How’s this for a pull quote from Jason Naylor (@jasonnaylor on Instagram):
How do you find your style? How do you find your voice. And the truth is, I think that you don’t find it until you stop trying to find it. You just make work. If you’re a writer, you just keep writing. If you draw, then you just keep drawing, and the more you do it, you start to see patterns, you start to see a rhythm in what you’re doing. And then one day you look back and you realize, ‘Oh, I actually I can see that I have a voice.’
She’s a freelancer and she is not a struggling freelancer in the ways that many of us identify as a struggling freelancer, which is to say: we po’.
Jenni, @jenni_gritters, along with her co-pilot on The Writers’ Co-op Podcast Wudan Yan, are thriving. Through strategy and rigor, Jenni is a six-figure earner, this during the pandemic, this when many writers are struggling to make a go of it.
She turned her skill into money, which allows her to double down on her skill and do more projects that are more personal-driven.
I like to think of some content/branded writing gigs like when Jake Gyllenhaall does a blockbuster movie so that he can then do the art-house stuff he probably wants to do. Book your Marvel movie, then go write your memoir. Haha.
Phil Hoad (@phload) is a journalist based in the south of France and his latest piece is featured in The Atavist. It’s titled “Cat and Mouse.”
It tells the story of two animal rights activists and their drive to find who they think is a serial killer of cats, rabbits, and foxes, but mainly cats.
In this bonus episode, I speak with lead editor Jonah Ogles (@jonahogles) about Phil’s pitch, what makes certain pitches have legs while others don’t, and the importance of figuring out how to end things. It’s much like when I spoke with Atavist editor-in-chief Seyward Darby.
Jackie MacMullan, the legendary basketball writer, is on the podcast to talk about judging what we know to be the final installment of The Best American Sports Writing.
“The times that I write best, the times that I’m able to write a lot are the times that I’ve got a fire under me. And that is what happens with a deadline. That is what happens when it’s 10 p.m. and you’ve written like, 150 words that day,” Claire says on the podcast.
Damon’s all over the place. He’s talkin’ TED, he’s coaching, he’s almost written thirty books, he’s the primary caretaker of his two young boys, all of that and he’s one of the most generous people I’ve ever met. I think you’ll agree.
This extra interview in your feed is part of a new partnership with The Atavist where I interview that month’s featured writer about that month’s story to provide readers and listeners some extra depth to the experience.
In this very first one with The Atavist, Scott talks about:
Developing sources as an investigative reporter
How COVID affected this story … right at the very end
Finding a new angle on something that was already covered
And that moment when a machete was brandished in Peru
I hope you dig this extra bit of goodness. If you’re new to The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, it’s the show where I speak to badass people about the art and craft of telling true stories. Subscribe wherever you podcast!
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