Brendan O’Meara is the host of The Creative Nonfiction Podcast. He is joining us at HippoCamp this year to share his podcasting expertise in a session called Power Up Your Network with Podcasting! He is also the author of Six Weeks in Saratoga: How Three-Year-Old Filly Rachel Alexandra Beat the Boys and Became Horse of the Year and is currently working on a memoir about his father and baseball. Brendan spoke with us about this year’s conference and how podcasts can bring new opportunities to creative nonfiction writers.
HM: Tell us a little about your involvement this year at HippoCamp. What can attendees expect from your break-out session or workshop?
BO: I’m excited to share my experience with CNF, the creative nonfiction podcast where I speak with badass writers, filmmakers, producers, and podcasters about the art and craft of telling true stories. I’ve learned so much from doing over 150 interviews and counting. I want to pass along some of that knowledge and experience from the show and maybe inspire YOU to start your own podcast. Podcasts are the new blogs.
HM: Our motto is “memorable creative nonfiction.” Tell us about one of the more recent memoirs, essay collections, or individual essays you’ve read and why it was memorable.
BO: Congratulations, Who Are You Again? by Harrison Scott Key and The Honey Bus by Meredith May are two memoirs that I can’t get enough of. The first is so funny and inspiring about the creative process and chasing your dream(s). The Honey Bus is masterfully told about a girl who was saved by bees and one special grandfather. The links below will take you to their episodes of CNF, but also link up to their books (I don’t get any kickbacks).
Congratulations, Who Are You Again?
HM: What made you decide to participate in HippoCamp this year as a speaker?
BO: The brilliant Donna Talarico reached out and asked if I’d pitch an idea, and she took it. Now I’m going to start thinking of more and more ideas because I’m not missing HippoCamp ever again.
HM: What’s going to keep you busy between now and HippoCamp?
BO: Certainly working on my session because I want it to offer value for everyone attending! I’ve been producing the CNF podcast, but also my daily micropodcast Casualty of Words, which offers a shot of creativity every day. Beyond that, I’ve been working hard on my baseball memoir The Tools of Ignorance, freelancing features and essays, and trying to land a more steady job to take pressure off the freelancing. Oh, and drinking delicious micro brews, planting my vegetable garden, sitting beside campfires, and worshiping at the feet of Metallica.
HM: Since you’ll also be attending the conference, when you’re not wearing your “speaker hat,” what are you most looking forward to learning or doing?
BO: I’ll be combing through the schedule and trying to attend as many things as possible. Shake hands, give fist bumps, hugs, etc. I want to meet some people who have been on my podcast that I have yet to meet in person (like Anika Fajardo and Ellen Johnson). This is all about community, so I want to meet people and continue the conversations we’ll have in Lancaster once we return to our home dugouts.
HM: We love introducing Lancaster to attendees. If will be your first time here, what are you looking forward to?
BO: Lancaster is some gorgeous Amish country, so I might be a sucker for some fine wood working while I’m there 🙂
HM: You will be speaking about podcasts. What should attendees know about them? Why should they start a podcast?
BO: Audio is deeply intimate and passive, though I often listen to most with a small notebook to jot down brilliant tidbits. It’s like being in the room with two people having a conversation you’d like to jump in on. Sure, podcasting is fairly technical and requires a bit more elbow grease than a regular blog (I had ZERO radio/audio experience before I started), but you should start one because there’s no better way to build and foster community, to celebrate people’s work you admire.
I started CNF because I was lonely, bitter, resentful, envious, and jealous of other writers/journalists. Those toxic feelings eventually drove me to want to be a better contributor. I wanted to have the conversations I was listening to, but nobody was knocking on my door, so I had to start it myself. I didn’t overthink it. I just started it back in 2013 and leaned in hard in 2017. It’s grown and is something people expect on CNFriday! It’s put me in contact with the titans of the genre (this did NOT happen overnight). I can hang with these badass creators. And the show serves a greater audience that might feel like it is alone and struggling and unique in that struggle. Everyone deals with it, and a podcast is a great way to deliver that experience. I always joke at the end of the show that if you can’t do, interview, but what I found is a greater sense of my own self through engaging with these amazing people. Maybe you will too.
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Thanks, Brendan, for this great advice! We’re excited to see you in person at HippoCamp and put a face to the voice behind the podcast.
And reader, you can learn more about HippoCamp 2019 and register for this year’s conference here.
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