The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O'Meara

Latest Episodes:

Episode 149: Anika Fajardo—Writing is About Communicating Apr 26, 2019

Show notes

"Part of me thinks nobody should write a memoir," says Anika Fajardo, @anikawrites.

Anika Fajardo, author of Magical Realism for Nonbelievers, joined me for a nice conversation about her late-blooming journey through writing. She thinks writing is about community and connection and writers need to be submitting work.

Be sure to keep the conversation going on Twitter @BrendanOMeara and @CNFPod.

Thanks to Goucher College's MFA in Nonfiction and Bay Path University's MFA in Creative Nonfiction.

Episode 148—Jericho Brown on Discipline, Burpees, and How Poets Are a Special Kind of Nerd Apr 19, 2019

Show notes

"I don't have destinations in mind. I always have experiences in mind," says the poet Jericho Brown. (@jerichobrown)

Today I welcome the award-winning poet Jericho Brown to the show, whose latest collection of poems The Tradition just released. It is published by Copper Canyon Press.

We talk about his committment to phsyical fitness, experiences over destinations, his new collection of poems, that time he almost died of the flu, and how he invented the poetic structure known as the duplex.

Support for this show comes from Goucher College's MFA in Nonfiction and Bay Path University's MFA in Creative Nonfiction.

Episode 147—Meredith May on What Cracked Open Her Memoir, Nature as Parent, and Bees, Lots of Bees Apr 12, 2019

Show notes

"The pleasure of reading a book is that it's reciprocal," says Meredith May (@meredithmaysf).

Meredith May, author of The Honey Bus: A Memoir of Loss, Courage, and a Girl Saved by Bees, stopped by the show.

The show is made possible by Goucher College's MFA in Nonfiction, Bay Path University's MFA in Creative Nonfiction and my monthly newsletter!

Keep the conversation going on Twitter @BrendanOMeara and @CNFPod. Instagram is @cnfpod.

Subscribe to the show and thanks for listening!

Episode 146—Austin Kleon: Steal, Show, and Keep Going! Apr 05, 2019

Show notes

"Maybe the world will aways be crazy, and creative work will always be hard. Then the question becomes: How do you keep going?" says Austin Kleon.

This is The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak to badass writers, filmmakers, producers, and podcasters about the art and craft of telling true stories.

Austin Kleon is the author of Newspaper Blackout, Steal Like an Artist, Show Your Work, The Steal Like an Artist Journal, and his latest book is Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad.

Keep the conversation going on Twitter @BrendanOMeara and @CNFPod.

Thanks to our sponsors in Goucher College's MFA in Nonfiction and Bay Path University's MFA in Creative Nonfiction for helping make today's show possible.

Episode 145—Investigative Reporter Scott Eden Talks Structure, Sprawl, and Picking Up the Phone Mar 29, 2019

Show notes

"At what point are you taxing the reader?" asks Scott Eden, "knowing when the reader has had enough."

That’s Scott Eden, investigative reporter for ESPN the Magazine and THIS is The Creative Nonfiction Podcast.

Subscribe at iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher to get this delivered to your feed on every Friday. Follow me on Twitter @BrendanOMeara and @CNFPod and follow the show on Instagram @cnfpod.

So Scott Eden is here. He’s an intrepid reporter and we got to dig deep into his process and deconstructed how he wrote his piece on the former NBA referee Tim Donaghy, who gambled on the games he reffed and essentially fixed games.

Thanks to Goucher College’s MFA in Nonfiction and Bay Path Unviersity’s MFA in Creative Nonfiction for making this show possible.

Be sure to head over to brendanomeara.com for show notes and to subscribe to my monthly newsletter. Sign up and get the next one on the first of the month. Once a month. No spam. Can’t beat it.

Episode 144—Vlad Yudin and the Independent Mindset Mar 22, 2019

Show notes

"If I fail, I want to fail because of me. If we succeed, I want to succeed because of us," says Vlad Yudin.

Vlad Yudin, director and filmmaker, stopped by the show to talk about his bodybuilding documentaries and why he left Russia to come to the United States.

This episode is brought to you by Goucher College's MFA in Nonfiction, Bay Path University's MFA in Creative Nonfiction, and my monthly newsletter.

Keep the conversation going on Twitter @CNFPod and @BrendanOMeara.

Episode 143—Blake J. Harris Talks Virtual Reality, Facebook, and His Unlikely Path to Nonfiction Writing Mar 15, 2019

Show notes

"I want to do right by these people. I want to tell a story that honors the stuff they did," says Blake J. Harris.

Blake J. Harris, author of The History of the Future and Console Wars came by the show to talk about his latest book on virtual reality, Oculus, and Facebook.

Thanks to Goucher College's MFA in Nonfiction and Bay Path University's MFA in Creative Nonfiction for sponsoring today's show.

Keep the conversation going by joining me @BrendanOMeara and the show @CNFPod on Twitter.

Visit brendanomeara.com for show notes to this and many, many more shows!

Episode 142—Jeff Goins on Amateurism, Clarity, and the Myth of the Starving Artist Mar 08, 2019

Show notes

"You've gotta find new ways to have fun in old things," says Jeff Goins. It’s The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I talk to badass writers, producers, and filmmakers about the art and craft of telling true stories, how they got to where they are, how the cope with crippling self-doubt, and the routines they enlist to get the work done. I’m your host Brendan O’Meara and today’s episode is a tight 30, man. When you get somebody like Jeff Goins (@JeffGoins) on the show, author of a quintillion blog posts and several books, including Real Artists Don’t Starve, you adhere to the time allotment. So this was a tight window, but I think it’s packed with great stuff. Amazing what you can get done in a tight window if you focus and don’t dither. This episode was made possible by Goucher College's MFA in Nonfiction and Bay Path University's MFA in Creative Nonfiction.

Episode 141—Evan Ratliff on Garbage-ing, Legwork in Pitching, and 'The Mastermind' Mar 01, 2019

Show notes

"My system is, it's okay not to have a system," says Evan Ratliff, @ev_rat on Twitter.

This week I spoke to Evan Ratliff, who puts the bad in badass. Yes, that means I put the ass in badass. Neither here nor there.

Evan came on the show to talk about his career as a freelance journalist and, most recently, his epic new book titled The Mastermind: Drugs. Empire. Murder. Betrayal. It’s a book that combines all the tools of the trade a master reporter needs to tell the globetrotting story

That’s right, this is The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show were I talk to badass writers, filmmakers, and producers about the art and craft of telling true stories. I try and unpack their origins and how they go about the work so you can apply those tools of mastery to your own work. I’m your host, Brendan O’Meara.

So before we get to Evan, you’ll want to find a way to subscribe to this show. I make it easy, man. Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher. I think that’s enough. If you find the show entertaining or informative, share it across your platform with your pals. You are the social network. Rage against the algorithm, rrrrage. If you’re feeling generous of course you can leave a review on iTunes, but I’m jsut as happy with you sharing it or even emailing the show creative nonfiction podcast at gmail dot com.

Head over to brendanomeara.com for show notes and to sign up for my monthly newsletter. The latest one went out today. You’ll find book recommendations and maybe a link to a story written about me in the Register-Guard here in Eugene, OR. I always wanted to be a writer worth writing about. But I guess, for the time, I’m a podcaster worth writing about. It’s pretty cool. Check it out. Newsletter, once a month. No spam. Can’t beat it.

Okay, so Evan Ratliff, @ev_rat on Twitter, came by the show. His latest book The Mastermind is a masterpiece of true crime writing. Evan is also the founder of The Atavist Magazine, a co-host of the Longform Podcast, and a long-time freelance writer. This was fun. He came to play ball, which not every guest does so I’m thrilled that he took the time to jam with me.

Here’s my conversation with Evan Ratliff. Let’s kick it!

What else? Oh, yes, keep the conversation going on Twitter by pinging me @BrendanOMeara and @CNFPod. Wanna barf? The show has an Instagram page now: @cnfpod. And, as always, you can like the show on Facebook. You have no excuse for not seeing the show out there in the world.

Thanks to Goucher College's Masters in Nonfiction for sponsoring the show!

Episode 140—James Carl Nelson on What It Takes to be a Writer, Jumping into the Action, and 'The Polar Bear Expedition' Feb 22, 2019

Show notes

“If you’re gonna be a writer, you gotta sweat,” says James Carl Nelson. James Carl Nelson, author of The Polar Bear Expedition: The Heroes of America’s Forgotten Invasion of Russia, 1918-1919, came by the show. The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I talk to badass writers, filmmakers, and producers about the art and craft of telling true stories. It’s here we learn how they became the artists they are, the struggles they deal with, and the routines that allow them to get the work done, so you can apply those tools of mastery to your own work. Let’s keep the conversation going on Twitter. Tag me and the show @BrendanOMeara and @CNFPod to let me know what you liked. And head over to brendanomeara.com for show notes to this show and the previous 139 shows and to subscribe to my monthly newsletter. I share my book recommendations and what you might have missed from the world of the podcast. You don’t want to miss out. Once a month. No spam. Can’t beat it.

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