Uncorking a Story

This episode is the result of mistaken identity. Somehow I got it in my head that comedian Mark Schiff was in the room next to my brother’s at Memorial Sloan Kettering, a specialty hospital in New York City treating cancer. Not only does Mark live in LA and not New York, but he doesn’t have cancer—which would make a short-term residency at MSK odd to say the least. When I saw that Mark appeared on...

What do Andy Warhol and Julia Child have in common? They were both in Marilyn Moss Rockefeller’s life! Listen in as I uncork Marilyn’s unexpected journey into business, her resilience in facing challenges, her transformation from a mountain girl to CEO, and her emphasis on persistence and growth. This is one motivational episode of Uncorking a Story! Meet Marilyn Moss Rockefeller Marilyn Marilyn M...

Everything I know about the criminal justice system I learned from Law and Order. Seriously, I’ve watched so much of it I feel as if I have a JD from L&O University! Well, what do you do when the police show up at your door with a search warrant when you know you are innocent of any wrongdoing? Today’s guest, Will Young, found out the hard way that life doesn’t imitate art. Meet Will Young Will is...

Though it sounds unintuitive, experiencing grief can be a good thing. All of us suffer losses at various points during our life—it could be the loss of a loved one, the end of a relationship, or even seeing your kids go off to college. Grief often accompanies loss and my guest today, Tracee Dunblazier, is here to teach us how we can turn that grief into something positive that inspires personal gr...

I love it when conversations go to unexpected places and today’s does just that. I didn’t anticipate speaking about the passing of my brother but doing so with today’s guest, author Jane L. Rosen, simply felt right given one of the core themes of her latest novel, On Fire Island. Meet Jane L. Rosen Jane is an author, screenwriter and former Huffington Post contributor. Jane often takes inspiration...

I’ve long believed that curiosity is one of the most powerful superpowers that authors wield. Thinking it through more, curiosity may help us craft interesting plots, but its nothing without relatability. If our storylines are not relatable to readers, all of the curiosity in the world is useless. That’s one of the lessons I learned from today’s guest, Chris Ehrlich. Meet Chris Ehrlich Chris is an...

Carl Ficks has introduced me to many fantastic guests who have appeared on Uncorking a Story over the years. Today, it is his turn to sit in the hot seat! Listen in as we discuss his contribution to an anthology of essays on loss, courage, and personal transformation alongside the book’s co-editor Rosemary Ravinal.   Meet Carl Ficks & Rosemary Ravinal Carl Ficks, Jr., JD works with leaders to incr...

Tim Murphy is the author of Correspondents and Christodora, which was long-listed for the 2017 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and named a Best Book of the Year by The Guardian. He has also been a journalist for the past 25 years and joined me on Uncorking a Story to talk about his career and latest novel, Speech Team.  Key Takeaways Tim Murphy's passion for writing: Throughout the...

Imagine sitting with an acquiring editor who just offered you a multi book deal to write a series based on your first book and telling them that you will think about it. Sounds crazy, right? Well, that’s just part of prolific writer Craig Johnson’s amazing story. Meet Craig Johnson Craig Johnson is the New York Times bestselling author of the Longmire mysteries, the basis for the hit Netflix origi...

I’ve long believed that writing is therapeutic but for author Lynn Hightower, it became her path of survival during a difficult period in her life. She explains that writing helped her escape the real world and allowed her to express her opinions on grief and hearing loss through her characters. So, writing isn’t done just for the benefit of readers, but for us authors as well! Meet Lynn Hightower...

Writing is a dynamic and ever-evolving process. By embracing change and finding inspiration in unexpected places, you can breathe new life into your writing. Just ask Stephanie Cowell, whose latest book, A Boy in the Rain, was started over forty years ago. It was only recently that Stephanie felt as if she could finish it, which just goes to show that all of the book we have within us will come ou...

Today, we have the fabulous Wendy Holden, a British journalist and novelist with global success, joining us to spill the tea on her latest book, "The Princess." We're talking about the ultimate royal celebrity, Diana Princess of Wales, and a fictionalized backstory of her young adulthood. Trust me, this episode is packed with more drama than a reality TV show, so grab your popcorn and get ready to...

I was once eating dinner alone at a bar in Petaluma, CA when a fellow solo diner started a conversation by saying, “I’m no conspiracy theorist but…” and what came out of his mouth would make Dan Brown raise an eyebrow. When I was offered the chance to speak with Colin Dickey, who recently wrote a book on the history of conspiracy theories, I jumped at the chance.  Meet Colin Dickey Colin is a writ...

Given my love of Columbo, I love it when a guest has a good Peter Falk story, and Alison Gaylin doesn’t disappoint. She doubled down when expressing her appreciation for The Love Boat—and now I think I have to marry her. Don’t tell our spouses. Meet Alison Gaylin Alison is the Edgar and Shamus award-winning author of 12 books and many short stories. A USA Today and international bestseller, she jo...

My twin brother and I are very close—so close in fact that we can finish each other’s sentences. That said, I couldn’t imagine writing a book with him, let alone a series of books. That’s just one of the things that amazes me about sisters Lynne and Valerie Constantine, who are today’s guests on Uncorking a Story. Meet Liv Constantine Liv Constantine is the pen name of sisters Lynne and Valerie Co...

While many of us dream of being writers from a young age, the truth is, not all of us can do it early on in our lives and find that we have to defer that dream for another time. Jenny Jackson, whose debut novel Pineapple Street is quite possibly the most buzzed about book of the spring/summer isn’t any different—she spent decades in publishing learning the craft by working with some of the world’s...

Today’s guest, Peter Maeck, inspired me with his words of advice for his younger self—”If you have an impulse and are young enough to start at an entry level, do it! Don’t worry about the risks and the outcomes.” These were words that I wish I heard in my late teens and early twenties as acting on them might have helped me get off my butt and explore my authentic self instead of making decisions t...

They say you can never go home again, but no one told that to Andrew Ridker. During the height of the Covid 19 pandemic, Andrew left his apartment in Brooklyn, NY to head back to his childhood home in Brookline, MA. It was being back in his hometown, sharing his childhood home with his wife and sister, where his latest novel, Hope, started to take shape. Meet Andrew Ridker Andrew’s debut novel, Th...

Sometimes it takes a while to find out who we truly are, particularly if we didn’t give ourselves the time to explore life prior to settling down and starting a family. Those of us who did that young may find that, after our kids have grown, we really don’t know who we are. Today’s guest, Melissa Giberson, discusses her experiences coming out as a lesbian well into her 40s after being married and...

Giving yourself the right to write badly is excellent advice for aspiring and established authors. Writing is a muscle which has to be exercised in order to get stronger. Not everything we write will be gold, but every rep serves a purpose—to make our writing stronger. This is just one of the lessons I learned from today’s guest, Jennifer Cody Epstein.  Meet Jennifer Cody EpsteinJennifer is the in...

Josh Winning is the author of the critically acclaimed The Shadow Glass. He is a senior film writer at Radio Times, has written for Total Film for over a decade, and is the co-host of movie podcast Torn Stubs. During his years as a film journalist, he has been on set with Kermit the Frog (and Miss Piggy), devoured breakfast with zombies on The Walking Dead, and sat on the Iron Throne on the Dublin...

Elevator pitches are critically important when selling your book. Ideally, you’d answer the question, “So, what’s your book about?” with a one sentence description that gets the agent/publisher/reader interested in knowing more. Today’s guest, Karen McManus, used “It’s like the breakfast club, but with murder,” as her elevator pitch for One of Us is Lying and that’s when I knew I had to have her o...

I loved connecting with Whitney Hanson and hearing her path to publishing. Originally independently published, Whitney caught the attention of an acquisitions editor at Penguin Random House after achieving, what Borat would call, great success on TikTok. She has a great story and I’m so glad she let me uncork it with her. Meet Whitney Hanson Whitney is a poet and through her vulnerability and auth...

Meet Lynne Hugo Lynne Hugo is a National Endowment For The Arts Fellowship recipient who has also received repeat individual artist grants from the Ohio Arts Council and the Kentucky Foundation for Women. Her publications include ten novels, as well as a memoir, Where the Trail Grows Faint, which won the Riverteeth Creative Nonfiction Book Prize. She joined me on Uncorking a Story to discuss her c...

Karen Mangia is a WSJ Best Selling Author and one of the most sought after thought leaders in the world, sharing her thought leadership with over 10,000 organizations during the course of her career. She is the author of four books including:  Success from Anywhere: Create Your Own Future of Work From the Inside Out Working from Home: Making the New Normal Work for You Listen Up! How to Tune in to...