Lubrina Burton lives in Lexington, Kentucky with her husband and pug. She completed the Carnegie Center’s Author Academy in 2020 and is now pursuing her MFA at Eastern Kentucky University’s Bluegrass Writers Studio. In 2023, Hydra Publications/Erudite Press released her first book, Shitbag Soldier , a creative nonfiction memoir detailing her experience as a young soldier in a pre-9/11 U.S. Army. Her short stories and poems are featured in the anthologies, That Southern Thing , Trouble , Curious ...
Apr 27, 2024•8 min•Ep 10•Transcript available on Metacast Alison Rice Bruster comes from a long line of women who love the written word. The granddaughter of a librarian, daughter of an English teacher, and sister of a novelist, she was destined to be an avid reader and writer. After a career spent finding the voices of senior business executives, she is writing a new chapter. She holds a BA in English Literature from Queens University of Charlotte and lives in Fort Mill, South Carolina. She is a member of the Charlotte Writers Club, Charlotte Lit, and...
Apr 24, 2024•8 min•Ep 9•Transcript available on Metacast Catherine Parisio is a freelance editor, relentless writer, and international schoolteacher, currently living and working in Calama, Chile. The college student with the courage to take a risk and pursue an unconventional relationship became a woman living a somewhat uncommon life as an international schoolteacher, seizing opportunities to experience all that life has to offer. Catherine believes the pivotal moments of life provide insight into the core values that shape us; writing and sharing t...
Apr 20, 2024•9 min•Ep 8•Transcript available on Metacast Robin Russell Gaiser, MA, CMP, added a certificate for music practitioner to her degrees in English literature and psychology. As an experienced multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, Robin gave live bedside acoustic music to critically and chronically ill, elderly and dying patients in hospices, hospitals, rehabs, nursing and private homes. Her first book, Musical Morphine: Transforming Pain One Note at a Time (Pisgah Press, 2016) chronicles such work. Her second book, Open for Lunch (Pisgah Press...
Apr 17, 2024•8 min•Ep 7•Transcript available on Metacast Fascinated with every big and little thing, Jamie Cheshire has long been an avid student of design and structure. Having worked together with giants, he has had the extreme good fortune to practice his craft for most of the last four decades and has seen his work appear nationally and in several countries on three continents. He lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with his beloved feral, hippie-chick wife, their three dogs and two cats. Deeply committed to the ordinary, he is constantly sear...
Apr 13, 2024•8 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast Mary Alice Dixon is a Pushcart nominee, award-winning poet and former finalist for the NC Poetry Society Poet Laureate Award. Her writing is in five PSPP anthologies, in Braided Way, County Lines, Kakalak, Main Street Rag, Pinesong, and elsewhere. Her poetry will appear on NC Poetry Society posters in 2024. Mary Alice lives in Charlotte, NC where she teaches a Hospice Grief Writing Workshop for the bereaved. Her course includes found poems, tears, laughter, peppermint c...
Apr 10, 2024•9 min•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast Annette L. Brown is a mother, wife, and retired teacher, who lives on an almond farm in Central California where she enjoys spending time with family and friends. She is grateful for the support of The Taste Life Twice Writers and The Light Makers’ Society and for simply having time to write. Annette has pieces reflecting her love of nature, family, beauty, and humor in several publications including Cathexis Northwest Press, Last Stanza Poetry, Flash Fiction Magazine, Every Day Fiction, and oth...
Apr 06, 2024•8 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast Richard (“Rick”) Davis is a retired Air Force colonel with an extensive professional writing history, including some non-fiction material published over the past 40 years. To transition to fiction, he studied with Amherst Writers & Artists and published his first novella in 2014. He has two book-length manuscripts pending. “Two Minutes and Eighteen Seconds” marks his second offering to PSPP, which earlier accepted his submission for Lost & Found (spring 2023). He lives in Elk Grove, Cali...
Apr 03, 2024•9 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast Raven Chiong earned her Master of Arts in Exercise and Sport Science from the University of Florida. A lifelong student, life coach, and educator, she qualified for the first-ever Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials in 1984 and paid it forward with her 19-year cross country coaching career. After her competitive running and coaching career, she ran her pen across the pages of this life. Raven was the author of Ode to the Still, Small Voice—A Memoir of Listening . She was a proud mother to four...
Mar 30, 2024•9 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast Forty-one writers share their personal stories of experiences and decisions hinged on a moment in time. Now or never is a turning point, a hope, an admonition, an intersection of paths ahead to take, to avoid, or to create. Now and Never are also states of being—living in the present, accepting what is or dealing with the roadblock, the closed door, the helping hand no longer extended. With decisions made and consequences encountered, for better or worse, we each move ahead balancing out our now...
Mar 27, 2024•8 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast Kenneth Chamlee’s work has appeared in five previous Personal Story Publishing Project anthologies. His latest collections are If Not These Things (Kelsay Books, 2022) and The Best Material for the Artist in the World , a poetic biography of 19th-century American landscape painter Albert Bierstadt (Stephen F. Austin State University Press, 2023). Ken lives in Mills River, North Carolina, and is an active member of the North Carolina Poetry Society and the North Carolina Writers...
Mar 23, 2024•8 min•Ep 54•Transcript available on Metacast Arlene Mandell is an artist living in Linville, North Carolina, proudly celebrating her 10th year at Carlton Gallery in Banner Elk. ( carltongallery.com/arlene-mandell ). A native New Yorker, relocating to the Blue Ridge Mountains with Captain Dan ignited a passion to write. Her “6-minute Stories” podcasts include: “Eye of the Dolphin,” “Artist Borne,” “Gobsmacked in the Gulfstream,” “Renegade Daughter,” “It Started with a Typo,” “Shopping for the Homeless,” “Thirteen Candles in the Dark,” “The ...
Mar 20, 2024•9 min•Ep 53•Transcript available on Metacast The luck of the Irish brought Gail Tyson to Knoxville, Tennessee, in fall 2021, where she belongs to the Knoxville Writers Guild and the Pre-Pulitzer Critique Group. In 2020 Shanti Arts published her chapbook, The Vermeer Tales . Current and upcoming work appears in Rockvale Review, Still: the Journal, Psaltery & Lyre, and Thimble Literary Magazine. Gail serves as president of the board of Knoxville’s Flying Anvil Theatre, where she paints sets and avoids giving curtain talks....
Mar 17, 2024•9 min•Ep 52•Transcript available on Metacast Akira Odani lives in the ancient city of St. Augustine, Florida. He belongs to Taste Life Twice Writers and the Florida Writers Association. Born in Tokyo, he had written extensively for the Japanese media. Still, more recently, his interest has turned to writing in English and subjects related to his experiences interacting with the two cultures. Some of his work has appeared in the pages of FWA anthologies, The Weekly Avocet , PSPP, Twists and Turns, and Lost & Found . He stays active, med...
Mar 13, 2024•8 min•Ep 51•Transcript available on Metacast Visit RandellJones.com/6minutestories to learn more about this story.
Mar 06, 2024•8 min•Ep 50•Transcript available on Metacast Randell Jones is an award-winning writer about the pioneer and Revolutionary War eras and North Carolina history. During 25 years, he has written 150+ history-based guest columns for the Winston-Salem Journal. In 2017, he created the Personal Story Publishing Project and in 2019, the companion podcast, “6-minute Stories” to encourage other writers. He lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Visit RandellJones.com and BecomingAmerica250.com....
Feb 21, 2024•8 min•Ep 49•Transcript available on Metacast Bill Donohue is a Winston Salem writer who has chronicled many of his family’s medical speed bumps. Recognizing his own aging leaks, rusts, and mold, this story is the first capture of his newest frailty and the beginning of his journey with cancer.
Feb 18, 2024•8 min•Ep 11•Transcript available on Metacast Jennie Boulden lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, and is a member of the Memory Makers writing group. She has had a life-long love of the written word. Both sides of her family have deep roots in North Carolina and have been a constant source of enriching stories.
Feb 14, 2024•7 min•Ep 47•Transcript available on Metacast Erika Hoffman lives in Chatham County, North Carolina. She is a member of The North Carolina Writers network, The Triangle Area Freelancers, and Carteret Writers. Her stories have been featured over 430 times in anthologies, ezines, magazines, and newspapers. For sale on Amazon are compilations of some of her published pieces. In addition, two small traditional presses published her novels. Her first, Secrets, Lies, and Grace, was produced by Comfort Publishing. A pseudonym was...
Feb 10, 2024•8 min•Ep 46•Transcript available on Metacast Cindy Martin is a retired West Virginia educator who now resides with her husband, Wayne, in Mount Airy, North Carolina. She has written freelance for West Virginia South Magazine and Yadkin Valley Magazine for over 20 years. Her work has also been featured in the Raleigh Register and the Mount Airy News. Cindy is involved in the Read Aloud Program and is totally committed to furthering the love of books and the written word....
Feb 07, 2024•7 min•Ep 45•Transcript available on Metacast Ellen Zaroff lives in New York City and has recently published three books, "A Layered Tress", "A Tree's Tale", and "Once, Upon Reflection". She runs a small foundation and travels trying to help community projects while collecting stories and sharing stories from around the world.
Feb 03, 2024•7 min•Ep 44•Transcript available on Metacast Jo Parillo, of Concord, North Carolina, consults with pharmaceutical and medical device companies. She is an Oncology-certified Registered Nurse and holds an MBA. Joanne’s principal writing experience has been for scientific journals and magazines. In 2017, she published a faith-based, nonfiction, large-format book and workbook titled, Have You Been Pruned? She is currently revising both for possible re-release this year while pursuing a doctorate in theology. During the past ten years, Joanne h...
Jan 31, 2024•7 min•Ep 43•Transcript available on Metacast In his career as professor and academic administrator, Joel Stegall wrote more than 35 journal articles, book chapters, opinion pieces and other such. None of these gained him widespread acclaim. Since retiring to Winston-Salem, NC, he has written a family history tracing his ancestry back to 1735. Though documentation is elusive, he has found considerable evidence that his ancestry began even earlier. Several of his stories, often about his ancestors, have appeared in the Personal Stories Publi...
Jan 27, 2024•8 min•Ep 42•Transcript available on Metacast Suzanne Cottrell, a member of the Taste Life Twice Writers and NC Writers’ Network, lives with her husband in Granville County, North Carolina. An outdoor enthusiast and retired teacher, she enjoys reading, writing, knitting, hiking, and Pilates. Her prose has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including the Personal Story Publishing Project, Inwood Indiana Press, Quillkeepers Press, and Parks and Points. She’s the author of three poetry chapbooks: Gifts of the Seasons, Autumn and Wi...
Jan 24, 2024•8 min•Ep 41•Transcript available on Metacast Charles Bruce McIntyre, or “Bruce” to those who know him, is a retired business owner and cancer survivor. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, and is a member of the Charlotte Center for Literary Arts and the Charlotte Writers Club. Bruce believes in storytelling and “story listening” and how it is in listening that we start to understand. He began posting his stories at www.choicesdomatter.org , a weekly blog that ran for four years. There Are No Answers Here, Only Questions &nbs...
Jan 20, 2024•7 min•Ep 40•Transcript available on Metacast Lisa Miracle Ballard lives in Huntersville, North Carolina. An active volunteer and advocate in her community, her heritage inspires her writing which has been shared in community publications, newspapers, schools and churches. She is currently working on a collection of essays, poetry, and short stories reflecting her Appalachian roots. Her story, “The Gift,” appeared in the 2018 Personal Story Publishing Project anthology Bearing Up .
Jan 17, 2024•8 min•Ep 39•Transcript available on Metacast Bob Amason is a retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel who was a college professor for 25 years. A Florida Writer’s Association member, Bob writes under his pen name, Frank A. Mason. Bob’s works include historical novels and modern suspense novels. Two of his Journeyman Chronicles series on the revolutionary war are Amazon.com Best Sellers. His writing has been published in two anthologies, academic journals, and books. Bob lives in Florida with his overachieving wife, a professor who is the au...
Jan 13, 2024•9 min•Ep 38•Transcript available on Metacast Nell Whitehead lives in Wake Forest, North Carolina. She has been writing or teaching writing since childhood. Her family was her first audience when at age 12 she wrote a Fractured Fairy Tale Christmas, performed by nieces and nephews, and received with wild acclaim. As a Language Arts teacher, she was part of the Capital Area Writing Project . In more recent times, a writing group in Carrboro created by Nancy Peacock has been the inspiration for short stories, memoirs, and two novels....
Jan 10, 2024•7 min•Ep 37•Transcript available on Metacast Growing up in the South means learning life lessons from family stories. Ginny Foard learned a few things that way. She also found out that later you get to tell stories, too. Depending on who’s in the room with you, you might need a few hours to get to the bottom of what all happened. Ginny likes exploring, sharing, and listening to the stories around her. She lives in a little post office box on Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina.
Jan 06, 2024•8 min•Ep 36•Transcript available on Metacast Martha Rowe Vaughn lives in Mount Airy, North Carolina and is a member of a local writers group that has been meeting for over 15 years. During that time, she has published two books: Grandma’s Trunk (non-fiction) and Crossroads (fiction). An interest in genealogy and family history prompted her to write both books. She graduated from The University of Kentucky with a degree in horticulture and owned and operated a tree nursery for 22 years. In retirement, she v...
Jan 03, 2024•7 min•Ep 35•Transcript available on Metacast 
