Stories From Women Who Walk

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with Story Prompt Friday and your host, Diane Wyzga.   I teach my personal narrative clients and students that their rigorous “ depth of inquiry ” steers them way from writing surface-level, first-available answer drafts to crafting a memorable story. What do I mean? Nice personal essays often recount the superficial...

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with Wednesdays on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga. We humans have shortcomings in common. Certain personal and professional imperfections—such as procrastination, impatience, and difficulty with public speaking, among others—that we naturally work to improve or manage. Maybe like me you’ve struggled to perfect yo...

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with Motivate Your Monday and your host, Diane Wyzga. “ Each One Lift One ” is the way we roll here! Recently I introduced my friend, Eliza Young (the genius behind my Quarter Moon Story Arts logo and soon-to-be-revealed overhauled website) and the author of Life in Captivity to my other friend and podcast colleague...

Hello and Happy Birthday! to you listening all over these United States where we are holding it together with block parties, neighboring potluck celebrations, fireworks in the night sky, concerts in the park, dancing in the streets, and inclusion for all. Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds (and a bit more) for Story Prompt Friday and y...

Hello to you listening all over these United States where we are holding it together with goodness, kindness, compassion, humor, and shared stories of community. Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds (and a bit more) for Wednesdays on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga. The Witch of Whidbey is here to stir up some magic as we celebrate ou...

Hello to you listening all over the world! Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Motivate Your Monday and your host, Diane Wyzga. I am delighted to spotlight my friend and podcast colleague, Christi Cassidy of Moving Along podcast as she talks with her guest Tom Reed , explorer, writer and landscape photographer. In this episode entit...

Hello to you listening in Wellingborough, North Hamptonshire, England ! Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Story Prompt Friday and your host, Diane Wyzga. They say that life is like a roll of TP: the closer you get to the end the faster it goes. Maybe you feel this way, too. Zoom Zoom! How do we slow it down? Pay attention to what’...

Hello to you listening in Lake Chelan, Washington ! Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga. Some 30 years ago I was taught that story is a gift to the listener. This never-forgotten advice has shepherded me through decades of professional speaking, litigation consulting, communication co...

Hello to you listening in Ambler, Pennsylvania ! Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Motivate Your Monday and your host, Diane Wyzga. This much I know. I have come to expect too much - of myself, of my plans, of my aspirations. My expectations were giving me heartache. It was time to step away, create some distance between me and my...

Hello to you listening in Dundalk, Ireland ! Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Story Prompt Friday and your host, Diane Wyzga. I can’t get away from it. The Camino de Santiago keeps tugging at me. I remember two truths from the Camino: you will get blisters and you will get unexpected kindness from strangers. I became intimately f...

Hello to you listening in Flushing, Queens, New York ! Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga. Maybe like me you stop and wonder: who am I right now, how do I describe myself, what nourishes me ?  It’s scary, isn’t it, not to have the answers. Perhaps there is great wisdom in resting the...

Hello to you listening in Charlottesville, Virginia ! Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Motivate Your Monday and your host, Diane Wyzga. Here’s the thing: I’ve hit The Dip. That place in most creative endeavors where you look around and wonder: Does anybody care? Does my work matter? What am I doing and for whom? Believe it or not...

Hello to you listening in Schaumburg, Illinois ! Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Story Prompt Friday and your host, Diane Wyzga. One summer afternoon Nasruddin was relaxing under a massive walnut tree. He looks up at the tiny walnuts hanging above him and then to a nearby garden patch of ripe watermelons growing on small vines....

Hello to you listening in Bridgeport, Connecticut ! Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories from Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga. On my Camino pilgrimage I received a small paper star  from someone I did not know to carry with me as a blessing, to remember that someone was watching over me as I walked. In turn, I’m sharing s...

Hello to you listening in Kyle, Canada !  Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Motivate Your Monday & your host, Diane Wyzga. A few years ago Paul King, writing from somewhere in America, wished for a Solidarity Saturday, and I created a podcast episode. Reading it anew my pulse went all fizzy with a plan to re-establish this simple...

Hello to you listening in Pristina, Kosovo ! Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Story Prompt Friday and your host, Diane Wyzga. The things we take for granted, like a song we’ve heard over and over. I wondered: what’s the story behind “ I Won’t Back Down ” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers?  " I Won't Back Down " was born from she...

Hello to you listening in Singapore ! Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga. One night Nasrudin was on his hands and knees under a street lamp. Friends finding him there asked: What are you doing ? Nasrudin tells them he’s looking for the keys to his house. His friends help him look for...

Hello to you listening in Karachi, Pakistan ! Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Motivate Your Monday and your host, Diane Wyzga. Maybe like me you’ve failed more times than you can count. Is it possible to use our failures to encourage a new opportunity, a do-over even? Yes. How do I know? I’ve learned from the best! Wile E. Coyot...

Hello to you listening in Mohali, Punjab, India ! Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Story Prompt Friday and your host, Diane Wyzga. My friend Gene was mulling whether stuff he knows should be passed on in stories to his grandchildren. Nah. The best way for children to learn is to experience the ups and downs of Life themselves. So...

Hello to you listening in Leeds, Yorkshire, UK ! Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga. Once upon a time the wise fool and teacher Nasruddin Hodja was asked: Master, what’s the secret to happiness ? Nasruddin replied, The secret to happiness is good judgment. Yes, Master, but how do we...

Hello to you listening in Da Nang, Vietnam !   Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Motivate Your Monday and your host, Diane Wyzga. As a storyteller I know that conflict is the driving force of any story. No conflict - no story. A character can struggle externally with outside forces like a person or situation as well as internally...

Hello to you listening in Guadalupe, Mexico ! Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Story Prompt Friday and your host, Diane Wyzga. The Camino de Santiago de Compostella is fairly well marked with yellow arrows painted by volunteers and images of scallop shells pointing the way west. But every once in a while - like life - the way is...

Hello to you listening in Canberra, Australia ! Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga. Here on Whidbey Island our Pacific Rim Institute for Environmental Stewardship is home to prairie, savanna and forest with over 50 species of rare native grasses and flowers including camas. Native ac...

Hello to you listening in Savannah, Georgia ! Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Motivate Your Monday and your host, Diane Wyzga. What is apparition? In the Harry Potter universe of witches and wizards apparition is the ability to teleport, magically transport from one place to another. One minute you are here and the next you are...

Hello to you listening in Lanús, Argentina ! Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Story Prompt Friday and your host, Diane Wyzga. In my mind’s eye I see that child on the Jersey Shore  arms spread wide clasping the inflated beach ball to her chest, fingers stretched and gripping, eyes barely peeking over the top. Along comes mom with...