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121 Plays5 years ago

Um, what? No interview this week?

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Transcript

Introduction to the Podcast

00:00:01
Speaker
Hey, happy 2020, CNF-ers. As you know, this is the Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I talk to badass writers about the art and craft of telling true stories and try to tease out their origins and the way they go about the work so you can apply those tools of mastery to your own work.

Explaining Absence of Interviews

00:00:20
Speaker
Get a little bit better at this thing we do. You might be wondering what the riff.
00:00:32
Speaker
Why isn't there an interview in this slot right now? And I gotta tell ya, I was a little hard on myself about there not being one. This usually doesn't happen as you know. We show up week after week with a great CNF-er who shares
00:00:47
Speaker
her wisdom about what she's learned, the struggles she's undergone and overcome to do great work. And this happens at times. People cancel on me or miss their appointment and my scrambling to fill the time slot comes up empty.
00:01:04
Speaker
in this creative vacuum that is the time in and around Christmas and New Year's, it's often a losing battle. So I could view it as a loss that there is no interview or take this opportunity to share a little insight and maybe wish you some good, good luck.

Upcoming Interviews Teaser

00:01:23
Speaker
ahead of the new year so my advice to you it's not like there's no interviews there's nearly 200 of them so maybe go check out some of the ones that have accumulated in your feed I know they have there's no shortage a new interview will be here next week I promise
00:01:39
Speaker
This one with Christina Gaddy. She's got a great book I'm very excited to talk to her and to share that with you We've got some extra exciting ones coming down the pipeline as well Tim O'Brien has a new book out He of the things they carried that guy Pamela Koloff Rachel Aviv just to name a few these are some of the Titans coming down the pipe in 2020

Listener Feedback Request

00:02:05
Speaker
Also, in my effort to better serve you, the listener, I'd love to know what I could be doing better to address your needs as a creator in this genre. Do you like origin questions? Do you like the tactical stuff? Would you like things to stay the same? Am I hitting the right beats that make you energized about your own work? That's the point, right? This podcast is for you. I make this for you guys.
00:02:31
Speaker
Without you there is no CNF, there's no CNF pod and that's what it's all about. I want to make a show worth sharing and it's only worth sharing if you are able to add those valuable insights to your cart and check out all the better.
00:02:47
Speaker
for it. So feel free, please email the show Creative Nonfiction Podcast at gmail.com or Brendan at BrendanOmero.com with your insights. It doesn't have to be long, but as the show enters its eighth year, hard to believe there, I want to make sure I haven't lost touch with the people who matter most. And of course, that is you.

Bukowski Quote on Writing

00:03:09
Speaker
But this is also a time for me to share a great quote from the legendary Charles Bukowski about writing, and it goes to the heart of what I think it means to be a writer and an artist in this day and age. He writes,
00:03:24
Speaker
too many writers write for the wrong reasons. They want to get famous, or they want to get rich, or they want to get laid by the girls with blue bells in their hair. When everything works best, it's not because you chose writing, but because writing chose you. It's when you're mad with it. It's when it's stuffed in your ears, your nostrils, under your fingernails. It's when there's no hope but that.
00:03:48
Speaker
He goes on and on and then he says, it was cancer madness and it was never work or planned or part of a school. It was. That's all. We work too hard. We try too hard. Don't try. Don't work. It's there. It's been looking right at us, aching to kick out the closed womb. It's all free. We needn't be told. Classes?
00:04:13
Speaker
Classes are for asses. Writing a poem is as easy as beating your meat or drinking a bottle of beer." Leave it to Bukowski to make it a little bit crude, but you get the point.

Embracing Creativity in the New Year

00:04:24
Speaker
So as we approach this new year, maybe we don't need to overthink it, right? We don't need permission from anyone.
00:04:30
Speaker
We don't need another online class from a, quote, master, who, by the way, didn't need an online class to do the work she's so famous for. If we approach the work with generosity and rigor and put our best word forward every time, then that's the victory, right? When four guys in Northern California got together and started playing heavy metal music, sure, they had dreams of going out on the road.
00:04:53
Speaker
filling arenas, but it was always about the music in that garage. Those guys give or take because one got booted out of the band and one died in a bus crash. They made it because they had always made it. We make it in this business when we decide, right? There's no arrival. You've already arrived. Malcolm Gladwell, for crying out loud, is jealous of Michael Lewis. So no matter how much you've made it, there's always another level. I think Nicholas Cage is like super jealous of Tom Cruise too. It's just like
00:05:24
Speaker
You know, it's those levels. It's levels of jealousy. And you know, you make it when you decide. So we make it when we decide to arrive. And I hope you decide right now to own it. Own the title. Own your shitty work. Because it won't be shitty for long. I wish you the best arrival in 2020 and beyond. Let's get after it this year. See you in efforts.