The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O'Meara

For episode 77, I welcome Blaire Briody, that’s @blairebriody on Twitter. She is a freelance journalist who has written for The New York Times, Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, Fast Company, Glamour, among others. Her first nonfiction book, The New Wild West: Black Gold, Fracking, and Life in a North Dakota Boomtown. The book was the 2016 finalist for the Lukas Work-in-Progress Award from Columbia Journalism School and Harvard University, and she received the Richard J. Margolis Award for social justice journalism in 2014.  Blaire won Proximity Magazine’s second annual narrative journalism prize for her piece “It Takes a Boom,” which chronicles Cindy Marchello, the lone woman in the vast fracking sites in North Dakota. Ted Conover, author of several books and immersion journalist of the highest order, judged the contest, you can also hear him back on Ep. 50 of The Creative Nonfictoin Podcast, and here’s what he had to say about Blaire’s gold-medal piece: "This vivid portrait of a woman trying to work oil fields during the fracking boom rings totally true—we seldom meet people like Cindy Marchello in narrative journalism, but I don’t doubt for a second they’re here. I love the frankness and the matter-of-factness. Both Blaire Briody and her subject won my heart, and admiration." Nice… Speaking of being thankful, reviews and ratings have been flowing in and I want to extend a big, big thanks to those who are doing that and taking advantage of my editing offer as a result. What’s this? In exchange for an HONEST—it doesn’t have to be a good one, just an honest one—review on iTunes, I’m offering an hour of my time to work with you on a piece of writing. All you have to do is leave your review and when it posts, email me a screenshot of it. As long it’s postmarked any time between Nov. 2017 and the end of Dec. 2017, the offer stands. Reviews are the new currency and your help will go a long way toward building the community this podcast sets out to make, to empower others to pick up the pen or the camera or the microphone and do work that scratches that creative itch. Okay…now what? The first half of this interview had to be completely cut out. Why? There were some nasty internet gremlins wreaking all kinds of havoc with our connection. It sounded like an old, old Apple computer chugging in the background with some heavy thumps thrown in, maybe an aquarium’s aerator. I mean, it was weird, but more than that it was extremely distracting, so instead of putting you through that, fair listener, I’m going to sum up that first part of the interview in a few hundred words, then we’ll get to the second half that I recorded through a different connection and that sounds just fine.

“Joan Didion said ‘Writers are always selling people out’ and I have chafed against that because I don’t feel like I want to be," says Episode 76 guest Erica Berry. In a week where Creative Nonfiction reached its Kickstarter goal to support its monthly offshoot True Story, what better than to have the latest True Story author on the show? I’m your host Brendan O’Meara, and this is the Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak with leaders in narrative journalism, essay, memoir, radio, and documentary film and try to extract the stories, habits, and routines, so that you can apply their tools of mastery to your own work. For Episode 76, I welcome Erica Berry. She’s an essayist, journalist, and eavesdropper. She’s a liberal arts fellow and MFA candidate in creative nonfiction at the University of Minnesota. She spent nine months at the Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School in rural Sicily co-producing a documentary about endangered culinary traditions. Now she’s working on a book of essays about fear and that’s what brought her here today. Not fear of the podcast. This is a safe place after all, but the fear she courted in Beasts Among Us, her True Story story, about the myth of the werewolf. It’s a chilling tale that feeds off of local lore and Erica’s own visit to the town where people swear they saw the man-wolf. And to start off the podcast, I have a treat, but first a little housekeeping. I’m still offering a free hour of editing/coaching for a piece of you writing. All you have to do is leave an honest review—notice I didn’t even say a nice review—of the podcast on iTunes, take a screenshot that also shows the date of your review, and email that to me. Anything postmarked from November 2017 to the end of 2017 is eligible. It’s my way of saying thank you. One friendly Canadian has already redeemed the gift and I hope dozens, if not more, of you will as well. So Erica was gracious enough to read from the first section of her story Beasts Among Us, so we’re going to ease into that. As a warning, the hairs on your arms might just stand up.

Chris Arvidson says, "There’s so much great real stuff happening that it seemed dumb to make up anything." What’s going on, CNFers? Before we get started I want to tease something. I have something I’d like to offer you loyal listeners and the thing is I could say it now, but I think I’m going to hold off until the very end of the show. Is that mean? That’s kinda mean isn’t it? Sorry about that…no I’m not… This week I welcome Chris Arvidson for Episode 75 of The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak with the world’s best artists about creating works of nonfiction, leaders in narrative journalism, radio, essay, memoir, and documentary film and try to tease out their stories, habits and routines so you can improve your own creative practice. Chris co-edited along with Diana Nelson Jones The Love of Baseball: Essays by Lifelong Fans published by McFarland. It’s a beautiful book and we talk about its genesis, what makes for good baseball writing vs. horrible baseball writing, what’s the most important thing for Chris when developing a story, the organic nature of building a network, favorite books on writing, and much more. Chris also edited the anthologies Reflections on the New River and Mountain Memoirs. You can find more about her and her work at chrisarvidson.com. You feel good? You read to go? Let’s get to episode 75 with Chris Arvidson. Dig the show? Leave a nice review on iTunes. Thanks, CNFers!

Welcome back to another episode of The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak with the world’s best artists about creating works of nonfiction to try and tease out the origins, habits, and routines so that you can apply their skills of mastery to your own work: narrative journalists, New York Times bestselling authors, award-winning filmmakers and, yes, even a Pulitzer Prize winner. Today’s guest is an extra special one: Madeleine Blais, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing while at the Miami Herald for her story Zepp’s Last Stand. I took her memoir class back in 2003 at UMass Amherst and we always managed to stay in touch over the years. She’s a friend and a treasured mentor to me, so I’m delighted to speak with her about her career and her latest book To the New Owners: A Martha’s Vineyard Memoir. Maddy is also the author of Uphill Walkers: Portrait of a Family, In These Girls Hope is a Muscle, which was named one of Sports Illustrated’s 100 best sports books of the 20th century, The Heart is an Instrument: Portraits in Journalism. And her piece that would eventually become the book for In These Girls, is the lead piece in “The Stories We Tell,” an anthology showcasing the best women journalists. We talk about her early career and a pivotal moment that pointed her toward feature writing vs. hard news, how she likes to cut against the grain when vetting stories, judging for the Pulitzer Prize, and many of the influential books that helped form her self-guided apprenticeship. Why wait any longer? Here’s the brilliant Madeleine Blais. Like the show? Please leave a nice review on iTunes! Thanks for listening.

Patsy Sims says, "The novel I always wanted to write didn't have to be fiction." No it didn't. Hey, CNFers, it's The Creative Nonfiction Podcast the show where I speak with the world's best artists about creating works of nonfiction. I try and tease out the origins and tactics from leaders in narrative journalism (like Susan Orlean), personal essay (like Elizabeth Rush), memoir (like Andre Dubus III), radio (like Joe Donahue), and documentary film (like Penny Lane), so you can apply their tools of mastery to your own work. Pasty Sims is the author of The Klan, Can I get an Amen!: Inside the Tents and Tabernacles of American Rivivalists, and, most recently, she's the editor of The Stories We Tell: True Tales by America's Greatest Women Journalists (The Sager Group, 2017).  Patsy has been such a champion of creative nonfiction that it's easy to forget that she was one of the pioneers in the 60s and 70s. She was the Dumbledorian headmaster of Goucher College's Creative Nonfiction MFA program and few people—myself included—ever asked her about her origins and her writing. But that's sort of the myopic nature of MFA students. Again, myself included. This is my way of atoning. That's neither here nor there. In this episode we talk about: Book projects as mini-educations. Paying attention to people who aren't paid attention to Building relationships Persistence Her fascinating approach to digesting notes and a lot, lot more As you know, it's about this time I kindly ask for reviews as they are the currency that validates this enterprise. It takes less than 60 seconds and it helps out a ton. There are 19 ratings and reviews and none of them are from family members. Scouts honor. Also, I have a pretty slick monthly newsletter where I share my monthly reading recommendations and what you might have missed from the world of the podcast. I'd love for you to join this growing list. Once a month. No spam. Can't beat it. Dig the show? Share it with a fellow CNF-buddy. 

Hattie Fletcher says, "[True Story] is a snack in between the main meal." The main meal being the quarterly magazine "Creative Nonfiction." You could say we have something in common. It’s the Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak with the world’s best artists about creating works of nonfiction, leaders in the world of narrative journalism, documentary film, essay, memoir and radio and try to deconstruct how these masters go about the work so that you can improve your own. This week I welcome back Hattie Fletcher, who is the managing editor for Creative Nonfiction magazine. What prompted a second trip? Hattie, along with Lee Gutkind and the team over at Creative Nonfiction, started a $27,000 Kickstarter campaign to support the second year of True Story, their monthly offshoot to the quarterly magazine. True Story is a 5-10,000-word stand-alone piece in chapbook or digital form. It’s pretty rad. In this episode we talk about what makes the green-lit pieces pop and what the rejected pieces have in common, and also some of the goodies you can expect with a pledge. I hope after listening to this you’ll head over to the Kickstarter campaign and pledge some hard-earned dough so they can keep doing the work they’re doing on True Story. Full disclosure, I don’t get any kickbacks of any kind. What a guy. Though, it would be nice if you shared the episode and even left a nice review over on iTunes to help validate the podcast so I can keep doing this thing. I’d hate for the business office to come down and slam the door shut on this enterprise. Keep the reviews coming so I can keep the doors open at CNFHQ. Links and show notes are available at brendanomeara.com.

Elizabeth Rush told me, “I’m just a mule. I just show up every day and climb very, very slowly up that mountain.” What’s up, CNFers?! Hope you’re having a CNFin’ good week. It’s the Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak with the world’s best artists about creating works of nonfiction: leaders from narrative journalism, memoir, essay, radio, and documentary film and try to tease out their stories, habits, and routines so that you can apply their tools of mastery in your own work. This week I welcome Elizabeth Rush to the CNFHQ. Elizabeth’s latest essay “Something Like Vertigo” appeared in Issue 64 of Creative Nonfiction and I wanted to talk to her about it. In this episode you’ll hear about: Her working in pie shops The importance of planning and deconstructing the end goal by working backward Pitching Poetry Her “aha!” moment And how telling true stories got her out of her own head And of course before we get to that I want to say thanks. Thanks for listening. Thanks for leaving reviews. Sometimes when I listen to other podcasts I get the impression that the hosts feel like it’s we the listener who is lucky to hear them. I want to flip that around and say what a privilege it is to make this podcast for you. It’s my great pleasure to bring this to you every week. But for now, if you get any value from this, anything at all, please share it with a friend and leave a nice review on iTunes. They keep adding up and they mean greater visibility and greater reach. Let’s keep building them up and get to triple digits. It starts with you and it takes under a minute to leave a short one, a little longer if you put some elbow grease into it. Entirely up to you, friends. Want show notes? Visit brendanomeara.com.

Erica Westly, this week's guest, says, “I try to picture myself telling the story to someone at the bus stop." It's the Creative Nonfiction Podcast where I speak to the world’s best artists about creating works of nonfiction. Leaders in the world of narrative journalism, memoir, essay, radio, and documentary film share their tools and tricks with you so you can improve your own work. Today I’m happy to introduce you to Erica Westly, @westlyer on Twitter, a freelance journalist based out of Chicago. She’s also the author of Fastpitch: The Untold History of Softball and the Women Who Made the Game. It is published by Touchstone. We talk a lot about Erica’s career moves and pivots, how she worked through the titanic research effort she did on the book, and also how the book was kind of her last-ditch try at writing true stories. But before we get to that I want to thank the 19 folks who have left five-star ratings and reviews of the podcast. That’s incredibly generous and kind. Just last night, in a span of five minutes, I left reviews for Tim Ferriss, Chase Jarvis, Brian Koppelman, three of my favorite interviewers, on iTunes. They don’t need my help, but if I’m going to ask y’all for reviews, I better be leaving reviews too. Let’s keep adding to the total because the more we get, the more visible the podcast will be, and the more people we can reach so that we’re empowering a community of people eager to do this type of creative work, to tell true stories that connect us. Erica grew up in North Carolina, studied dance, but pivoted to sciences, and ultimate journalism, something that finally clicked for her. We pick up the conversation where she feels most engaged in the creative process.

“You have to live a life in order to tell stories," says Matthew Mercier on this week's episode of The Creative Nonfiction Podcast. Hello, CNFers, I’m Brendan O’Meara and this is The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak to the world’s best artists about creating works of nonfiction, leaders in the worlds of narrative journalism, memoir, essay, radio, and documentary film to tease out tactics and routines to inspire you and your work. I love it, baby, today we’ve got Matthew Mercier for Episode 69, who wrote a great essay in Creative Nonfiction about HIP, high-intensity practice, and we dig into that. We also talk a great deal about the power of spoken word performances as he has performed stories for The Moth. There’s a lot of great stuff we unpack, so I hope you’ll hang out with us. The reviews and ratings keep coming in and I just want to extend a heart-felt thank you. Please keep them coming. I’ve been leaving more and more on podcasts I love, even ones that quote-unquote don’t need the reviews because you can’t ask for them if you’re not willing to dole them out. What kind of monster do you think I am? Please share this episode with a friend, leave a review if you have 60 seconds, and head on over to brendanomeara.com for a toe-tappin’ good time. There’s a monthly newsletter there worth your time, I promise. Promotional support for The Creative Nonfiction Podcast is provided by Hippocampus Magazine. Now in its fifth year, Hippocampus publishes creative nonfiction essays and just completed its third annual conference, Hippocamp in lovely Lancaster, PA. Be sure to check out the website, hippocampusmagazine.com, for submission guidelines, but also to read the wonderful work being done. Hippocampus Magazine, memorable creative nonfiction. Feel good? Let’s do the show!

"After you're in it for a while and you actually become better, you realize how bad you are," says Peter Brown Hoffmeister. It's The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak with the world’s best artists about creating works of nonfiction, leaders in the worlds of narrative journalism, memoir, essay, radio, and documentary film, where I tease out their stories and habits in the hopes that you can apply some of their tools and tricks to your own work. Episode 68 is with author Peter Brown Hoffmeister, be sure to give him a follow on all the socials: @pbhoffmeister on Twitter and at Peter Brown Hoffmeister on Facebook. He’s the author of the memoir The End of Boys, and his latest novel, Too Shattered for Mending, published by Random House, just published. In this episode we talk about the power of failure, being able to compartmentalize various tasks to get the work done, the regenerative nature of getting outdoors, the toxicity of competing with other artists, and some key tricks that Pete uses to sharpen his writing. Things are hoppin’ over here at CNF HQ, so I ask that you please leave a nice review over on iTunes and share this episode with a buddy, someone you think can benefit from it. We’re all a relay team. Pass the baton. Show notes at the website, brendanomeara.com, as well as an easy sign up sheet for my monthly newsletter that gives you my monthly book recommendations as well as what you may have missed in the world of The Creative Nonfiction Podcast. Once a month. No spam. Can’t beat it.