With any skill, it’s through quality repetition over time that leads to competency.
Only when we’re competent at a skill do we swell with confidence.
That’s because the confidence stems from the work.
False confidence—those who spout what they don’t know as if they do know—might buy some time. It’s a coat of paint over a rotten hull. Eventually the bottom falls out.
The process is slow. But repeat a skill. Practice. That leads to competency. Then people will be confident in you and the loop feeds itself. Your new-found confidence will feed into great competency, which will grant ever more confidence.
“The more you can immerse yourself in a story the better you can write about it.” —Julian Smith (@julianwrites)
“You gotta fall in love with your subject and sometimes people have to pull you out.” —Julian Smith (juliansmith.com)
Julian Smith is a freelance journalist covering science, conservation, and adventure for publications like Smithsonian, Wired, Outside, Men’s Journal, National Geographic Traveler, and The Washington Post.
He co-authored Aloha Rodeo with David Wolman, a fellow journalist he worked with before on this Epic Magazinepiece about two warring ice cream trucks. It’s…epic.
Amanda Petrusich is on the main stage for Episode 153.
By Brendan O’Meara
“The work itself, the process has to sustain you.” —Amanda Petrusich (@amandapetrusich Twitter)
“It’s like wet jeans, that’s the feeling of generating a bunch of crappy writing.”—Amanda Petrusich (@amandapetrusich IG)
Amanda Petrusich, staff writer for The New Yorker, joined me for a spirited conversation about her approach to writing criticism and the grind she endured to get where she’s at.
It was this great piece she wrote on Metallica that made me want to reach out to her. The way to this man’s heart is through Metallica.
His historical novel, Cape Fear Rising, is celebrating its 25th anniversary, so we dive into that as well. It is published by Blair.
Philip is also an accomplished musician and recorded this song and video as a trailer for The Last Battleground. Check it out:
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You can join me on Twitter @BrendanOMeara and @CNFPod, Instagram @cnfpod, and Facebook @CNFPodcast. If you tag me or the show I’ll be able to give you digital fist bumps.
“Find the something else that is so absorbing to you. That is a place you can go to get away from this.” —Jenny Odell
“You can’t write for everyone. And if you did, it wouldn’t be good.” —Jenny Odell
“Sitting there is a reminder of how different a physical space is with how we consume information online.” —Jenny Odell
Welcome, friend, to CNF, the creative nonfiction podcast where I speak to badass writers, filmmakers, radio producers, and podcasters about the art and craft of telling true stories.
The book stemmed from this talk she gave, which makes me think: maybe the way to a book deal is come up with a great talk? Side note: It’s amazing how Jenny stood in the same spot for this entire talk. I’m definitely a walker.
Anyway…
Be sure to subscribe to CNF wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you’re feeling kind, leave a review on Apple Podcasts. If you leave a review, take a screenshot and send it to me. I’ll edit/coach up a piece of your writing of up to 2,000 words. The one thing we know about reviews is that they help with the packaging of a podcast. More reviews = more validation for newcomers.
So Jenny was amazing. We talk about birds, Austin Kleon, and how best reclaim your attention from social media companies that are hell bend on ensuring you keep scrolling.
“That’s what makes a great story is having character, and setting, and narrative moments and dynamic change.”
“I’m not really just there for the information. I want to be able to understand a character and their motivations and their experience on a deeper level.”
“A good idea knows no experiences level or age.”
Well, here are CNFers, this is CNF, the creative nonfiction podcast where I speak to badass artists about the craft of telling true stories.
Ian Frisch, a master a freelancer and author of Magic is Dead, joins me this glorious CNFriday.
There’s so much great freelancer wisdom in this episode. I know your’e gonna dig it.
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)
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.
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!
Hey, CNFers, I’m Brendan O’Meara and this is The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I talk to badass writers, filmmakers, radio producers, and podcasters about the art and craft of telling true stories. I try and chart their journeys through the arts and reveal how they deal self-doubt, anxiety, and still manage to get the work done.
Be sure to go subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher.
Oh, and I’m doing the thing again, that thing that where I offer editorial coaching of up to 2,000 words of your writing in exchange for a review on Apple Podcasts. Post your review. They take up to 24 hours and email me creativenonfictionpodcast at gmail dot com with a screenshot of the review and i’ll reach out and help out with a piece you’re working on up to 2,000 words, a $150 value.
Okay, so I’ve got the amazing, incomparable and, jacked Jericho Brown. Here’s a little bit about Jericho, whose new book, The Tradition, published by Copper Canyon Press:
Jericho Brown is the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard, and the National Endowment for the Arts, and he is the winner of the Whiting Writer’s Award. Brown’s first book, Please (New Issues 2008), won the American Book Award. His second book, TheNew Testament (Copper Canyon 2014), won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. His third collection is The Tradition(Copper Canyon 2019). His poems have appeared in The Bennington Review, Buzzfeed, Fence, jubilat, The New Republic, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, TIME magazine, and several volumes ofThe Best American Poetry. He is an associate professor and the director of the Creative Writing Program at Emory University.
jerichobrown.com
If you want to read poetry that knocks the wind out of you, read Jericho.
This is one of my all-time favorites as we approach 150 of these things. We talk about his exercise routine, how poets are a special kind of nerd, experiences over destinations, his invented poetry form the Duplex, discipline, and so much more.
You’re gonna want a notebook, man.
Go follow Jericho on Twitter @jerichobrown and keep the conversation going with me @BrendanOMeara and @CNFPod on TWitter. IG is @cnfpod and Facebook is The Creative Nonfiction Podcast. Email the show creative nonfiction podcast @ gmail dot com and maybe I’ll read it on the air.
Share this show with a friend. You are the social network. I can tweet out a show all day long, but it comes down to you, friend. Rage against the algorithms.
How are you, CNFers? I’m Brendan O’Meara and this is The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak to badass writers, filmmakers, producers, and podcasters about the art and craft of telling true stories, chart their journey through this crazy world and offer a few tips along the way to help you get the work done.
Be sure to subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts and follow me and the show on Twitter @BrendanOMeara and @cnfpod. You can follow the show on Instagram too where I post some great quote cards and audiograms from the show’s deep bench.
If you’re feeling friendly, please leave a review or a rating on iTunes. I’d love to see it reach 100, but it’ll take you. It’ll take you going that extra mile for you buddy BO. You know I love you for it.
Okay, so Meredith May is here to talk about her career and her new book. She was shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize for a long feature she wrote back around the time of the second Iraq War for the San Francisco Chronicle. We talk about the toxic nature of the competition Olympics, and how writing about someone else in another book cracked open her memoir for her.
