The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O'Meara

Latest Episodes:

Now in Paperback: Susan Orlean on Writing for an Audience and the Entrepreneurial Nature of a Writing Career Nov 24, 2023

Show notes

This episode originally aired as Episode 61 on August 11, 2017.

Susan Orlean is the best selling author of The Library Book, The Orchid Thief, and Rin Tin Tin. She's a longtime staff writer for The New Yorker and you can find her on Threads @susanorlean.

In this episode, Susan talks about:

always having an audience in mind
having supreme focus
and needing to see yourself as a business person if you plan on doing this type of work

Subscribe to the podcast wherever and check out the show notes and the Rage Against the Algorithm newsletter at brendanomeara.com.

Episode 392: Damon Brown Goes from Zero to 18,000 Nov 17, 2023

Show notes

Damon Brown is an author, entrepreneur, and coach and his latest book is The Complete Bring Your Worth Collection.

In this episode, we talk about:

How he grew is YouTube channel from 0 to 18K
The BYW Collection as capstone
And how obscurity is your friend ... to a point

Support: Patreon.com/cnfpod

Show notes: brendanomeara.com

Newsletter: Rage Against the Algorithm

Social: @creativenonfictionpodcast on IG and Threads

Now in Paperback: Glenn Stout on Combining the Things You Love, Effort, and the Poem That 'Knocked Him on his Ass' Nov 10, 2023

Show notes

This episode originally aired on December 6, 2015.

Glenn Stout is a brilliant editor and writer. He's the author of Young Woman and the Sea, The Selling of the Babe, and Tiger Girl and Candy Kid.

Here, we revisit the first of his many times on the pod to talk about:

Effort
How none of this makes sense
Why we continue to tell stories
And a whole lot more!

Support: Patreon.com/cnfpod

Show notes: brendanomeara.com

Newsletter: Rage Against the Algorithm

Social: @creativenonfictionpodcast on IG and Threads

Episode 391: For the Atavist Magazine, Lily Hyde Takes Us to Ukraine Nov 03, 2023

Show notes

In "Two Thousand Miles from Home," journalist Lily Hyde chronicles the unbelievable true story of three pregnant women torn apart by war.

Lily talks about how she hates every thing she writes, struggling with the invasiveness of journalism, and how she earned the truest of her central figures.

Support: Patreon.com/cnfpod

Show notes: brendanomeara.com

Newsletter: Rage Against the Algorithm

Social: @creativenonfictionpodcast on IG and Threads

Episode 390: How Did the Pitcher Pedro Martinez Help Will Harrison's Writing? Oct 27, 2023

Show notes

Will Harrison is an instructor at the School for Visual Arts in New York City as well the author of several essays including "My Unlikely Writing Teacher: Pedro Martinez" for the New York Times Magazine.

Will talks about:

How slow of a writer he is
How voice just emerges over time
And how "pitch selection" is akin to how you vary your sentences

Support: Patreon.com/cnfpod

Show notes: brendanomeara.com

Newsletter: Rage Against the Algorithm

Sponsor: Liquid IV, promo code cnf

Social: @creativenonfictionpodcast on IG and Threads

Now in Paperback: Dinty W. Moore on the Gift of Feedback, Reading Like a Mechanic, and Patience Oct 20, 2023

Show notes

This originally aired as Episode 49 on May 19, 2017.

“The people I know who fail as writers … lack patience, stubbornness.”

Dinty W. Moore is the founder of Brevity Magazine and the author of several books including The Story Cure: A Book Doctor's Pain-Free Guide to Finishing Your Novel or Memoir.

In this episode we talk about:

Patience
Voice
Getting inspired instead of dejected by feedback
And the power of dozens of drafts

Support: Patreon.com/cnfpod

Show notes: brendanomeara.com

Newsletter: Rage Against the Algorithm

Sponsor: Liquid IV, promo code cnf

Social: @creativenonfictionpodcast on IG and Threads

Episode 388: Agency, Empathy, and the Ethics of Writing True Crime with Kim H. Cross Oct 13, 2023

Show notes

"I try to minimize harm and maximize truth," says Kim H. Cross, author of In Light of All Darkness: Inside the Polly Klaas Kidnapping and the Search for America's Child (Grand Central Publishing).

In this episode we touch on: