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Episode 326: Jana Meisenholder

By Brendan O’Meara

Jana Meisenholder is a freelance journalist based out of Los Angeles and she’s got a new piece out for The Atavist Magazine. It’s an incredible tale of drive and obsession.

Jana’s work has appeared in Rolling Stone, the Wall Street Journal, and, now The Atavist.

This episode was my COVID episode (still sparring with it, though I think the worst is behind me). Sometimes when I do these interviews you see threads dangling in the conversation and you have to make a choice which thread to pull. If I wasn’t so sick, I would’ve pulled on a couple, but I couldn’t. I simply … could … not. THAT SAID, this episode still came out great.

Jana’s piece follows Andres Beckett, a Mexican-American man hellbent on finding mentorship to lead him over the edge of the Suicide Race. It’s a trip, man.

We start off by talking to editor-in-chief Seyward Darby before we get into the skeleton, the meat, and the bones with Jana.

Episode 325: Kerri Sullivan

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By Brendan O’Meara

Are you a New Jersey hater? We’ve heard all the jokes, but if you want to know what Jersey is REALLY about, you need to check out Kerri Sullivan‘s (@ksulphoto) New Jersey Fan Club: Artists and Writers Celebrate the Garden State (Rutgers University Press).

It features essays by Jen A. Miller, Scott Neumyer, and Chris Gethard. There are comics, photos, interviews, it’s pretty damn great.

Episode 324: Chris Solomon

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By Brendan O’Meara

Chris Solomon is here!

He is a contributing editor to Outside Magazine, and his latest piece “I’ll take the high road” is what prompted me to reach out to him. We also talk about his GQ essay about his mother and father.

He’s @chrisasolomon on Twitter and you can find more about him and his work at chrissolomon.net.

Had a nice time around the CNFin’ campfire talking shop, freelancing, reporting on personal stories, and finding ways to make the “I” implicit vs. IN YOUR FACE.

Episode 321: Ruby McConnell

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By Brendan O’Meara

Well, well, well, look who came back to the podcast for her third time: It’s Ruby McConnell (@rubygonewild)!

She’s the author of the wonderful collection Ground Truth: A Geological Survey of a Life, as well as the author of A Woman’s Guide to the Wild. Past episodes with Ruby can be found here and here.

We had a nice conversation about juggling projects, when writing becomes a slog, style, ambition, and patience. If you’re a little frustrated, you’re going to enjoy this conversation.

Episode 320: Howard Bryant

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By Brendan O’Meara

Howard Bryant is the author of many, many books, most recently Rickey: The Life and Legend of an American Original (Mariner Books).

It’s a tremendous books, one that delves into the life of the great lead-off hitter Rickey Henderson and puts his life into context, builds a world around Rickey.

Howard is the author of The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron, Full Dissidence: Notes from an Uneven Playing Field, and The Heritage, among many others. He has covered baseball for many years, is a senior writer for ESPN, and is a contributor to NPR’s Weekend Edition. He also was the 2017 guest editor for Best American Sports Writing.

Episode 318: Greg Donahue

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By Brendan O’Meara

Greg Donahue (@GregJDonahue) is a freelance journalist, and he returns to The Atavist Magazine for “The Fugitive Next Door.”

It’s a riveting story, but what else would you expect from the Atavist or Greg?

Greg talks about some of his writerly insecurities, the power of endings, and a dynamite recommendation dealing with sentences.

We start off this episode speaking with Jonah Ogles, the lead editor of this piece.

More show notes TK. I promise!

Episode 317: Brad Listi

Photo credit: Dove Shore

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By Brendan O’Meara

Brad Listi (@otherppl) is the author of my favorite book of the year to date, Be Brief and Tell Them Everything.

Brad also is the longtime host and producer of Otherppl, a podcast with in depth conversations with today’s leading writers. It’s one of my favorite podcasts. He’s been producing it since 2011, so even longer than us here at CNF Pod HQ.

Brad’s book is written in these chunklets and touches on being a creative person, the messiness of life and a creative life, reading, books, social media, fatherhood, and more.

We talk about a lot of themes in the book and the incredible prep it takes to bring one podcast into the world.

Episode 316: Chip Scanlan

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Guess who’s back? It’s Chip Scanlan (@chipscanlan), and he’s here to talk about 33 Ways to Not Screw Up Your Journalism.

It’s a zippy little book that uses contemporary examples that point out blindspots in our reporting and writing and help us fix them for the next day’s work, the next piece.

He hopped on the pod for Ep. 292 about his book Writers on Writing, which is a multi-vitamin of inspiration and writing tips. Actionable to boot.

Episode 315: Tad Friend

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By Brendan O’Meara

Tad Friend (@tadfriend) needs little introduction, but here it goes: He’s a staff writer for The New Yorker and has written some of my favorite pieces. There’s the profile on Bryan Cranston, Master Class, and Impossible Foods.

Most recently, he’s the author of the memoir In the Early Times: A Life Reframed (Crown). In it, Tad tries to better understand his father, but comes to grips with his own role as a father and husband, a writer and … squash player. It’s a wonderful book, but, then again, did you expect anything less?

Tad also is the author of Cheerful Monday: Me, My Family, and the Last Days of Wasp Splendor as well as the collection Lost in Mongolia: Travels in Hollywood and other Foreign Lands.

In this episode we talk about structure, tension, reporting and running toward the doom. Lots of great stuff to unpack and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Episode 314: How ‘Top Chef’ Can Help Your Writing

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Sponsor: Athletic Greens, athleticgreens.com/EMERGING

By Brendan O’Meara

Listen … just discovered “Top Chef” (don’t judge) on account of Peacock.

I’ve always been inspired by chefs and how they go about the work. When I was watching “Chopped” several years ago, I remember one chef talking about how he was on onion duty in the kitchen. And instead of lamenting it, he vowed to be the best damn cutter of onions. It’s a great attitude, something we can all heed.

The parallels between high-level cooking and writing are similar. We started with Season 18, Top Chef: Portland. Why? Well, we live in Oregon so we jumped into that, spoilers of past winners be damned.

And in the first episode, Richard Blais, restaurateur and one of the judges told the chefs to have “authorship” of their dishes. Another, Melissa King, said you have to “edit” your plates and choose what to leave on the plate and what to leave off.

Sound familiar?