This year has been a tough year to book guests. Thankfully some, like Ruby McConnell and Donna Talarico swoop in at the last moment and bail me out.
Sometimes, as was the case earlier this month when I was dealing a family emergency, I couldn’t face the mic and we missed our first week in YEARS.
I’m not a fan of “reruns,” especially when all the episodes are in the feed, but the feed is long and overwhelming. This week, to celebrate HippoCamp22, I figured why not re-surface my HippoCamp21 talk (which garnered such feedback as, “would not see him speak again.” Can’t win ’em all.).
It’s that time of year…it’s HippoCamp Season! Over the Aug. 12-14 weekend, Donna Talarico and her cohort of devoted volunteers will host the seventh conference devoted solely to creative nonfiction writing.
Jeannine Ouellette (@_elephantrock) is the author of the memoir The Part That Burns, a devastating book about childhood, sexual abuse, motherhood, and so much more. It’s published by Split/Lip Press.
It was a book I couldn’t wait to get back to because I needed to know how Jeannine managed to — I don’t know — survive. She broke my heart a number of times, but not in a self-pitying way.
In any case, she’s here for Ep. 281, this after we met at Hippocamp in August.
Had a great chat about day jobs and threading the work you want to do around that, how there’s no “writer’s life,” but rather just a “writer living.” That’s a direct quote from her Hippocamp talk this year.
Her essay collection delves into her identity as a Black woman, divorce, relationships, sex, the masks we where, and so on. Highly recommend.
What an experience Hippocamp was this year. Donna Talarico stuck the landing in pandemic times. The degree of difficulty is Simone Biles-esque!
I don’t I’ve worked as hard on any one thing like I did on this Hippocamp talk in a long, long while. I put everything I had into it. That said, I had a very hard time gauging what the audience thought of it. It was a pretty sparse turnout, so far as Hippocamp talks go. Everyone was masked, so I couldn’t tell if people were smiling or dying inside. There were only two questions, whereas most breakout sessions of this nature have several questions.
Naturally I felt like a comic who bombed.
Still, some people came up to me and said they loved it. Not meaning to undercut their good will, I was like, “Really? Cuz it felt dead to me up there and there were no questions …”
They usually said the talk itself didn’t lend itself to questions. It leant itself to thought. In any case, I still gave it my all to the gracious folks who showed up.
I tell you, it was a privilege to put this together. I hope you enjoy it, and if you do, consider becoming a Patron at patreon.com/cnfpod, as I think I’ll start doing similar things like this (much, much shorter) as Patreon exclusives.
Donna Talarico, founder of Hippocampus Magazine and Hippocamp.
“I like to joke that this [conference] is my investment in literary citizenship.” —Donna Talarico (@donnatalarico)
CNFers! There’s a coupon code IN THIS EPISODE for a massive discount on your last-minute registration for Hippocamp 2019! But you gotta listen.
Oh, hey, this is CNF, the show where I talk to badass people about the art and craft of telling true stories. Welcome.
I ask that if you dig the show, you share it with a few of your friends, link up to it on social, and tag the show @CNFPod on Twitter and @cnfpod on Instagram. We’re on Facebook too. I’ll jump in the fire with you.
If you’re feeling kind, leave a review on Apple Podcasts. We’re still on Mission 100 and we’re 28 away. There’s 28 of you out there, right? I sure hope so.
Tweetable by Rebecca Fish Ewan (@rfishewan on Instagram):
“I couldn’t, as an adult, get past the story of how her life ended. And I wanted to tell the story of she lived.”
It’s The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak to the best artists about telling true stories.
For Episode 106, I welcome Rebecca Fish Ewan, author of By the Forces of Gravity (Books by Hippocampus 2018), a love story between friends that ends in tragedy told through free-verse poetry and cartoons. It’s a great reading experience and a wonderfully told story of adolescence in the 1970s Berkley. You can buy the book by visiting books.hippocampusmagazine.com or via Amazon.
In this episode we dig into:
How Rebecca chose to write the story in the way she did
The power of community
Writing from the POV of her 12-year-old-self
And dealing with self doubt
Rebecca is @rfishewan on Instagram, her preferred social network and is @rfishewan on Facebook. Go check her out.
If you’re not subscribed, be sure to hit up Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, and Stitcher so you get a fresh delivery every Friday. Share this with people you think will dig it. Ad let me know what you think of it, what you got out of it. I’m @BrendanOMeara and @CNFPod on Twitter and @CNFPodcast on Facebook. Pick a network, any network and let’s connect.
If you dig the show and you have a minute, please leave a review over on Apple Podcasts. If you show me evidence of your review, I will edit a piece of your writing of up to 2,000 word.
Sign up for my monthly reading list newsletter. Four books and what you might have missed from the world of the podcast. Once a month. No spam. You can’t beat that.
The Creative Nonfiction Podcast is sponsored by Hippocamp 2018. Now in its fourth year, Hippocamp is a three-day Pennsylvania writing conference that features 50+ speakers, engaging sessions in four tracks, interactive all-conference panels, author and attendee readings, social activities, networking opps, and optional, intimate pre-conference workshops. The conference takes place in lovely Lancaster, from Aug. 24 through the 26th.
Past keynotes have been Lee Gutkind, Mary Karr, Dinty W. Moore, and Jane Friedman (all have been past guests on the podcast. Whaaaat?) This year Abigail Thomas will be the featured speaker.
Visit hippocampusmagazine.com and click the “Conference” tab in the toolbar and if you enter the keyword CNFPOD at checkout you will receive a $50 discount. This offer is only good until Aug. 10 or until all those tickets are sold. There are a limited number so act now! Like RIGHT NOW.
The registration is $429 ($379 with the discount) through Aug. 10 then goes up to $449 on site. If you sign up through this portal before the conference starts, you’re actually saving $70!
