The Riff

Hi.

What better way to procrastinate than to write this monthly rager …

Before I ultimately get to the riff on composting words, I’m torn as to how best to talk about a work or a WIP without detracting from the work itself. Should there be mystery? When people overshare their “process” I kinda roll my eyes. Like, just show me the baby.

But then I try my best to put myself in the shoes of my 28-year-old self, or my 33-year-old self, and that dude loved to hear how his heroes tackled the work. He didn’t use it to procrastinate (yeah, he did). He learned some things. Sure, he could lose himself in the habits of others in a naked show of ambition (that has since withered and more or less died on the vine). I do pity his desperation and wish he just wrote more queries and stopped doubting himself every hour of every day and shaming himself for needing to stock vegetables, fit people for running shoes, landscape, work retail, sell wine all while saying, your heroes and peers never had to do this. They had cover stories, 1099s, and blue checkmarks; what do you have?

All that is to say, does anyone care about an author’s process? Or — gulp — mine? Sorry … I threw up in my mouth …

While finally reading what I’ve actually written (here’s the riff, BTW), I have an open doc riding shotgun titled “COMPOST FILE.” Anything I drastically cut gets dropped into the compost file. What I love about that metaphor is we take our discards and throw them in a dark tumble bin or pile and let them rot. Compost is very much alive; these aren’t dead scraps. They are transforming into humus. Fact is, what you discard might be of use … someday. It might be a future essay. It might be find its way back into the main manuscript. Or it might not. Let it rot!

Since you’ve discarded some sentences, or paragraphs into a drawer or file, you continue to learn and mature and grow and develop. You keep on writing. You keep on doing your thing because, dammit, you just can’t fucking help yourself, ya sick, basta’d. Then you might take a look at the compost pile and things have broken down and are seen anew. Like actual compost, this can be used to nourish a garden.

And, please, add some damn paper or dry leaves unless you want a putrid, nitrogenous sewer to reckon with.

Energy levels might be at an all-time low, but this rager always goes up to 11!

The Books

1 . Stay True: A Memoir by Hua Hsu. This memoir, I loved it, because now we’re seeing memoirs come out from dudes and dudettes who came of age in the 90s, and my late-Gen-X heart is loving it. Plus, it’s a great book about a friendship.

2 . How to Break Up with Your Phone by Catherine Price. Ever notice that when you leave your phone outside the room you’re in, things kinda just … feel calmer? (If there are Oreos in the house, I will sniff those fuckers out and eat them so they’re gone. I know. I’m a monster and have no restraint with paralyzing body dysmorphia.) Maybe that’s just me. The phone is almost like someone reading over your shoulder. That terrible presence hovering over you.

3 . The Swans of Harlem: Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and Their Reclamation of Groundbreaking History by Karen Valby

4 . 1000 Words: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round by Jami Attenberg. For your DIY MFA shelf. When will the CNF Pod be turned into a book? Hmmm?

The Other Stuff

5 . Michael Lewis talking about writing, grief, etc. Some key insights into how he chooses book topics: it’s all about character.

6 . To get on podcasts, create a media it (just not mine). I don’t look at media kits that are sent my way by authors or publicists. I find them useless. Maybe it’s the journalist in me, but I don’t like being told what you want to talk about. I had a fruitful discussion about it on Threads (I’ve since deleted my threads and replies related the conversation. I delete what I say after a week.) But for the lazy podcast host, I can see the utility of a media kit.

7 . The long fall of Sports Illustrated heavy. Bryan Curtis is a brilliant media critic, and here’s his riff on the death blow to SI.

8 . Battery drain, a social media revelation.

9 . Katia Savchuk caught up with David Grann about breaking into narrative nonfiction.

10 . There’s a better way to grind your coffee.

11 . RIP Jon Franklin, author of Writing for Story, and a mentor to many.

ICYMI: The Past Month of CNF Pod

Episode 397: Leah Sottile Riffs on Kurt Vonnegut’s Rules on Writing

Now in Paperback: Matt Bell Refuses to be Done, Dammit

Now in Paperback: Howard Bryant says ‘Everybody Gets Forgotten’

Episode 398: Emily Sohn Explores the Complicated Legacy of Virginia Kraft

Support the podcast

If you have a few bucks to spare, Patreon is where it’s at. I’ve started a series of “threads” that start with a little video by me then prompting you to talk amongst yourselves. Any tier! Patreon.com/cnfpod

Free ways to support the show? Kind reviews on Apple Podcasts help validate the show for the wayward CNFer.

In fact, I’ve reinstated the written review for coaching deal. Write a review, take a screenshot when it publishes, and then send me a sample of your work of up to (but not more, please) 2,000 words. This is about $100 value. I go all in, man, all in. Can be a pitch, or part of an essay or book. If you need a little peek into the BO experience, this is a great chance. All it takes is a moment of your time.

And, as always, linking up to the show and sharing it with your writer pals is the best way to keep it alive, relevant, and gives it the best shot at growing a bit.

Thanks for reading, CNFers.

Stay wild,

b.r.o.