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Episode 134—Harrison Scott Key on Finding the Nature of His Talent, Humor, and the Pull to Create

Harrison Scott Key (right) returns to the podcast.

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By Brendan O’Meara

“I always felt this indescribable pull to create something I’m proud of. ‘Look. I made this.'” —Harrison Scott Key (@HarrisonKey)

“A memoir is just a slice.” —Harrison Scott Key

Harrison Scott Key came back to the show to talk about his amazing work. Since that day way back in 2013, Harrison has published his first memoir The World’s Largest Man about his father, which also won the Thurber Prize for the funniest book in the country. And his latest book, Congratulations, Who Are You Again?, Was my single favorite book from 2018.

This one was so funny, inspiring, and entertaining that I took it with me on walks and when I found a crack in my schedule I’d pick this thing up and read a few pages if I could while my boss wasn’t looking.

But we’ll get to that. I guess I forgot to mention that this is The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak to badass writers, filmmakers, and producers about the art and craft of telling true stories. I also unpack their origins and how they approach the work in the face of day jobs and crippling self-doubt. Am I projecting. Perhaps.

Do you subscribe this here podcast? You can find it just about anywhere and if you dig this show and others, link up to it on your social media platforms. You are the social network, CNFers. Rage Against the Algorithm. And if you have a minute or two, please give the show a rating over on Apple Podcasts. Follow the show @CNFPod on Twitter and @BrendanOMeara on Twitter.

What else, oh, yes, subscribe to my monthly newsletter. It’s chock full of my reading recommendations and what you might have missed from the world of the podcast. Once a month. No spam. Can’t beat it.

So Harrison came back to the show and as always I try and cut down these interviews by about 10-15% and I simply couldn’t do that with this one. Couldn’t do it, so I hope you enjoy the big man himself, Harrison Scott Key.

Don’t forget to Rage Against the Algorithm with my monthly up-to-11 newsletter. First of the month. No spam. Can’t beat it.

Consider supporting the show via Patreon patreon.com/cnfpod. Shop around if you want to support the community. I just paid out the writers from the last audio magazine. You make that possible. The show is free but it ain’t cheap.

Free ways to support the show?

Subscribe and download and share across your socials. And don’t forget to consider leaving a kind review on Apple Podcasts. Those go a LONG way.

Stay wild, CNFers!

Episode 131—Debbie Millman on Illustrated Essays, the Poem That Defines Her Life, and her Podcast ‘Design Matters’

Debbie Millman, host of Design Matters, author of several books, and a titan in branding, joins me on the podcast. Photo credit: John Madere

By Brendan O’Meara

“Getting to know who someone is, going into their world, when I research someone I feel like I’m entering their world and almost becoming them and seeing the world through their eyes in an effort to figure out what’s important for them to talk about.” —Debbie Millman (@debbiemillman)

Welcome CNFers, I’m @BrendanOMeara, Brendan O’Meara in real life and this is @CNFPod, or The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak to badass writers, filmmakers, and producers about the art and craft of telling true stories.

If you want to get better at the form, you’ve come to the right place. This is our little corner of the Internet. If you’re here for the first time, welcome, welcome, crack open a notebook, pour yourself a cup of coffee and settle in, CNFers. You’re gonna find we do things a little different on this show.

Where to start? My guest is Debbie Millman. Yes, you heard that correctly. Your ears did not deceive you. I didn’t bother digging too deep into Debbie’s origin story because there are several podcasts where she dives into that and I wanted to spare her from repeating herself. Maybe I was too timid in that regard, but I figured I’d steer the ship toward other things.

At this point in the introduction is usually where I riff on what’s going on, maybe offer some insights into how you can improve your work by sharing something I find helpful. But…sometimes the most helpful thing is getting the f*ck out of the way.

In seventeen words Debbie Millman is a writer, designer, educator, artist, brand consultant, and host of the podcast Design Matters.

But in a single word? Debbie is an inspiration. She made a name for herself as a graphic designer and branding guru after years and years of rejections, failures, and false starts. She’s persistent sometimes, she admits, to a fault.

Her writing is tight and playful. It’s deep, meaningful, resonant, and beautiful to look at as most of her essays are illustrated in her whimsical way of inking and penciling.

As for her career in branding, if you’ve seen the Burger King logo, various Pepsi products, Tropicana, Haagen Daas, and Twizzlers (totally twisted), then you’ve seen her work. If it makes the supermarket look prettier, odds are Debbie had a hand in that.

She was the president of Sterling Brands for 20 years, and under her stewardship grew the company from 15 employees to 150.

But after a decade of being a titan in her field, from 1995 to 2005, often at the expense of her own creative projects, her writing, her drawing, her painting, she was granted the opportunity to host an internet radio program that, I must add, she had to pay to produce, called Design Matters. This was in 2005.

Fourteen years later and she’s still doing it and for my money she, along with Joe Donahue of WAMC Northeast Public Radio, are the best interviewers around. I have a reason for this and I talk about this with Debbie.

She has interviewed Milton Glaser, Malcolm Gladwell, Anne Lamott, Seth Godin, Shepard Fairey, and hundreds more. Design Matters is a testament to her endurance and generosity. It wasn’t until she had done the show for several years that it really began to gain traction, win awards, and become the behemoth that it is today.

I could go on and on and I must apologize for my titanic nerves in this episode. I mean, I suffer from them all the time, but this one was especially bad, for that I’m sorry, but getting the chance to speak to Debbie for nearly an hour was such an esteemed honor that I had trouble keeping my you-know-what together.

Okay, I hope you dig what Debbie and I made for you. Enjoy….

If you haven’t already, consider subscribing to The Creative Nonfiction Podcast on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher and subvert the algorithms across the social platforms. If you liked the show, share it with just one friend. Email them the link or share it on social media. And tag me @BrendanOMeara and @CNFPod so I can toast to your awesomeness.

Consider leaving an honest review on iTunes as well. I want to see it hit 100 ratings. We’re gonna get there in 2019, but it starts with you. If you have five minutes to spare, please give the show some love.

Thanks to our sponsors in Goucher College’s MFA in Nonfiction as well as Creative Nonfiction Magazine.

Books by Debbie Millman

How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer
The Essential Principles of Graphic Design
Look Both Ways
Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits
Brand Bible
Self-Portrait As Your Traitor
Leave Me Alone with the Recipes

Episode 130—Alexandra DiPalma and the Podcast Revolution

Alexandra DiPalma, seen here on the set of her amazing Creative Live course.

By Brendan O’Meara

“It’s natural to most people to be like this needs to be perfect before I put it out into the world, but I think when you take that element away, it allows such a new level of productivity and creativity.” —Alexandra DiPalma (@LSDiPalma)

This is the Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak to badass writers, filmmakers, and producers about the art and craft of telling trues stories. I unpack their origin story, their rocky roads, their habits and routines, so you can improve your own work. Today you will get to know Alexandra DiPalma.

But first…

Be sure to subscribe on iTunes and wherever you get your podcasts. Visit brendanomeara.com to subscribe to my monthly newsletter. Once a month. No spam. Can’t beat that.

So…

Episode 127—Sam Chiarelli ‘Digs’ Deep with Dino Memoir

Sam Chiarelli is the author of the memoir “Dig: A Personal Prehistoric Journey.”

By Brendan O’Meara

Did you know it’s Dinovember? Not die as in death, but dino as in dinosaurs, which is how and why today’s guest is Sam Chiarelli (@DinophileSam on Twitter), author of the memoir Dig: A Personal Prehistoric Journey, published by Hippocampus Books.

Episode 122—Tracy Kidder on Writing Badly and Looking for People Over Subjects

By Brendan O’Meara

“The possibilities of doing something similar [to fiction] in nonfiction really did appeal to me.” —Tracy Kidder

“I don’t look for subjects. I look for people.” —Tracy Kidder

Are you riffin’ kiddin’ me!?

By virtue of today’s guest I’m assuming there might be a new CNFer or two to our little marauding gang of turbulent souls in this corner of the Internet.

Welcome. We play heavy metal music, we kick maximum ass, and we will, we will rock you. This is The Creative Nonfiction Podcast (subscribe!), the show where I speak to bad ass tellers of true stories about where they came from, what and who inspires them, and how they approach the work, so that you can apply those tools of mastery to your own work. I’m your mutha-riffin’ host Brendan O’Meara, hey, hey.

Episode 114—Matthew Polly on Bruce Lee, Shaolin Temples, and Video Games

Portrait of Matthew Polly, writer and author of “Bruce Lee: A Life” ©JUSTIN GUARIGLIA, WWW.EIGHTFISH.COM

By Brendan O’Meara

“The great thing is if you find the right story it often is more interesting than fiction because it’s weird and quirky.” —Matthew Polly (@MatthewEPolly)

This is The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak to the best in narrative journalism, doc film, radio, podcasting, essay, and memoir about the art and craft of telling true stories.

Today’s guest is Matthew Polly. He’s the author of three books of nonfiction, most recently Bruce Lee: A Life. He’s a graduate of Princeton and a Rhodes Scholar, so you can say my 1050 SAT score didn’t exactly level me up any in this conversation.

Episode 110—Scott Neumyer on Podcasting, Writing, and Anxiety

Scott Neumyer is a writer and hosts the wildly popular Anxiety Diaries Podcast.

By Brendan O’Meara

Tweetables from Scott Neumyer (@scottneumyer):

“The more you do, the more apt you are to get an assignment.”

“I want to make something happen and I just work really hard to do it.”

Today’s guest has a voice as smooth as velvet. It’s a voice you want to listen to over and over again and you know what? You can!

Today I welcome Scott Neumyer to the show. Scott is a writer who has been published by The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, GQ, Esquire, Wired, Men’s Fitness, and many more publications. He is a contributor to the anthology Life Inside My Mind: 31 Authors Share Their Personal Struggles, which Simon Pulse published in 2018. He is also the creator and host of the popular Anxiety Diaries Podcast. He lives in central New Jersey with his wife, two daughters, and two cats.

This is the show where I speak to the best creators about telling true stories, how they’re told, and why it matters so you can apply those tools of mastery to your own work.

Scott has been working hard on his new podcast, Anxiety Diaries, and it’s raw, it’s honest, and it showcases interesting people across the mental health-sphere.

In this episode we dig into his origin as a writer, influential writers, lots about the craft of interviewing, and how to launch a successful podcast.

If you dig the show, please subscribe and leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Joe Rogan (love you Joe!) doesn’t need anymore. I need them. Me. Okay, CNFers, thanks for listening, let’s get right into it.

Thanks for listening CNFers. Thanks again to Hippocamp 2018 for the support. Be sure to use that CNFPOD coupon code to save $50 on your registration fee.

Again, if you’d leave a review on Apple Podcasts, I’ll edit a piece of your writing of up to 2,000 words. Just send me a screenshot and I’ll coach up your writing. That’s only fair.

Stories by Scott

I Am Royce White
Anxiety Makes the Holidays Harder

The Creative Nonfiction Podcast is sponsored by Hippocamp 2018. Now in its fourth year, Hippocamp is a three-day creative nonfiction 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, Pennsylvania from Aug. 24 through the 26th.

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!

Hippocamp 2018: Create. Share. Live.

Episode 108—Katie Baker on Working Outside of Journalism and Cultivating Enthusiasms

Katie Baker is a staff writer for The Ringer and damn good writer.

By Brendan O’Meara

“Working outside of journalism before working in journalism can be a useful thing in terms of seeing how the world works.” —Katie Baker (@katiebakes)

Hey there, CNFers, it’s The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak to the best artists about telling true stories, whether that’s narrative journalists, documentary filmmakers, essay and memoir writers and radio producers, I try unpack their lives and their work so you can apply those tools of mastery to your own work.

Continue reading “Episode 108—Katie Baker on Working Outside of Journalism and Cultivating Enthusiasms”

Episode 99—David Grann on ‘The Killers of the Flower Moon” and Why Every Story is a Struggle

David Grann’s “The Killers of the Flower Moon” is now out in paperback.

By Brendan O’Meara

Tweetables by David Grann (@DavidGrann):

“I think the real trick is telling stories chronologically, letting them unfold as they really happened.”

“I’d rather find the story and excavate it than make it up.”

“I think every story is a struggle and a puzzle.”

It’s The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I talk to the best artists about telling true stories and tease out origins, tactics, and habits so you can apply those tools of mastery to your own work.

Welcome, CNFers, my CNFbuddies, oh, I’m feelin’ good today and, boy, do I have a treat for you. But first, if you don’t subscribe to the show, go and get it on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, Stitcher, and soon Spotify and join our little tribe in this true story corner of the Internet. Continue reading “Episode 99—David Grann on ‘The Killers of the Flower Moon” and Why Every Story is a Struggle”

Episode 98—Lisa Romeo on “Starting with Goodbye” and the Power of Paper Habits

Lisa Romeo stopped by the podcast to talk all things writing and her new memoir “Starting with Goodbye”. Photo credit Ryder Z.

By Brendan O’Meara

Tweetables by Lisa Romeo (@LisaRomeo on Twitter, @lisaromeowriter on IG)

“I’m one of those weird people who loves revision. To me that’s where the work comes alive.”

“I think it’s important to get perspective from people who don’t write exactly what you write.”

“We write for readers.”

You know the drill…It’s the Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak with leaders in the field of nonfiction about telling true stories: narrative journalists, doc film makers, essayists, memoirists, and radio producers to tease out tactics, habits, and routines, so you can apply those tools to your own work.

Books by Debbie Millman

MONTHLY NEWSLETTER!: Once a Month. No Spam. Can’t Beat It.

Stories by Scott