In any case, Steven and I randomly met in November 2018 in line at a talk during the Portland Book Festival. We were in line to hear Elizabeth Rush give a talk. He heard my voice from this thing and here we are.
You see? You never know where your next podcast guest might come from.
This episode was nice in that Kevin Robbins says, among lots of other things, that, “I’m still trying to figure out why the greats are great.”
It’s ephemeral. You can’t put a finger on it. And so here we are.
Kevin was on the show three years ago. Check it out. There’s tremendous skill and restraint evident in Kevin’s work. Understating things is difficult because you want to look like Simone Biles during a floor routine, which is to stay WTF??!!
Kevin’s latest book is The Last Stand of Payne Stewart: The Year Golf Changed Forever. You don’t have to like or know golf to love this book. Kevin draws out what made Stewart human, which is what we all want, right? We want to know that we have the capacity to improve and be better, not optimized in this world of hyper productivity, but better.
He writes about the skate culture he grew up around, “Nailing an ollie is essential for doing more advanced tricks, so if you can’t learn it you’re stuck. Luckily for me, it was easy to ask for help in a community like that one. … There’s a sense that when one person succeeds, the whole community wins together.”
And so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that maybe the best way to get over these toxic feelings is to feel buoyed by what is possible, that it isn’t zero sum.
Somebody else’s success does not really take away from your own. Yes, there are limited bylines, I should be using their success to push myself to be better. Right? So that doesn’t mean that I haven’t silenced the occasional person on Twitter who is winning at all things all the time and I need a break.
It isn’t that somebody else had a win and you lost. It should be, ‘Oh, that person had a win, so that means I can too, so long as I work hard and maybe have a little luck on my side.’
And it echoes back to the skate culture: If you learn a new trick, we all win. So if you get that coveted by-line in The New York, we win as a result.
Whether it’s David Foster Wallace talking about fun or Chase Jarvis telling you to create without judgement, there’s often a sense that writing, and even art, must be earnest and painful.
Speaking from experience, the more loose I am, the lighter I approach the work, the better it is. And that’s something echoed in the work of Christopher McDougall too.
“I sort of learned a lesson in life that if anything is unpleasant, you’re going to postpone it, you’re just not going to do it. And so it’s like for exercise for dieting, any time you don’t want to do, you will find a reason not to do it. And so I think even though you know, all those aspects, with nutrition and exercise and everything, you gotta negotiate a happy compromise. So you got to figure out what’s the thing that makes it fun, and then do that thing. And so what I realized is that as long as the sun is up, I am not getting shit done. I’m not going to be at my desk. And so I get up in the morning and just blast out the door and just busy myself with stuff all during sunlight hours and then around five or six, I’m physically tired. I’m winding down. I eat some good food and then I’m ready to sit down like seven o’clock at night and just busted out till midnight, one o’clock in the morning.
You caught that, right? What the thing that makes it fun? Sure, some topics are heavy and not always fun. I’m thinking Eli Saslow writing Rising Out of Hatred. Not fun.
But there must be moments of joy, otherwise, why do it? And you can hear it in Chris’ voice that the work is fun and that’s the key to unlocking your potential. Play and fun.
As always, thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts and leave a kind rating on Apple Podcasts. Newsletter and show notes are at brendanomeara.com and please keep the conversation going on Twitter @CNFPod.
“Like all writing is re-writing. All reporting is re-reporting.” —Christopher McDougall (@chrismcdougall)
This was a thrill. This was a blast. I know you’re going to love this too. Christopher McDougall, the bestselling author of Born to Run, Natural Born Heroes, and Running with Sherman is here to talk about his books, but also the speed bumps of his career.
How did he get his start? Where were the hiccups, and how did getting fired from a pretty steady gig in Philly turn him loose to write the book that effectively changed his life? Yeah, it’s all here, baby.
Keep the conversation going on Twitter @CNFPod and @BrendanOMeara. Instagram has been a little lax of late, but that’s @cnfpod. It’s all a mess, man!
Hope you’ve been enjoying the CNF Snacks that I’ve been putting out on Monday. Creating without Judgement and Be a Fan are the first installments. The tapas of CNF Pod.
Thanks to Bay Path University for the support and for Riverteeth’s promotional support.
“At the end of the day, you need to get paid for you work because it is work. And one assignment is not going to change your resume.” —AC Shilton (@ACShilton)
“Somebody else’s success doesn’t limit your own.” —AC Shilton
AC Shilton steps onto the @CNFPod main stage this week, dropping freelance bombs like Ian Frisch and Seyward Darby, just to name a couple.
You know what to do, subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts. Leave a kind review on Apple Podcasts and link up to the show on social media.
Keep the conversation going on Twitter @CNFPod and on IG @cnfpod. It’s a lousy place to promote a show, but it’s a great place to have a dialogue and talk about what resonated with you.
“Essays took on this energy for me in part because they’re unofficial and in part because they brought me in contact with the world that felt really generative.” — Leslie Jamison (@lsjamison on Twitter)
In this episode we riff on how she had to let language to the work for her and not let the language be this shiny veneer without substance, the bounded infinity of nonfiction, and much, much more.
Keep the conversation going on Twitter by tagging me and the show @BrendanOMeara and @CNFPod. Digital fistbumps for those who do it. I hope I’ve made something worth sharing with your people, so please link up to the show and encourage your CNFin’ buds to subscribe!
I can’t recommend it enough. Do yourself and a friend a favor and buy this book. You might want to listen and subscribe to his great podcast too, Chase Jarvis Live Show. He’s been doing this for ten+ years. Amazing stuff.
He made his bones as a photographer and might be most known for (these days) for founding Creative Live, the great online learning platform. I’ve purchased several classes that have helped me immensely.
As always, keep the conversation going on Twitter @CNFPod, Instagram @cnfpod, and Facebook @CNFPodcast. Sign up for the monthly newsletters where I share reading recommendations and what you might have missed from the world of the podcast.
And if you’re feeling froggy, leave a kind review on Apple Podcast. We’re knocking on the door of 100. It’s a long knock, but we’re getting there. Let’s do this!
You’re going to love how Chase went about writing this book as we break open the pinata of what makes this book — and Chase — so special.
“My writing life is being surrounded by 15 half-empty coffee cups which I keep dipping my paint brush into accidentally.” —Rachel Dougherty (@racheldoughertybooks)
This was a fun episode where we talk about day jobs, confidence (or a lack thereof), finding time to do work that matters, and so much more.
Rachel is the author and illustrator of The Secret Engineer: How Emily Roebling Built the Brooklyn Bridge. She’s a Philadelphia-based illustrator, children’s author, and lifelong knowledge-hunter. She works in acrylic paint, ink, and pencil smudges, using humor and color to inspire curious young minds. Rachel is passionate about US history, scruffy little dogs, and board games. [I didn’t ask her about board games. I wish I had.]
Listen, social media is a lousy way to promote a podcast, but it’s a great place to keep the conversation going. I hope I’ve made something worth sharing, so let’s keep it up on Twitter @CNFPod, Instagram @cnfpod, and Facebook @CNFPodcast. Tag me and the show and I’ll jump in the fire.
Sign up for the monthly newsletter: book recommendations, cool articles, and what you might have missed from the world of the podcast.
“You tend to agree more with the people who don’t like what you do more than the people who do like what you do.” — Steven Hyden (@steven_hyden)
Hey, CNFers, glad you could make it. Got Steven Hyden for you. He’s a rock critic for Uproxx and his podcast Break Stuff about Woodstock ’99 is the stuff of legend. So I reached out to him.
We talk about that, books as roadtrips, and how you can have, perhaps, “questionable” taste, but still be a good read.
He makes mention of Chuck Klosterman being an inspiration given they come from similar backgrounds: remote upbringing yet somehow made a go of it in mainstream rock criticism.
Keep the conversation going on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. I hope I’ve made something worth sharing, so share widely. And if you’re feeling kind, leave a review on Apple Podcasts.
