Uncorking a Story

Will Harris is on a mission to help save the world. He inherited a highly profitable, conventionally run farm from his ancestors. After many years, he found himself disgusted with the excess, cruelty, and small-town devastation. He decided to make a change to the land...

Authors often tap into their past experiences and memories and plant them in our stories. Speaking from experiences, anecdotes that my parents shared with me decades ago will wind up in a story, not in a self-indulgent way, but more as a way of bringing some added...

When I was a kid, my brother Jimmy and I would watch the original Clash of the Titans over and over and over. It had everything a young boy would love; heroes, Gods, magical weapons, and a young Maggie Smith. When offered the chance to interview the author of a book...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...