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Episode 274: Ruby McConnell on Stalling Out and Finding Hope Through Writing

Ruby McConnell (@RubyGoneWild) is the author of Ground Truth: A Geological Survey of a Life and A Woman’s Guide to the Wild, and she returns to the podcast (on short notice!) to talk about being in between projects, finding hope through writing, and being frustrated despite having an objectively productive year.

As you know, you can keep the conversation going on Twitter @BrendanOMeara or @CNFPod. Let me know what you dug about this episode, or other ones.

And if you’re feeling especially froggy, you can support the show by heading over to patreon.com/cnfpod and see what tier appeals to you. Transcripts, questions, coaching, and the knowledge that your dollars get fed right back into the community. I was able to pay the essay and poem writers because of the Patreon community. That’s cool, right?

Newsletters sub is below. You’re gonna want to sign up for that and subvert the algorithm. I’ve got some cool stuff planned that will be like the CNFin’ Happy Hour, but somehow better, and it all stems from the newsletter. Once a month. No spam. Can’t beat it!

Episode 271: Brin-Jonathan Butler, ‘The Passenger,’ and ‘Giving Up the Ghost’

By Brendan O’Meara

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Brin-Jonathan Butler returns to talk about his new piece “Giving Up the Ghost.” It ran on Hazlitt.net.

It’s one of the greatest things I’ve ever read. It’s 23,000 words. I read it twice. I still can’t stop thinking about it.

Episode 268: Overcoming Bad Viewing Hygiene with The Ringer’s Alison Herman

Sponsors: West Virginia Wesleyan College’s MFA in Creative Writing and HippoCamp 2021.

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By Brendan O’Meara

Alison Herman (@aherman2006) is a staff writer for The Ringer, who writes about all kinds of TV and movies and the like.

What prompted this conversation was her piece about David Gelb, the filmmaker behind Jiro Dreams of Sushi and Chef’s Table.

In this episode we talk about:

Episode 267: Suzanne Roberts on Big Wins, Rejection Clubs, and ‘Bad Tourist’

Lovely sponsors: West Virginia Wesleyan College’s MFA in Creative Writing and HippoCamp21.

By Brendan O’Meara

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The writer Suzanne Roberts (@suzanneroberts28) came by CNF Pod HQ to talk all things writing and memoir and Bad Tourist: Misadventures in Love and Travel (University of Nebraska Press, 2020).

Had a wonderful time talking to her about:

Episode 266: The Expansive Nothing You Have to Fill with Kristen Radtke

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By Brendan O’Meara

Kristen Radtke is the author of Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness. Let me tell you, CNFers, this book spoke to me like few others do. Such is the life as a lonely podcaster.

Episode 264: Rachel Monroe Talks About the Things Writers Don’t Tweet About

Rachel Monroe

Sponsors: West Virginia Weslyen College’s MFA in Creative Writing and HippoCamp2021 (Enter CNFPod21 for $50 off your registration!)

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By Brendan O’Meara

Rachel Monroe (@rachmonroe) is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic and myriad other places.

Her latest piece for The New Yorker is about ransomware and hacker negotiators. She wrote a piece about #vanlife for The New Yorker back in 2017 that garnered all kinds of buzz.

Episode 263: Michelle Weber and Catherine Cusick Break Out the Pipe Wrench

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By Brendan O’Meara

Michelle Weber and Catherine Cusick are the editor-in-chief and publisher of Pipe Wrench Magazine, a new venture that aims to fix what’s broken in journalism and publishing.

This is a fun conversation about the founding of the magazine and Michelle and Catherine are doing to help change the culture. You can find Issue 1 here, and they just went live with Issue 2 this week.

The pair overlapped at Longreads and parlayed much of that experience into Pipe Wrench, so we talk about that, among other things.

At one point Cartherine brings up this notion of “ramen startups,” and she’s referring to a blog post from Paul Graham. This means keeping things lean and nimble and not overextending and growing too fast.

Great talk!

OK, so keep the conversation alive @CNFPod and consider becoming a CNFin’ member at Patreon. There’s where you get exclusive access to the audio magazine, get asked to ask questions of guests, transcripts, coaching, and more. For just $2 a month, you get access to a killer audio product, and we’re going live with Issue 2 in mere days! Patreon.com/cnfpod

Episode 262: Passion + Desperation = Bob Welch

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By Brendan O’Meara

“I. Will. Write. This. Book. There’s no turning back,” says Bob Welch, @bob_welch23 on Twitter.

Bob is the author of several books, most recently is Saving My Enemy, a story of an American and a German WWII vet who forged a friendship late in life that led them down the path to forgiveness. Great book.

Bob was a long-time columnist at The Register-Guard in Eugene and has written books like The Wizard of Foz: Dick Fosbury’s One-Man High-Jump Revolution and Resolve.

We had a great conversation about “hiking your own hike” and how the famous writer Jon Krakauer actually stole Bob’s girlfriend back in high school in Corvallis, Oregon.

Great talk and good, good fun.

Keep the conversation going on social media @CNFPod and consider becoming a member at the Patreon page. It’s how you get access to the audio magazine, as well as transcripts and coaching. You dollars go directly into (50% goes to Patreon and Uncle Sam) the making of the podcast and paying writers. If you freelance, you get the titanic tax burden that’s on the freelancer. Oh, you got a $1,000 check! That’s nice! $500 of that needs to be skimmed off and goes to taxes, sooooo….

Anyway!

Enjoy this conversation and let me know what you think. HMU!

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Episode 261: Wudan Yan and Jenni Gritters Talk All Things Coaching, Freelancing, and Mindset Monsters

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By Brendan O’Meara

Wudan Yan and Jenni Gritters are back!

They host The Writers’ Co-op Podcast, and it is back for Season 3, a season in which they focus on coaching.

Lots of good stuff here including:

Why Jenni “left” journalism
Building confidence
Business plans
Mindset monsters
And freelancer archetypes

Follow Wudan and Jenni on Twitter, as well as @CNFPod, and learn more about them, their work, and their services at their websites.

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Episode 259: Lilly Dancyger on Building Community and Finding Her Father in ‘Negative Space’

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By Brendan O’Meara

Lilly Dancyger (@lillydancyger) is here to talk about her new book Negative Space. She also edited the collection Burn It Down: Women Writing About Anger.

Negative Space is a detective story as Lilly seeks out her father’s past. He passed away when she was a very young girl. He was a brilliant artists, but tortured by addiction.

Brendan’s Monthly Newsletter: First of the month! No spam! Can’t beat it!

Brendan’s Monthly Newsletter: First of the month! No spam! Can’t beat it!