"And then this person said, 'Hey, you know, this needs to be, like, more weird or less weird, but it's in this kind of odd place that isn't working.' And I was like, she's so, right," says Jaydra Johnson, @jaydranicole, and author of Low: Notes on Art & Trash (Fonograf).

Lots of good stuff in this episode. We talk about:

• Luck
• Growing up poor
• Dialing up the weirdness
• And binge-buying books on eBay

Podcast Specific Substack

Pre-order The Front Runner

Promotional Sponsor: The Power of Narrative Conference. Use CNF15 at checkout for a 15% discount.

Newsletter: Rage Against the Algorithm

Show notes: brendanomeara.com

Support: Patreon.com/cnfpod

"What I was fortunate enough to get exposed to very early in my career, and I really believe is now the way to go, which is the nature of editing as thinking," says Poynter Institute president Neil Brown.

Neil has spent more than forty years as a reporter and editor, and he just wrapped up his tenure on the Pulitzer Prize Board. He's one of the more nimble minds in journalism and a champion of the editor/writer dynamic.

In this conversation, Neil riffs on

• Editing as thinking
• The late writing coach Don Murray
• How the front end is everything
• Respecting reader detection
• And Interviewing as a skill, among lots more great stuff.

Podcast Specific Substack

Pre-order The Front Runner

Promotional Sponsor: The Power of Narrative Conference. Use CNF15 at checkout for a 15% discount.

Newsletter: Rage Against the Algorithm

Show notes: brendanomeara.com

Support: Patreon.com/cnfpod

Neko Case is best known for her career as a musical performing artist and as a founding member of The New Pornographers, but her debut memoir The Harder I Fight the More I Love You (Grand Central) is all the evidence we need to see that she's got the chops for narrative.

Podcast Specific Substack

Pre-order The Front Runner

Promotional Sponsor: The Power of Narrative Conference. Use CNF15 at checkout for a 15% discount.

Newsletter: Rage Against the Algorithm

Show notes: brendanomeara.com

Support: Patreon.com/cnfpod

Will McGrath often thinks he's a phony, a fake writer, a fake journalist. But he isn't. He's very much real, and his piece for The Believer, "American Boys," chronicles the season and the lives of a group of young basketball players. It harkens back to Darcy Frey's brilliant book The Last Shot.

Podcast Specific Substack: https://substack.com/@creativenonfictionpodcast

Pre-order The Front Runner

Promotional Sponsor: The Power of Narrative Conference. Use CNF15 at checkout for a 15% discount.

Newsletter: Rage Against the Algorithm

Show notes: brendanomeara.com

Support: Patreon.com/cnfpod

Allegra Rosenberg became obsessed with polar exploration narratives during the pandemic. She soon came across the journals of Harry Pennell and learned of his love for Edward Atkinson. Set amongst the backdrop of the South Pole and the looming possibility of WWI, Allegra weaves a brilliant and tragic story.

Pre-order The Front Runner

Promotional Sponsor: The Power of Narrative Conference. Use CNF15 at checkout for a 15% discount.

Newsletter: Rage Against the Algorithm

Show notes: brendanomeara.com

Support: Patreon.com/cnfpod

Chandlor Henderson is the very definition of a multi-hypenate: a writer, editor, comic book writer, filmmaker, and podcaster.

This conversation was recorded live at Gratitude Brewing as part of a quarterly series between the Oregon Writers Colony and The Creative Nonfiction Podcast. In this conversation we talk about his journey to Oregon from the East Coast, to focus on skills, and how graphic novels are a great vector for storytelling.

Pre-order The Front Runner

Promotional Sponsor: The Power of Narrative Conference. Use CNF15 at checkout for a 15% discount.

Newsletter: Rage Against the Algorithm

Show notes: brendanomeara.com

Support: Patreon.com/cnfpod

If Randy Blythe's first book, Dark Days, was about accountability, his second book, Just Beyond the Light, is about perspective.

In essays ranging from the premature death of a young fan to surfing waves to revering his beloved grandmother, Randy talks about art and music and the messiness of being a creative person. 

Visit randyblythe.com to learn more and to see  dates for his spoken-word tour in support of his latest book.

Pre-order The Front Runner

Sponsor: The Power of Narrative Conference. Use CNF15 at checkout for a 15% discount.

Newsletter: Rage Against the Algorithm

Show notes: brendanomeara.com

Support: Patreon.com/cnfpod

Lindsay Jill Roth was told by a tutor at a young age that she'd become a writer one day. At the time she laughed, but it came to be. Lindsay is the author of the novel What Pretty Girls Are Made Of and her latest is Romances & Practicalities: A Love Story (Maybe Yours) in 250 Questions.

Lindsay talks about the writing of the book, structuring it, and how working in television and radio informed the storytelling mechanics of the book.

Pre-order The Front Runner

Sponsor: The Power of Narrative Conference. Use CNF15 at checkout for a 15% discount.

Newsletter: Rage Against the Algorithm

Show notes: brendanomeara.com

Support: Patreon.com/cnfpod

John Eisenberg grew up surrounded by books. It was no surprise then that he wanted to write them one day. He has written eleven, his latest being Rocket Men: The Black Quarterbacks Who Revolutionized Pro Football.

Pre-order The Front Runner

Sponsor: The Power of Narrative Conference. Use CNF15 at checkout for a 15% discount.

Newsletter: Rage Against the Algorithm

Show notes: brendanomeara.com

Support: Patreon.com/cnfpod

Drew Philp went to Ethiopia to report on the front lines of what was likely a genocide that largely went ignored. His story, "There Will Be No Mercy," is for The Atavist Magazine.

Pre-order The Front Runner

Sponsor: The Power of Narrative Conference. Use CNF15 at checkout for a 15% discount.

Newsletter: Rage Against the Algorithm

Show notes: brendanomeara.com

Support: Patreon.com/cnfpod