"I love talking with people. I also like that process of trying to shape messy reality into some kind of story, or that moment when you're alone with your notes, and you're trying to figure out how to organize it, and how to bend it into something that works as a story that will carry readers. That's the probably that's the kind of calmest moment for me," says Matthew Wolfe, author of Fires in the Night: The Earth Liberation Front, the FBI, and Secret History of Eco-Sabotage.

Hey, CNFers, another LIVE podcast recording, this at Hodgepodge Books & Taps in Eugene, where I spoke to author and journalist Matthew Wolfe and about the art and craft of telling true stories. Pretty great. I love bringing my rig to places and gigging the podcast. This was a standing-room only event and they sold out of books, and two kegs were kicked. Is it the CNF Pod effect? You tell me.

Matthew was on the show last year when he had an Atavist story so I HAD to talk to him, haha, but he reached out to me several weeks ago wondering if I’d be willing to interview him as part of a book event and I was like, I know a venue and we’ll make it a podcast. HIs book is Fires in the Night: The Earth Liberation Front, the FBI, and a Secret History of Eco-Sabotage. It’s published by Viking.

I cut out the Q&A portion of this because you couldn’t hear the question and I wasn’t assertive enough to repeat the question into the mic. I’ll be better about that in the future, but also, that’s the ephemeral part of the live experience: part of why we attend live events is because it’s here and then it isn’t.

So in this live podcast, Matt and I talk about:

The ledger of invisible debts
Asking questions in a stakeless way
How Matt interviews
Shaping messy realities
How research is like cooking
Broad stroke outlining
Writing through quotes
Why he’s still drawn to this kind of work
Competing with the phone
And the blood, flesh, and messiness of human existence

Do enjoy.

Episode 536: The Blood, Flesh, and Messiness of Human Existence with Matthew Wolfe

The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O'Meara

Episode 536: The Blood, Flesh, and Messiness of Human Existence with Matthew Wolfe