First Draft Episode #194: Linda Holmes

Linda Holmes, pop-culture critic at NPR and co-host of the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, is out with her debut author of Evvie Drake Starts Over. I loved what Linda had to say about how practicing appellate law helped hone her critical writing; getting used to listening to her own voice; how she manages anxiety and depression, and the difficulty in even acknowledging that she wanted to write a novel.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• I got the good NPR shirt, and the soup-sized mug, when I visited Linda to interview her at NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C.

• Linda’s interview on The Hilarious World of Depression podcast

• Television Without Pity, which became Previously.tv, which recently became PrimerTimer.com!

• The Amazing Race was on the top of my mind when thinking about Television Without Pity

• Again With This, a podcast hosted by Sarah D. Bunting and Tara Ariano, two of the founders of Television Without Pity, who do episode-by-episode recaps of Beverly Hills 90210

• Stephen Thompson, one of Linda’s dear friends and co-workers, worked at The Onion before joining NPR

• Linda’s writing was formerly hosted on the Monkey See blog at NPR, but that blog was sunsetted in favor of expanding the Pop Culture Happy Hour brand

• Dancing with the Stars is now discussed on NPR, and that is largely due to Linda’s influence

• All Songs Considered, the music-oriented NPR show and podcast that served as the inspiration for Pop Culture Happy Hour

• Talk of the Nation, a live call-in show which had Linda on as a guest. She loved the spontaneity of participating in a live radio show

• Linda had every intention of writing a book for National Novel Writing Month, alas her apartment flooded

• Chuck Knoblauch throwing a baseball into the stands, hitting Keith Olbermann’s mother

• If the yips interests you as much as it interests Linda, check out Field of Fear, a 30 for 30 mini-documentary

• Before Sunrise is a movie that’s mostly talking, and is amazing, but Linda wanted Evvie Drake to have more action than that

• Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a TV show that brings Linda joy and is fun, but also is warm-spirited and compassionate

• Audie Cornish gets a break from being a very serious NPR news reporter when she guests on Pop Culture Happy Hour

• Linda uses Matt Damon growing potatoes in the film The Martian as a parable for the importance of art and culture in our lives

• Sarah Burnes at The Gernert Company reps Linda (hear Sarah Burnes’ episode of First Draft with Sarah Enni here)

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Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

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