Hanif is appointment reading. www.newyorker.com/culture/essa...

Designing my own scorebook for baseball games. That tells you all you need to know about me.

Pitch Club will always be free, even if that means the 'stack algorithm buries the club. I don't want an algorithm spreading the word. I want the people it serves spreading the word. New one coming in May. The latest from @petecroatto.bsky.social. welcometopitchclub.substack.com/p/pete-croat...

The real question is do I read this now, or save it for the print edition?

The reality when pitching is they get rejected. Another reality is they get accepted by one editor, they leave, then it gets rejected by the new editor. This issue of Pitch Club speaks to that uncertainty and resilience. welcometopitchclub.substack.com/p/justin-hec...

I don't think a soul sees my posts here. No bigs. But if you're in Eugene on Saturday April 18, you're going to want to catch the next live recording of The Creative Nonfiction Podcast. Lidia Yuknavitch! RSVP with a free ticket! www.eventbrite.com/e/lidia-yukn...

Well, shit ...

Cool essay from Sam Jefferies.

Pink Moon edition of The Rage Against the Algorithm newsletter about my podcast turning 13. rageagainstthealgorithm.beehiiv.com/p/the-podcas...

"You have to hate how the world goes on." This sentence by Bill Finnegan in "Barbarian Days," for some reason, is my favorite sentence of all time. It's surrounded — top and bottom — by page breaks. His mother had just passed away. Maybe one day I'll write one as good.

"I almost always know the last line of my pieces of writing, even very, very long ones before I write the first line," says John McPhee on Ep. 500 of the podcast.

And here I am on a show I've listened to and learned so much from over the years. Writing can be lonely. Through The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, @brendanomeara.bsky.social has built a community. brendanomeara.com/episode-513-...

During @brendanomeara.bsky.social's CNF podcast, co-editor Laura LeBleu of Geezer Magazine had this banger: "When you broadcast on your own frequency, on your unique unrecreatable energy, then the people who want to be attuned to that sort of thing will find you."

Agent Orange Kills! About to head out to my local #nokings protest. Our fourth one, dang. Pop a Timothy Snyder pill and get after it. Be loud, be safe!

I'm getting into the life hack biz.

The new issue of Geezer Magazine is coming out soon. I have an essay in there about cast iron skillets. Trust me, it's a real humdinger. Here's my pitch for it: welcometopitchclub.substack.com/p/pitchin-fr...

This is an excellent essay by the actor Amanda Peet. Well worth your time. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

Big thanks to Amaris Castillo of @poynterinstitute.bsky.social for featuring Pitch Club. Mentions of Kim H. Cross, Justin Heckert, Tony Rehagen, and @petecroatto.bsky.social in this story. www.poynter.org/business-wor...

As a proud Irishman, I got 0% of this quiz correct, which is another kind of 100%. It's a score worthy of my people. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Great chat with a magazine legend in Tom Junod for Ep. 516 of the podcast. I hope you'll check it out: brendanomeara.com/episode-516-...

A little over a year ago, I broke down the math of my book advance for The Front Runner. It's sexy on paper, but when you break it down, reality can quickly set in. rageagainstthealgorithm.beehiiv.com/p/march-rager

Tell your friends! Tell your enemies! RSVP with a FREE ticket for a live taping of The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with LIDIA YUKNAVITCH! This will be her second time on the podcast, but first since 2020 and this will have the pulse and energy of a live event. www.eventbrite.com/e/lidia-yukn...

A purpose of the war on Iran might well be to provoke a terrorist attack inside the United States. This would provide Donald Trump with a pretext to try to cancel or “federalize” the coming Congressional elections. snyder.substack.com/p/the-desire...

I miss my boston accent.

Austin folks: moody.utexas.edu/centers/spor...

For @brendanomeara.bsky.social's "Pitch Club," I broke down my pitch for my Grantland Marvin Gaye feature and shared my mindset on pitching. The biggest thing: Learn not to care about hearing "no." If you love a story, an editor somewhere will. welcometopitchclub.substack.com/p/pete-croat...

Perhaps an odd peeve of mine: I hate, hate, hate the moment in a magazine profile where the writer and subject "go to a restaurant" and "itemize their order." I have yet to read a story where this adds anything to it, but, hey, who am I? Who. Am. I?

Tuning up a pitch, that's what Erika Hayasaki is up to: welcometopitchclub.substack.com/p/erika-hyas...

Jane Marie Chen came by the podcast to talk about her memoir "Like a Wave We Break." Check it out, friend: brendanomeara.com/episode-511-...

Had crummy day. Made a college.

Pivot to B.O.

Had a great time chatting with Jane Marie Chen, author of the #memoir Like a Wave We Break. Great talk! Listen wherever, friend.

I left The Washington Post last year, but wrote my love letter in the middle of my time there, in 2015. Everything changed, over my 1st decade there. Then everything changed again, in the decade after this was written. But there were 2 constants: the work & the people. www.mrdanzak.com/blog/10years

22 years old defector.com/carlos-alcar...

This was pretty rad to be featured. @niemanstoryboard.org doesn't make a habit of featuring jabronis. Much thanks!

Wanna win @howardbryantbooks.bsky.social new book? It's as easy as subscribing to Pitch Club on Substack.

i think this MLK day the thing to focus on is the strategic focus and tactical brilliance of the civil rights movement and the way it was laser focused on a set of achievable goals

Membership has its privileges. Just found out I won @brendanomeara.bsky.social’s Creative Nonfiction Podcast subscriber book giveaway. Thanks Brendan!

And by "ripping off," I mean "letting it rip." Not, you know, plagiarizing.

Sometimes, ripping off a pitch does the trick. I hope you'll join the club. Forever free. Read a little. Listen a little. Learn a lot.

Not sure who will actually see this, but the first live podcast of 2026 at Gratitude Brewing here in Eugene will be Jan. 25 at 1 p.m. with Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, author of Lin-Manuel Miranda: The Education of an Artist.

Check out what @glennstout.bsky.social is cooking up for 2026 down in Archer City. Get a wiggle on, friend. www.lmcmurtrylitcenter.org/workshops

Highly recommend @brendanomeara.bsky.social’s biography about legendary distance runner Steve Prefontaine. A fitting tribute to one of this country’s gritty originals. Enjoyed the appearances of such runners from my youth as Frank Shorter, Dave Worley, and Kenny Moore.

So glad you got to hang out with some of these pioneering distance runners! Thanks so much, Ray! [rate and review on amazon/goodreads :) They all help so much, and help me secure the next one.]

This essay I pitched has been accepted, but it hasn’t run yet. It’s for Geezer Magazine, a very Gen-X, print-only (yes!) magazine. And the essay should appear in Issue 2 (title TBD), that is, of course, if it doesn’t get killed. welcometopitchclub.substack.com/p/pitchin-fr...

Every time you read "sandy blonde hair," drink.

Got my work cut out.

When I was in Ketchum, ID for a few book events, I went to the Hemingway Memorial and shot a little video of the creek below the statue. It's peaceful. It's awfully nice. I put it on a loop for 10 minutes. Use it for ambient sounds. Or just to relax. youtu.be/xSItaBbcWls

Over with the Patreon Gang, we just started the Flash52 Sessions: 52 weeks of writing flash together, so Metallica's "Black Album" is basically flash metal, especially compared to their earlier catalog.

Did the demogorgons unionize and go on strike for the #strangerthings finale?