Ep 197: Linda Holmes

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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