Hey CNFers,

Comin’ in hot from … Substack … yeah, baby … I’m a Substackah now. Grab a Dunkin, a crullah, and have a seat. No, not April Fools.

This changes nothing! As the URL says, we’re raging against the algorithm!

OK-but-listen …

This will forever and always be free. I understand Substack encourages paid options. That’s how it gets its cut. I don’t want to do that here. But I will lean on you come pre-order time for The Gift. I might open up comments1. I might do Q&As2 about writing, craft, Metallica, podcasting, platform, donuts. Usually these become “paid” things for other creators, but, again, I’d rather you pre-order multiple copies of the The Gift than have you pay for this newsletter.

Given this pre-amble, I won’t waste your time with my usual essay about … whatever gripes that I try to turn into motivation.

No matter the platform, this newsletter starts here and goes up to 11!

Oh! and one other thing. This week, I was a finalist for The New Yorker cartoon caption contest. Voting closes tomorrow, so I’d love your vote to see if I can win this thing! It’s the only way I’ll be published by The New Yorker.

The Books

1. Wanderlust: An Eccentric Explorer, An Epic Journey, A Lost Age by Ried Mitenbuler. A great adventure tale of Peter Freuchen, someone who didn’t want to live an ordinary life.

2. Sleepwalk with Me and Other Painfully True Stories by Mike Birbiglia. The problem with books written by comedians is … wait for it … the constant need to be funny. Go figure! This book is at its best when it’s not jokey. Birbigs is the writer/director of one my favorite movies in Don’t Think Twice. He is hilarious and I love his stand up/one-man shows, but when he tugs at your heart is when he really shines. Read his advice for creative people here.

3. How to be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur. Do you love The Office, Parks and Recreation, Rutherford Falls, Brooklyn 99, and The Good Place? Schur wrote for The Office and created the other four shows, the latter being a comedy about moral philosophy. Does that give you an idea of his skill as a writer and storyteller? How to be Perfect is basically the moral playbook for being a better person, but also a look into the ethos behind The Good Place, a masterful show.

4. The Longest Race: Inside the Secret World of Abuse, doping, and Deception on Nike’s Elite Running Team by Kara Goucher with Mary Pilon. Lauren Fleshman got the jump on Goucher earlier this year with Good for a Girl. Fleshman, to her credit, wrote the book herself. Goucher has Mary Pilon as her co-writer/ghost writer.

The Rest

5. Twitter is dying (!). Rage tip: Social media platforms have expiration dates. It does you little good to “master” a platform. Master the timeless: your craft. A permission-based asset. Your website. Paper football.

6. James Victore On Drinking.

7. Writes Roy Peter Clark, “Draft earlier than you think you can.”

8. I’ve been journaling regularly since I was 16, so 26 years. And part of my beef with journaling — at least for me — is that it’s largely negative and has a tendency to imprint those thoughts, not purge them3. So I found this thing about toxic journaling interesting. But if you don’t write whatever’s on your mind and/or sugar-coat your feels, are you being honest? I’ll keep writing neg, friend, but try to find a way to turn it into clean, renewable energy.

9. I’ve been using this mouse by Anker that turns your mouse hand that is classically flat 90 degrees clockwise and it has really helped with irritation I feel in my wrist, call it pre-carpal tunnel syndrome. In cataloging hundreds and hundreds of articles, I found I needed a better mouse. Loving this one. Takes a little getting used to, but I dig it, friend.4

10. Great interview with Robert Trujillo, Metallica’s bassist. I’m pretty lukewarm on the four songs my favorite band has released ahead of the new album, which drops April 14. That said, I’m hearing some really nice grooves from Trujillo. Plus, he’s something of a mercenary in the band despite being the longest tenured of the three Metallica bassists (Cliff, Jason(also a mercenary), Rob). Rob marches in lockstep with the Metallica corporate message and is a good soldier and, IMO, along with Kirk Hammett, the sanity in the band.

11. “The game of ‘what if you put this next to this’,” says Phoebe Waller-Bridge.5

Support the podcast

If you have a few bucks to spare, Patreon is where it’s at. I’m trying to sweeten the pot for patrons, but everyone seems pretty content just by chipping in a few bucks. No complaints there! No matter, I’ll keep trying to offer any goodies I can think of that’ll show my appreciation for that support. Patreon.com/cnfpod

Free ways to support the show? Kind reviews on Apple Podcasts help validate the show for the wayward CNFer. And, as always, linking up to the show and sharing it with your writer pals.

Thanks for reading, CNFers. I hope this Substack experience wasn’t too disruptive.

Stay wild,

b.r.o.