Uncorking a Story

Pattiann Rogers has published fifteen collections of poetry and two book-length essay collections, The Dream of the Marsh Wren and The Grand Array: Writings on Nature, Science, and Spirit. She is the recipient of two NEA grants, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a 2005 Literary Award in Poetry from the Lannan Foundation, and the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Missouri, College of Arts an...

In this podcast episode, Mike interviews Karen White, a successful author of Southern women's fiction with a paranormal twist. Karen shares her journey as a writer and how she got started in the industry. She emphasizes the importance of reading and writing consistently to improve one's craft. Karen also talks about the influence of her fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Anderson, who encouraged her to pur...

Have you ever felt like, at times, you are the black sheep of your family? You know, those times when you question why you are so different from everyone else in your life or even your community? Many of us who turn to the arts have a little bit of the outcast in us for a variety of reasons, but I think the most common are that we just see the world differently than others and that we experience o...

If there is one thing I’ve noticed that all pastors share in common, it’s the ability to tell a story, and Rev. Kenneth Nixon is no different. Kenneth joined me to talk about his debut memoir Born Into Crisis in which he discusses the necessary steps to healing and breaking free from the cycles of family traumas. Drawing from his own experience with dysfunctional family dynamics, Kenneth uses his...

When she was in high school, Brittany Butler didn’t have dreams of working for the Central Intelligence Agency—she was a cheerleader and was in beauty pageants. Nevertheless, she had a successful career at the CIA and is now working hard to promote human rights for Afghan women and girls while also setting the record straight of what it's really like to be a female spy. Meet Brittany Butler Britta...

Jane Healey isn’t just a successful author, she also has great taste in TV. During the course of this entertaining conversation, I uncorked her love for The Greatest American Hero, which took us on a fun tangent. Believe it or not, I was walking on air after that. Meet Jane Healey Jane is the author of The Secret Stealers and The Beantown Girls, a Washington Post and Amazon Charts bestseller. When...

Like many people of my generation, I grew up watching Hogan’s Heroes in reruns. Also like many people of my generation, I was shocked that Bob Crane, Colonel Hogan himself, met such a violent end, likely a result of his extracurricular hobby of documenting every aspect of his life on camera—any by every aspect, I mean EVERY aspect. This guy was ahead of his time when it came to documenting (consen...

Just like the classic Let it Be by The Beatles, author Lauren Destefano shares many words of wisdom for authors in today’s episode of Uncorking a Story. Meet Lauren DeStefano Lauren DeStefano lives in Connecticut, where she was born and raised. When she’s not writing thrillers, she’s listening to true crime podcasts and crocheting way too many blankets. She joined me on Uncorking a Story to talk a...

Susan and I have three things in common; we are authors, we have a great sense of humor, and we both root against Duke basketball regardless of who they are playing against (Sorry John Nardone and Brent McGoldrick but that buzzer beater by Laeettner against UConn in 1990 cemented my dislike of your alma mater).  Meet Susan Reinhardt Susan’s book Chimes from a Cracked Southern Belle won the Indepen...

I’ve interviewed many authors who were signed to muti-book deals very early in their careers—typically two or three book deals. Today’s guest on Uncorking a Story, Audrey Carlan, must be an overachiever because her book deal was for twenty-seven. You read that right—nine times the size of a “good” book deal. Nine Times! Take that Mrs. Bueller.   Meet Audrey Carlan Audrey Carlan is a #1 New York Ti...

Many of us define wealth by what we can quantify in our bank accounts, but today’s guest on Uncorking a Story, Tom Suvansri, thinks that’s way too limiting. His story is a wakeup call for anyone who thinks wealth can be measured solely in dollars and cents. Meet Tom Suvansri Tom graduated from Penn State University with an MBA in Finance after earning his BA in Biology from the College of New Jers...

Charlotte Maya’s life was turned upside down when she arrived home from a hike with her children to find a police officer and priest waiting at her home. They took her aside to tell her that her husband committed suicide and that’s where this story begins. Meet Charlotte Maya Charlotte writes about suicide loss, resilience, and hope on her blog, SushiTuesdays.com. Widowed at thirty-nine, when her...

Rose Patruno grew up in a very patriarchal society where her brother enjoyed many more freedoms than she did. Over time, this impacted her mental and physical health and she had no choice but to leave her home in Puglia, Italy to find love and work in Paris. After finding both, her health turned around and she is Tutto Bene, or “All Good.” Meet Rose Patruno When still a teen, Rose decided to becom...

There is one thing that Lina Chern and I can wholeheartedly agree on and that’s the importance of having fun during the writing process. If what you are writing isn’t bringing you joy then, chances are, you aren’t going to want to see it through. It took Lina a long time to find the joy in writing her debut novel, but when she did things changed for the better! Meet Lina Chern Lina Chern is an aut...

Sometimes, beauty comes from tragedy, which is the backstory to Jill Santopolo’s debut novel The Light We Lost, which she penned after going through a traumatic breakup. Well, life has come full circle for Jill as her latest book, Stars in an Italian Sky, was inspired by something that happened while honeymooning with her husband in Italy. I love it when things work out the way they are meant to!...

Today’s guest on Uncorking a Story, Lyn Liao Butler, is the type of person who likes to have many irons in the fire. While working as a professional ballet and modern dancer in New York City, she ran her own gym. After retiring from dancing, she started a family, built an online business, and began writing novels. I got exhausted just thinking about all she does! One thing that stayed with me was...

One of the expressions my father is very fond of saying is, “Everything happens for a reason.” He’s also fond of saying, “If a problem can be solved with money, it’s not really a problem,” which is easy to say when one has money, but I digress. Over time, I have come to realize that yes, everything does happen for a reason, and today’s guest, the prolific Christopher Rice, agrees with me (and dad)...

The sparks that ignite story ideas are almost always rooted in experience, emotion, and curiosity. Today’s guest on Uncorking a Story, award winning author Cheryl A. Head, discusses how the murder of George Floyd served as the flashpoint for her latest novel, Time’s Undoing. Along the way she discusses how the murder of her own grandfather had her following her own curiosity back in time and inspi...

If you are like me, when you hear the term lunch lady you immediately think of Adam Sandler and Chris Farley, but today’s guest on Uncorking a Story, Vanessa David, smashes that stereotype. But this episode really isn’t about lunch ladies—it’s the story of a woman who overcame struggles and heartache to find the love within. Meet Vanessa David Vanessa David graduated from Western Connecticut State...

We can add today’s guest, William Landay, to the growing list of former lawyers turned authors who have come on Uncorking a Story to promote their work. While digging into this dynamic with William, it became clear to me why so many lawyers, especially trial attorneys, have a knack for writing—as he put it, you are trying to tell the story of the case and hope that you move your readers (i.e. juro...

Long-time listeners know that I’m the proud father of triplets and anyone who has seen me perform stand-up knows that I lean on my experiences raising them heavily when I perform. Well, today’s guest on Uncorking a Story, Cort Casady is also a father of triplets and joined me to talk about his latest book Not Your Father's America: An Adventure Raising Triplets in a Country Being Changed by Greed....

Some may believe that an author’s superpower is in the ability to string the right words together, in the right order, and use correct punctuation. While all of that is important, I believe that their real superpower is in their ability to experience an everyday event and feel compelled to reflect, write about it, and share it with others. Today’s guest on Uncorking a Story, Meg Stafford, has been...

As a small business owner, I’m always interested in how I can get better at sales, which is why I was so excited to speak with today’s guest, Anthony Iannarino. We had a fun conversation about how a daily blog turned into a book, his writing journey, and our mutual love of 80’s hard rock and heavy metal. Meet Anthony Iannarino Anthony spent twenty years selling and leading a sales force in the hig...

Today’s episode will leave you questioning whether or not the events that my guest Vincent (Vinnie) Tolman discusses actually happened. I’m okay with that (and so is he). When his publicist reached out with the opportunity to interview someone who was clinically dead for over 45 minutes and in a coma for three days after his heart re-started, I jumped at the chance as I thought it would be a fasci...

Today’s guest on Uncorking a Story, Donna Loughlin, and I were both involved in the early days of the 90s dot.com bubble, in similar roles. I was working to understand what consumers wanted in digital technologies and she was tasked with uncorking stories from the tech leaders of the day. We take a walk down memory lane, and so much more, in this episode of Uncorking a Story. Meet Donna Loughlin D...