell a story …
“One of the editors at Atlanta Magazine always said, you should lead with what you would tell your best friend about it if you were telling them about it at a bar, like you’re sitting there having a cocktail.”
On finding her path …
“I remember that I was having a conversation with my mom when I was figuring out what to do with my life. And I was like, ‘doctors and lawyers, they actually save lives.’ And I was talking to her about wanting to go into writing and the arts. And she was like, ‘But Amanda, that stuff makes life worth living.'”
Amanda’s Recs
Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall Trilogy
Vanderpump Rules
Parting Shot: De Quervain tenosynotivitis
What a lovely southern accent Amanda has. Sounds better than my trashy Boston brogue. Great stuff there. This machine just keeps on running. It’s almost a self-driving machine at this point. Sure, it tramples the occasional child-sized dummy but nobody’s perfect.
Show social media @creativenonfictionpodcast on IG, @brendanomeara.bsky.social on bluesky, if you need to reach me you can also DM your mom.
Some listeners of the show who hear me occasionally complain about my brittle wrists might want an update. I went to the doctor because it’s been a chronic issue for more than a year. When I aggravate my wrists, primarily my right one, but also my left, I can’t pick up a water bottle without a sharp, needle-like pain shooting up my arm. Or I struggle picking up a dog bowl. Your burly vegan is broken. Weight lifting is my primary activity. What’s a Beyond Meathead to do?
My doctor, who seems about as interested in me as the doctor from Parks and Rec said, “Oh, you have De Quervain tenosynovitis.”
I was like, “Wut?”
Turns out it’s tendonitis of the tendon that extends up from the thumb. Rest is basically the only remedy. You can’t really strengthen it because the act of strengthening it actually irritates it. I was instructed to start using my left hand for mousing, which is really fucking annoying. It’s still a right-handed mouse so I have to use my middle finger as the left click and my index finger as the right click. Beyond that, heat, some easy stretching, and a splint to limit the motion are the remedies.
It’s funny. The doc left the room and printed me a packet from the Mayo Clinic. It’s like, I spent the copay and the time to see the doc only for him to print something I could have done on my own. Granted, I probably would’ve landed on wrist cancer or something left to my own devices, so I’m not saying it was a waste of time.
On a more positive note, the nurse took my blood pressure and it was 121/82, which is pretty great, I think. When I took it this morning at home it was 141/94, so I don’t know what number to trust. The nurse used a manual one, and she was a bit older, so you know she’s pretty skilled with the cuff.
So that’s what’s what: mousing with the left hand. Perhaps a splint to limit range of motion around the thumb.
Many Moons Ago
400 Episodes Ago
Erica Berry on Binge Writing, Writing as Learning, and Werewolves
300 Episodes Ago
Kevin Robbins — Limitations vs. Ambitions, Chasing the Greats, and ‘The Last Stand of Payne Stewart’
200 Episodes Ago
Earl Swift Takes Us to the Moon
100 Episodes Ago
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