Tag: podcast

Drawing Our Own Lines

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“Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye.” – unknown

My nine-year-old daughter came home from art class the other day with a new trick. When trying to draw something specific, try turning the object you are drawing upside down. She said it helps to keep the brain from interjecting that we’re doing it wrong.

I loved that suggestion to help tame the inner art critic. And it ties in so well with all the incredible perspective and inspiration Vicki Atkinson and I learned from talented artist and author, Danny Gregory in Episode 109 of the Sharing the Heart of the Matter podcast.

Danny shares his incredible journey from being an ad agency creative director for 30 years to becoming a renowned author and artist. His books and newsletters are not just inspiring; they are a daily call to create and live with purpose. They read like good philosophy, urging us to embrace creativity every day.

Our conversation with Danny was nothing short of inspiring. We delved into morning routines, where I meditate and Danny creates art before breakfast. Why? Because, as Danny delightfully quips, our inner critic tends to get up later.

Vicki and I discovered the magic of illustrative journaling with Danny. Art, as he explains, helps us adapt to life’s changes, builds our confidence, and gives us control over our perspective. It keeps us from being stuck in the mundane.

Danny’s enormously popular YouTube channel, Sketchbook Skool, is less about teaching how to draw and more about understanding the chemical process of creativity. He reminds us that our inner critic is no more correct than we are. Talking with Danny is like having a good coach who not only teaches us skills but also provides the mindset to be most productive.

Join us as we explore the scenic and beautiful places we go as creators. You won’t want to miss this insightful and inspiring conversation with Danny Gregory! And then sign up for Danny’s weekly newsletter for more great inspiration from the amazing Danny Gregory: https://dannysessays.com/

We know you’ll love it!

Search (and subscribe!) for Sharing the Heart of the Matter on Apple, Amazon, Spotify or Pocket Casts OR Listen to it from your computer on Anchor: Episode 109: Daily Dose of Creativity with Danny Gregory

Episode 109 transcript

AND subscribe to our YouTube channel to see a video clip of each story: @SharingtheHeartoftheMatter.

Links for this episode:

https://www.dannygregory.com/books

https://dannysessays.com/

https://www.dannygregory.com/

https://www.sketchbookskool.com/

https://www.dannygregory.com/monkey

From the hosts:

Vicki’s book about resilience and love: Surviving Sue; Blog: https://victoriaponders.com/

My book about my beloved father: Finding My Father’s Faith;

(featured photo from Pexels)

Thrilled to Meet You

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“When people show you who they are, believe them.” – Maya Angelou

They say that one should never meet their heroes. But they, whoever they are, must not have met Barbara Nickless. I love her thrillers because her characters are a great mix of smart, brave, and unstoppable. I discovered that Barbara is also smart, brave, and unstoppable when Vicki and I were lucky enough to get to talk with her on Episode 108 of the Sharing the Heart of the Matter podcast: The Drowning Game with Barbara Nickless.

Barbara’s fascinating resume includes roles as a technical writer, instructional designer, raptor rehabilitator, piano teacher, performer, sword fighter, and Director of Education for the country’s largest public astronomical observatory.

She shares her journey to becoming a best-selling author of thrillers and how devastating losses have led to new opportunities.

Barbara also discusses how writing helps process experiences and how she has taught writing to combat veterans.

We delve into her creative fuel that has led to nine novels in ten years, and her wholehearted investment in research and writing, which shines through in her characters’ internal growth.

Join us as we explore the scenic and beautiful places that inspire Barbara’s best-selling novels. You won’t want to miss this insightful and inspiring conversation!

We know you’ll love it!

Search (and subscribe!) for Sharing the Heart of the Matter on Apple, Amazon, Spotify or Pocket Casts OR Listen to it from your computer on Anchor: Episode 108: The Drowning Game with Barbara Nickless

Episode 108 transcript

AND subscribe to our YouTube channel to see a video clip of each story: @SharingtheHeartoftheMatter.

Links for this episode:

Barbara’s website: ⁠Barbara Nickless⁠

⁠The Drowning Game⁠ on Goodreads

Barbara’s books on Amazon (and also available through Kindle Unlimited)

⁠The Drowning Game⁠

The Dr. Evan Wilding Series:
Book 1: ⁠At First Light⁠
Book 2: ⁠Dark of Night⁠
Book 3: ⁠Play of Shadows⁠

Sydney Parnell Series:
Book 1: ⁠Blood on the Tracks⁠
Book 2: ⁠Dead Stop⁠
Book 3: ⁠Ambush⁠
Book 4: ⁠Gone to Darkness⁠

From the hosts:

Vicki’s book about resilience and love: ⁠Surviving Sue⁠; Blog: ⁠https://victoriaponders.com/⁠

My book about my beloved father: ⁠Finding My Father’s Faith⁠

(featured photo from Pexels)

Distance Doesn’t Matter

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“Passion is what makes life interesting, what ignites our soul, drives our curiosity, fuels our love and carries our friendship, stimulates our intellect, and pushes our limit…A passion for life is contagious and uplifting.” – Jon Krakauer

I have a handful of close friends that prove that distance doesn’t matter. Whether we’ve been separated by space or time, whenever we get together it feels like only a moment has passed.

Distance also doesn’t matter when talking with the delightful author and blogger Darlene Foster. In the latest episode of the HoTM podcast, Episode 107: Travel and Adventure Vicki Atkinson and I were able to connect with Darlene from her home in Spain. Her warmth, energy and delight were just as palpable as if she was next door.

Darlene shares how she started writing her young adult series featuring Amanda Ross. It’s such a great story that captures so well the struggle for tone and perspective. And how once that key is unlocked we can keep on building!

She brings us the magic, the mystery, and discovery  that come with travel and tweens. The delight of being unencumbered enough to not be afraid to see where things lead.

Darlene does such a beautiful job of writing about travel and adventure because she lives a life of travel and adventure. She tells us what it’s like to be bi-continental and why money should not be the limiting factor.

She is so inspirational. I know you’ll agree as you listen to how she reminds us to make our dreams come true. Darlene’s story is so compelling. She beautifully shows us how to attach to goals and just keep moving.

We’re confident you’ll love the scenic and beautiful places we explore as we talk about dreams, travel and adventure!

We know you’ll love it!

Search (and subscribe!) for Sharing the Heart of the Matter on Apple, Amazon, Spotify or Pocket Casts OR Listen to it from your computer on Anchor: Episode 107: Writing and Adventure with Darlene Foster

Episode 107 transcript

AND subscribe to our YouTube channel to see a video clip of each story: @SharingtheHeartoftheMatter.

Links for this Episode:

Darlene’s website: https://www.darlenefoster.ca/

Darlene’s blog: https://darlenefoster.wordpress.com/

Darlene’s books on Amazon

More Amanda Books to our Library from Jennie Fitzkee on A Teacher’s Reflections

From the hosts:

Vicki’s book about resilience and love: Surviving Sue; Blog: https://victoriaponders.com/

My book about my beloved father: Finding My Father’s Faith

(featured photo from Pexels)

Inter-generational Impact

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“I hold that a strongly marked personality can influence descendants for generations.” – Beatrix Potter

I’ve mentioned these details before but every once in a while I’m reminded of how remarkable it is that:
– In 2014, I made all the final arrangements to get pregnant via IVF on November 6th and thought, “Wow, life is about to change.” And then on November 7th, my dad died in a bike accident and I thought, “No, not like that!”
– Ten months later, I finished the line edits on the book I wrote about my dad at 8pm and seven hours later at 3am, I went into labor with Miss O

I’ve always known their stories are inextricably tied. But it is fascinating to see Miss O’s understanding of that evolve in ways that I can’t predict. How her perception of the grandfather she next met grows is really cool to see. It’s like a sneak peek into the inter-generational impact from the Beatrix Potter quote for this post.

This coming Sunday, March 9th would be my dad’s 90th birthday if he were alive. Vicki Atkinson and I sat down with my nine-year-old daughter, Miss O in Episode 106: The Miss Factor with Miss O. to talk about him.

Miss O was given a fourth grade class assignment to write about a perspective change. When she came home with this short essay about my dad, I was stunned.

She reads the essay to us and tells us what inspired her. Clearly I have a personal interest in this but at a bigger level, it’s fascinating to see what kids take away from family stories.

Vicki asks about how Miss O finds her voice and is so good at teasing out why it’s so meaningful to hear it from her perspective.

When we dig in to what Miss O knows about her grandfather who she never met, it’s both interesting and endearing to see the impression she’s gleaned of my dad. It’s also really funny to see the many ways they are alike.

Miss O talks about what she is doing next. Namely, making a slime channel on YouTube kids. As Miss O says, she is passionate about slime and she wants to share her creations. Fortunately, for all us we have boundaries – the slime has to stay in the rec room and she’s only showing her hands.

We’re confident you’ll love the scenic and beautiful places we explore as we talk about family stories!

We know you’ll love it!

Search (and subscribe!) for Sharing the Heart of the Matter on Apple, Amazon, Spotify or Pocket Casts OR Listen to it from your computer on Anchor: Episode 106: The Miss Factor with Miss O

Episode 106 transcript

AND subscribe to our YouTube channel to see a video clip of each story: @SharingtheHeartoftheMatter.

From the hosts:

Vicki’s book about resilience and love: Surviving Sue; Blog: https://victoriaponders.com/

My book about my beloved father, Finding My Father’s Faith that I wrote in the months after he died and before Miss O was born.

(featured photo is my dad and me at age 2)

Joy Is…Focusing on the Right Things

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“You are a living magnet. What you attract in your life is harmony with your dominant thoughts.” – Brian Tracy

My dad used to say that if he was working on a sermon about parenting, he was a better parent that week. Same went for forgiveness, faith, bearing witness, friendship, marriage, and on and on. I’m sure it surprises no one that what we focus on has a powerful effect in our lives.

But dang, it can be so hard to stay attuned to the good news. Which is one of the reasons that I found writer, poet, artist, and blogger, Dave Williams’ recent project Joy is ______ so compelling. Over the last five weeks, he opened his blog up to anyone who wanted to fill in the blank and give a description.

Vicki and I were delighted to participate in that project and then extend that note by being able to podcast with Dave about it on Episode 105: Joy Is…with Dave Williams.

Dave tells us how he was inspired by the spirit of his Aunt Diane. Celebrating her infectious personality after she passed away last summer was one of the motivations behind this project.

Another was the idea to strengthen the delight muscle. A suggestion in The Book of Delights by Ross Gay prompted Dave to want to cultivate the same upward spiral.

And Dave was also inspired by Teri Polen’s Bad Moon Rising blogging project that brings the WordPress community together.

In the end, Dave found and shared so much joy in this community project. He’s compiled a Joy Is _____ table of contents that we know will inspire you.

We’re confident you’ll love the scenic and beautiful places we explore as we talk about what joy is and how to celebrate that as a community!

We know you’ll love it!

Search (and subscribe!) for Sharing the Heart of the Matter on Apple, Amazon, Spotify or Pocket Casts OR Listen to it from your computer on Anchor: Episode 105: Joy Is…with Dave Williams

Episode 105 transcript

AND subscribe to our YouTube channel to see a video clip of each story: @SharingtheHeartoftheMatter.

Links for this Episode:

Dave’s Blog: https://davewilliamswriter.wordpress.com/

Dave’s “Joy is…” Index of posts: https://davewilliamswriter.wordpress.com/2025/02/27/index-of-posts-in-the-joy-project/

The Book of Delights by Ross Gay on Amazon

From the hosts:

Vicki’s book about resilience and love: Surviving Sue; Blog: https://victoriaponders.com/

My book about my beloved father: Finding My Father’s Faith;

(featured photo from Pexels)

A Classic Escape

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“You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me.” – C.S. Lewis

Books have been one of my favorite escapes for as long as I can remember. There’s a picture of my mom and me crying as we read Charlotte’s Web when I was about 4-years-old. The way they transport us across space, time, and emotions is amazing.

I don’t read many classics these days (not unless you count Good Night Moon, that is). However when my friend, Christina Dudley released her latest book, Pride and Preston Lin, I knew I was in for a treat. It’s a fantastic adaptation of Jane Austen’s beloved book Pride and Prejudice. And it is so much more than a contemporary retelling of the story. Christina’s dialogue and clever plot devices make it a compelling and devourable book.

I know because I hid from my kids for an hour so that I could finish it. Adding to the delights, Vicki and I were able to talk with Christina about it on the Sharing the Heart of the Matter podcast: Episode 104: Pride and Preston Lin with Christina Hwang Dudley.

Christina tells us about being an avid reader growing up and never realizing that none of the characters resembled her. So she shares with us her a-ha moment when she read her first Chinese American author. We also talk about how she found her path to writing.

Her inspiration and lessons learned are so interesting and powerful. From notes about the romance genre overall to the marketing tactics she has discovered, Christina generously shares a lot of great info, some of which she had to divine by trial and error.

In this episode, we not only talk about writing but also about the beautiful arc of characters. It’s a great takeaway of kindness and thoughtfulness that is sure to leave you inspired.

We’re confident you’ll love the scenic and beautiful places we explore as we share the storytelling about a great book and more!

We know you’ll love it!

Search (and subscribe!) for Sharing the Heart of the Matter on Apple, Amazon, Spotify or Pocket Casts OR Listen to it from your computer on Anchor: Episode 104: Pride and Preston Lin with Christina Hwang Dudley

Episode 104 Transcript

AND subscribe to our YouTube channel to see a video clip of each story: @SharingtheHeartoftheMatter.

Links for this Episode:

Christina’s website: https://christinadudley.com/books/pride-preston-lin/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199362002-pride-and-preston-lin

From the hosts:

Vicki’s book about resilience and love: Surviving Sue; Blog: https://victoriaponders.com/

My book about my beloved father: Finding My Father’s Faith

(featured photo from Pexels)

The Gift of a Good Host

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“If it’s the right chair, it doesn’t take too long to get comfortable in it.” – Robert de Niro

Not long ago I went to a luncheon at a friend’s house. The decor was perfect, the food was beautifully presented and delicious, the company was lovely.

And yet – I was uncomfortable. I was handed a glass of ice water with lemon when I arrived and there was no place to put it down. I kept my coat on because everything looked too perfect to be a coat repository. Everyone was standing around awkwardly before the meal began because it was too early to sit at the table and there wasn’t another alternative.

My takeaway was the being a good host is more than making things look “perfect.” It’s about making people comfortable. And this luncheon came back to me because this week on the Sharing the Heart of the Matter podcast, Vicki Atkinson and I turned the hosting duties over our HoTM partner, Brian Hannon. And he’s a very good host!

Brian’s roots as a journalist are on full display in this episode. He is such a fantastic interviewer. He coaxes out the lessons Vicki and I have learned in 100 episodes.

And he challenges us to think big to answer who would be on our celebrity guest list.

In some very delightful and prescient chit chat, we get to cheer on the Eagles in advance of their Super Bowl LIX performance.

Most of all, we have a great time celebrating the milestone of 100 episodes and taking a moment to appreciate what goes into starting, envisioning and maintaining a collaborative effort like a podcast.

We’re confident you’ll love the scenic and beautiful places we explore as we tell stories about making a podcast!

We know you’ll love it!

Search (and subscribe!) for Sharing the Heart of the Matter on Apple, Amazon, Spotify or Pocket Casts OR Listen to it from your computer on Anchor: Episode 103: Turning the Tables with Brian Hannon

Episode 103 Transcript

AND subscribe to our YouTube channel to see a video clip of each story: @SharingtheHeartoftheMatter.

Links for this Episode:

Episode 103: Turning the Tables with Brian Hannon on HoTM

Brian’s blog: https://writingfromtheheartwithbrian.com/

From the hosts:

Vicki’s book about resilience and love: Surviving Sue; Blog: https://victoriaponders.com/

My book about my beloved father: Finding My Father’s Faith

(featured photo from Pexels)

Always Learning

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“A true artist is not one who is inspired, but one who inspires others.” – Salvador Dali

One of the best benefits of having a podcast is scheduling time to talk about creativity and writing. It’s a wonderful practice of having intentional conversations that inspire.

The latest episode, Episode 102 Writer’s Lessons, is a great example of this. Vicki Atkinson and I talk with author and blogger, Melanie McGauran about writer lessons. Melanie always inspires us with her curiosity and willingness to learn. She is so generous to be willing to share her lessons with us.

She tells us the story behind her essay Growing Up Fast in 1978. We love the essay for its revealing look at her family dynamics and the complicated path she had to walk to get to go to college.

And then she shares some of the lessons she learned from a class she took with author Marin Sardy. She tells us about the chronological canyon and other pitfalls we can fall into.

Melanie shares some of the back and forth she had with Marin as she absorbed the feedback Marin gave her. We laugh that sometimes it’s hard to listen even if the source is an acclaimed author.

And then she extends the lessons with some wise and practical tidbits she picked up from a writing book by Steven Pressfield.

Melanie reveals his advice that hones in on the reader experience. And she shares some questions he provides to make sure content is relatable:

  • Is it fun?
  • Is it challenging?
  • Is it inventive?
  • Am I giving the reader enough?
  • Are they bored?
  • Are they taking me where I want to lead them?

We’re confident you’ll love the scenic and beautiful places we explore as we share the writer lessons learned that help us improve and extend our storytelling!

We know you’ll love it!

Search (and subscribe!) for Sharing the Heart of the Matter on Apple, Amazon, Spotify or Pocket Casts OR Listen to it from your computer on Anchor: Episode 102: Writer’s Lessons with Melanie McGauran

Episode 102 transcript

AND subscribe to our YouTube channel to see a video clip of each story: @SharingtheHeartoftheMatter.

Links for this Episode:

Growing Up Fast in 1978 by Melanie McGauran

Melanie’s blog: https://leavingthedooropen.com/

Steven Pressfield – writing that inspired Melanie: https://stevenpressfield.com/books/

From the hosts:

Vicki’s book about resilience and love: Surviving Sue; Blog: https://victoriaponders.com/

My book about my beloved father: Finding My Father’s Faith;

(featured photo from Pexels)

Trying New Things: A Journey Beyond Comfort

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“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I ended up where I needed to be.” – Douglas Adams

My nine-year-old daughter, Miss O has started walking by herself to the neighborhood grocery store. She comes back with the most fabulous things. Not only the lemon I asked for but great stories about what she saw and experienced out in the world. The crow tapping on a wire and the longest dog howl ever, for example.

Also, the lessons learned. The first time it was that the automatic door sensor doesn’t work for her so she had to tailgate behind a taller person. The second time it was that she didn’t know that the checker was trying to hand back her change so she gave him a fist bump. The third time it was that she needed to wait for her change.

There are so many things to learn when we try new things. And in that spirit, Vicki Atkinson and I went scriptless for the latest podcast with author and blogger Mark Petruska in Episode 101: Out of Our Comfort Zone.

This format was Mark’s idea – to do a podcast without any prompts. To be fair, it’s not that different than our standard format. Usually we go into an episode with three or so prompts of things to talk about. But as all you listeners know, we clearly go down any side roads and questions that occur as we talk.

But in this episode, we each came up with a question for the others to answer. No predetermined topics or heads up.

And you know what? It was fun. Kinda like a great dinner party conversation. It opened the forum up for off-the-cuff storytelling.

I’m confident you’ll love the scenic and beautiful places we explore as we share the power of going out of our comfort zones to do unscripted storytelling!

We know you’ll love it!

P.S. I turned off comments on this post so you can just enjoy watching. If you want to comment, you can on the Episode 101: Out of Our Comfort Zone with Mark Petruska post.

Search (and subscribe!) for Sharing the Heart of the Matter on Apple, Amazon, Spotify or Pocket Casts OR Listen to it from your computer on Anchor: Episode 101: Out of Our Comfort Zone with Mark Petruska

Episode 101 Transcript

AND subscribe to our YouTube channel to see a video clip of each story: @SharingtheHeartoftheMatter.

Links for this Episode:

Mark’s book – a brilliant thriller: https://www.amazon.com/No-Time-Kings-Mark-Petruska/dp/1614344604

Mark’s blog: https://markpetruska.com/

Other Episodes with Mark:

Episode 96: Embracing Tech and Non-Tech Change with Mark Petruska

Episode 65: How to Be the New Guy with Mark Petruska

Episode 41: Enter if You Dare with Mark Petruska

Episode 33: Love Lessons with Mark Petruska

Episode 26: Eye of the Tiger with Mark Petruska

Episode 18: No Time for Kings with Mark Petruska

From the hosts:

Vicki’s book about resilience and love: Surviving Sue; Blog: https://victoriaponders.com/

My book about my beloved father: Finding My Father’s Faith

(featured photo from Pexels)

One Hundred and Still Going Strong

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“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” – Thomas Edison

In the senior living community where my mom lives, there are several people over 100 years of age. My kids love hearing stories about them and meeting them in the hallway. After all, if you reach 100, you’ve probably learned a thing or two, right?

Let’s hope so because Vicki Atkinson and I are celebrating our 100th episode of the Sharing the Heart of the Matter podcast. I’m just so incredibly grateful that Vicki, my podcast partner and dear friend, was and continues to be willing to do a storytelling and author podcast with me. Despite the fact that we’ve never met, this has been such a rich collaboration in which I’ve learned SO MUCH from the ever insightful, engaging, and sunny, Dr. Vicki!

We’ve also learned a bit about podcasting over these two years. So we sit down to mark the moment and answer four questions:

  • What were our favorite stories?
  • Do we have a biggest a-ha moment?
  • What have we learned as hosts?
  • Goals for the Sharing the Heart of the Matter podcast in 2025?

Vicki shares that she actually went back and listened to the very first episode. She says that instead of the cringe-worthy moment she expected, it was worth listening to our goals of being authentic and vulnerable.

We also spend some time laughing about the technical difficulties we’ve encountered along the way. In spite of those, we’ve forged through and added features like captions and transcripts to make the podcast more accessible.

In this celebratory moment, we honor all the incredible and inspiring guests we’ve had on and applaud our wonderful listeners and subscribers. We couldn’t be more grateful for all of you who’ve accompanied us on this journey.

I’m confident you’ll love the scenic and beautiful places we explore as we share the power of storytelling and pause to celebrate before we move on to the next 100 episodes!

We know you’ll love it!

Please help us celebrate 100 episodes by subscribing on YouTube and Spotify!

Search (and subscribe!) for Sharing the Heart of the Matter on Apple, Amazon, Spotify or Pocket Casts OR Listen to it from your computer on Anchor: Episode 100: Celebrate with Us!

HoTM Episode 100 transcript

AND subscribe to our YouTube channel to see a video clip of each story: @SharingtheHeartoftheMatter.

Links for this Episode:

GRATITUDE for the Guests that have joined us on these 100 episodes – sometimes even more than once!

From the hosts:

Vicki’s book about resilience and love: Surviving Sue; Blog: https://victoriaponders.com/

My book about my beloved father: Finding My Father’s Faith;

(featured photo from Pexels)