Daring to Tell

Jen Dupree with Slow Motion: A Memoir of Friendship, Disability & Advocacy

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 -0400

Find out more about Jen Dupree her other books and her upcoming book events at her website, jenniferdupree.com

You can order her book Slow Motion: A Memoir of Friendship, Disability & Advocacy from her publishers website, Islandport Press.

Bigger than Baseball with coach Keith Madison

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 00:00:00 -0400

Keith Madison's book Coaching With Purpose is available through his website CoachKeithMadison.com

Released with Peggy Cook

Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 -0400

In this very personal episode Peggy Cook reads from her memoir Released: Walking from Blame and Shame into Wholeness. See her art and author bio at her website.

Want to learn more about what goes into the production of an audiobook? That's what Michelle Redo and Nina Lichtenstein will discuss in a free zoom conversation happening Sunday March 22nd at 11a ET. Sign up now!

Listen to samples from all of the audiobooks put out by Flying Pig Audio, Michelle Redo's boutique audiobook business, and sign up for Michelle's free monthly newsletter, The Re-do at michelleredo.com

Listen to more of Phil Redo's music at Bandcamp, on Spotify or Apple Music

True stories from neurologist Carolyn Larkin Taylor

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 00:00:00 -0400

Learn more about neurologist Dr. Carolyn Larkin Taylor and purchase her book, Whispers of the Mind A Neurologists Memoir at her website.

Listen to more of Phil Redo's music at Bandcamp or find him on Spotify or Apple Music

Audiobooks from Flying Pig Audio 2025

Thu, 04 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Michelle plays some of her favorite clips from the audiobooks she produced this year.

Body My Life in Parts by Nina B. Lichtenstein

The Mother of All Decisions by Besty Armstrong

Meme's Famous Crepes by Theodore A. Perry

State of Maine State of Mind by Theodore A. Perry

Book title links go to Libro.FM akin to Bookshop.org for audiobooks. It supports independent bookstores and you can either purchase to listen or subscribe for a monthly credit. These audiobooks are also available through Audible.com and many other audiobook apps.

Hall of the Mountain King by Kevin MacLeod •

Edvard Grieg | http://incompetech.com

Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Cyra Sweet Dumitru reads from Words Make a Way through Fire

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Conversation with poet and writer Cyra Sweet Dumitru who reads from her new memoir Words Make a Way Through Fire: Healing After My Brother's Suicide.

Listen to more of Phil Redo's music at Band Camp, Apple Music and Spotify.

Cyra Sweet Dumitru is a published poet, instructor of poetry, writing coach, former medical writer, and one of four certified practitioners of poetic medicine living in Texas. She served as faculty in the Department of English for 20 years at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, and developed curriculum for the Institute of Poetic Medicine as faculty for the Practitioner of Poetic Medicine training program. Her poems have appeared on the walls of San Antonio’s City Hall, on city buses, been spoken on national public radio, appeared in city newspapers and national literary journals, and been read in dozens of bookstores and museums.

Her four collections of poems include: What the Body Knows (Orchard Press), Listening to Light (River Lily Press), Remains (Pecan Grove Press) and Elder Moon (Finishing Line Press). Cyra offers therapeutic writing circles for adults learning to live creatively with trauma, bereavement, depression, and anxiety. She lives in San Antonio, Texas with her family.

Gail Straub reads from Home Inside the Globe

Thu, 02 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Learn more about Gail Straub at her website GailStraub.com.

Order Home Inside the Globe

Listen to more of Phil Redo's music at Apple Music, on Spotify or at philredo.com

Nancy Collins reads from The Perfectly Imperfect Potter

Thu, 04 Sep 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Order you copy of The Perfectly Imperfect Potter. Learn more about author Nancy Collins.

Stuff for Mainers:

Meet Nancy, check out her book and perhaps even some of her pottery at one of these October 2025 events:

Sat Oct 4 at the Windham Fall Harvest Festival

Sun Oct 19 at the Rockland Sunday Stroll

Mon Oct 20 6p at Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick

Also, if you're in Maine and want to check out the often referred to "Maine Literary Salon" hosted by writer Nina Lichtenstein visit MaineWritersStudio.com or are interested in learning more about the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance visit them at MaineWriters.org.

Changing the Rules

Tue, 05 Aug 2025 00:00:00 -0400

For this episode Michelle presents the time she was the guest on a different podcast, And So, She Left. Plus, hear the "big announcement" for what's next with Daring to Tell.

Listen to more of Phil Redo's music at Bandcamp, Spotify, or Apple Music.

Remember to hit follow in your podcast app so you can automatically receive new episodes when they get released each month.

Butterflies

Tue, 01 Jul 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Be sure to hit "follow" in your podcast app so new episodes will automatically download each month.

Check out Michelle's first episode about the monarch caterpillar that arrived at her doorway in Maine

Listen to more of Phil Redo's music

Elissa Altman reads from Permission

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Get Elissa Altman's Permission (ha!) at her website, ElissaAltman.com where you can also subscribe to her Substack, Poor Man's Feast.

Don't forget to hit Follow so Daring To Tell will automatically drop into your podcast app each month!

Sign up for Michelle Redo's newsletter, The Re-do, for more contemplations on the topics in each episode at MichelleRedo.com.

Listen to more of Phil Redo's music at Apple Music, on Spotify, or on Bandcamp

Nina Lichtenstein reads from Body: My Life in Parts

Tue, 06 May 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Visit Nina Lichtenstein's website to pre-order her new memoir Body: My Life in Parts available May 27th!

Visit Maine Writer's Studio for information about her October retreat "Embodied Stories", as well as upcoming workshops and the next monthly Literary Salon.

Check out Nina Lichtenstein's Substack, The Viking Jewess and Other Curiosities

Listen to Nina reading from another Body chapter, Eyes, on episode 43 of Daring to Tell.

Check out more of Phil Redo's music.

Keep listening!

The Mother of All Decisions with Betsy Armstrong

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Be sure to click follow on this podcast so you'll get the new episode that posts on the first Tuesday of each month.

For April 2025 host Michelle Redo talks with Betsy Armstrong about her debut memoir, The Mother of All Decisions: A Memoir of Mother Loss, Legacy and Adopting Kids in Midlife.

Daring to Tell is proud to be a sponsor at this year's Woodstock Bookfest, April 4-6. Hear Michelle talk with festival director Martha Frankel here and Sari Botton, moderator of the panel discussion called On Permission: Daring to Tell, here.

Be sure to sign up for Michelle Redo's newsletter, The Re-do at michelleredo.com

Hear more of Phil Redo's music on Bandcamp, Apple Music and Spotify.

Woodstock Bookfest 2025 with Martha Frankel

Sat, 08 Mar 2025 00:00:00 -0400

The only link to click on is for Woodstock Bookfest 2025! Get your tickets now!

Sari Botton Reads from And You May Find Yourself

Tue, 04 Mar 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Links from this episode:

Woodstock Bookfest

Sari Botton on Substack

Sari Botton's Essay at 100 Days of Creative Resistance

Michelle Redo's website

Phil Redo's music

Thanks for listening!

Ching Ching Tan reads from An Extra

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Don't forget to follow this podcast!

Emerging writer Ching Ching Tan reads from her as-of yet-unpublished memoir, An Extra.

Learn more about her and read some of her other publications at chingchingtan.com

I can't vouch for what this website is selling, but this is a place where you can see the components Ching Ching describes in the traditional Chinese character for listening.

Listen to more of Phil Redo's music on Apple Music or Spotify, as well as here.

Tony Perry reads from Meme's Famous Crepes

Tue, 07 Jan 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Thanks for listening to this lastest audiobook production from Flying Pig Audio!

Meme's Famous Crepes: Les Crepes Celebres de Memere, is now available as both a paperback and an audiobook-read by its author Tony Perry in both English and French.

Learn more about Tony Perry at his website, State of Maine State of Mind.

Sign up for the Daring to Tell podcast newsletter The Re-do at michelleredo.com or subscribe to my free, occasional Substack newsletter called Ineffable: Big Thoughts from a Little Farmhouse in Maine.

Tova Mirvis reads from The Book of Separation

Tue, 03 Dec 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Thanks for listening to Daring to Tell with Michelle Redo--which just won a 2024 Silver for Best Indie Podcast from the Signal Awards!

Learn more about Tova Mirvis and all her books at her website... TovaMirvis.com

Listen to more of Phil Redo's music at his bandcamp page... philredo.bandcamp.com on Spotify or Apple Music.

Roadtrip through Iran and Afganistan with Robert Norris

Tue, 05 Nov 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Find out more about writer Robert Norris at robertwnorris.com where you can also order his book The Good Lord Willing and the Creek Don't Rise: Pentimento Memories of Mom and Me.

And if you enjoyed this episode you might also enjoy Daring to Tell's episode with Chris Woolf reading from his book Bumbling Through the Hindu Kush.

Listen to more of Phil Redo's music at Bandcamp or on Spotify.

David Stuart MacLean with The Answer to the Riddle is Me: A Memoir of Amnesia

Tue, 01 Oct 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Check out David Stuart MacLean and his book, The Answer to the Riddle is Me: A Memoir of Amnesia

Learn more about Michelle Redo and sign up for my newsletter, The Re-do at MichelleRedo.com

Listen to more music from Phil Redo on Band Camp, or search for Phil Redo at Spotify or Apple Music.

Thanks for listening!

Nina Lichtenstein reads Latchkey Kid and Eyes

Tue, 03 Sep 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Visit Maine Writer's Studio for more info about the Embodied Stories Writing Retreat with writer and teacher Nina Lichtenstein

If you haven't listened to Nadine Kenney Johnstone's podcast Heart of the Story, I don't know what you're waiting for!

A Vulnerability Talk with Nadine Kenney Johnstone

Tue, 06 Aug 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Links from the episode:

Subscribe to Michelle Redo's free Substack-- Ineffable

Listen to Nadine Kenney Johnstone's podcast Heart of the Story

Listen to This Jungian Life podcast

The start of something NEW (again?)

Tue, 02 Jul 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Michelle's New Substack page

Nancy Schnog's Writer's Digest article on what to do with your old journals

Nadine Kenney Johnstone and Melanie Brooks' workshop Writing Hard Stories

Listen to audiobook samples, sign up for Michelle's Daring to Tell newsletter, The Re-do, and listen to other Daring to Tell episodes at michelleredo.com

Melanie Brooks A Hard Silence AUDIOBOOK- now available!

Tue, 18 Jun 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Download the audiobook of A Hard Silence, by Melanie Brooks before July 2nd to receive a special sale price at any audiobook retailer!

A Hard Silence at Audible

A Hard Silence at Libro.FM

Check out AudioFile Magazine for more audiobook recommendations and reviews

Sign up for Michelle Redo's newsletter at michelleredo.com where you can also hear a sample of A Hard Silence, and other Flying Pig Audiobook productions!

How To Be Old with Lyn Slater

Tue, 04 Jun 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Yes, she's the creator of the Accidental Icon and in this conversation we talk about social justice and aging and burnout and the many layers and iterations of who she was before that "happy accident" that led her to the top of the fashion world, and who she is becoming next.

Check out Lyn Slater's Substack to follow her post-Accidental Icon writing.

Maine, A Love Story with Blue Butterfield

Tue, 07 May 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Maine, A Love Story by Blue Butterfield

See it. Read it. A finalist in the 2023 Memoir category from the Maine Writers and Publisher's Alliance.

Listen to more of Phil Redo's music.

Abigail Thomas reads new work Deathbed Regrets

Tue, 02 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Abigail Thomas author of the memoirs Still Life at Eighty, A Three Dog Life, What Comes Next and How to Like it, and Safekeeping talks with Michelle Redo about writing and life, and reads from some new writing she's been doing, a piece called Deathbed Regrets.

Listen to The Band's Stagefright

Link to Abigail Thomas' books from The Golden Notebook, Woodstock, NY.

Book Marketing Talk with Jenn Hanson-dePaula

Tue, 05 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Equally daring to writing your memoir is then, the work of marketing it.

Jenn Hanson-dePaula shares valuable info and insight about marketing your book. And by the way... even if you're only working on your manuscript, it's not too early to start thinking about who you want to connect with about your story.

Learn more about Jenn Hanson-dePaula, Book Marketing Simplified and Mixtus Media.

Jenn also talks about the Rick Rubin book The Creative Act and author Sally Pla.

Michelle also mentions her interview with Diane Gottlieb's blog WomanPause.

And Always One More Time with Margaret Mandell

Tue, 06 Feb 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Thanks for listening!

Visit Margaret Mandell's website

Pre-order And Always One More Time at Barnes & Noble or Amazon.

Read Margaret's essays at Oldster and Brevity Blog.

Listen to more of Phil Redo's music at Bandcamp

Beginnings and Endings and Nothing

Tue, 02 Jan 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Mentioned in this episode...

Heart of the Story Podcast with Nadine Kenney Johnstone

A Hard Silence by Melanie Brooks

Sushi Tuesdays Audiobook by Charlotte Maya

Open Heart Project of Susan Piver

Listen to more of Phil Redo's music

Add a Tip to help support this podcast

Awakenings with Diane Gottlieb and Nina Lichtenstein

Tue, 05 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0400

Michelle Redo talks with Diane Gottlieb, Editor of the new essay anthology called Awakenings: Stories of Body & Consciousness. Diane also is the Prose/CNF editor of Emerge Literary Journal, and has a blog called WomenPause- conversations with women over 50 and the people who love them.

Nina Lichtenstein is the founder of Maine Writers Studio, and the author of the forthcoming memoir, Body: My Life in Parts, due for publication in the spring of 2025 from Vine Leaves Press. (Quite coincidentally, the same publisher of Melanie Brooks's memoir featured just last month on Daring to Tell—A Hard Silence.)

Listen to more of Phil Redo's music at Bandcamp or on Spotify.

A Hard Silence with Melanie Brooks

Tue, 07 Nov 2023 00:00:00 -0400

Author Melanie Brooks is back with the release of her memoir A Hard Silence: One daughter remaps family, grief, and faith when HIV/AIDS changes it all.

More about her first book, Writing Hard Stories: Celebrated Memoirists Who Shaped Art from Trauma.

Listen to more of Phil Redo's music

I Believed You with Margaret Mandell

Tue, 03 Oct 2023 00:00:00 -0400

Learn more about Margaret Mandell at her website, MargaretSMandell.com

Listen to more of Phil Redo's music

Exciting News-And So, She Left-BONUS

Sat, 23 Sep 2023 00:00:00 -0400

I hope you'll check out this special And So, She Left podcast episode featuring guest, Michelle Redo--which is a finalist for a Signal Award!

If you are inclined please click to vote for this podcast before October 6th. And So, She Left is hosted by Katherin Vasilopoulos, produced by Ethan Lee and put out by Cansulta.

Thanks for daring to listen!

Making of Sushi Tuesdays AUDIOBOOK with Charlotte Maya

Tue, 05 Sep 2023 00:00:00 -0400

Debut memoirist Charlotte Maya now has a self-narrated audiobook of Sushi Tuesdays: A Memoir of Love, Loss and Family Resilience, produced by Michelle Redo. In this episode they talk about writing the book about the suicide death of Charlotte's husband, Sam Maya, as well as sharing what it was like to read and produce the audiobook.

Listen to Michelle's first conversation with Charlotte Maya on Daring to Tell in April of 2023.

Watch Karin Gutman- The Spirit of Story video interviews with Charlotte Maya among others.

More music by Phil Redo

BONUS-Spoiler Conversation on The Butcher, The Embezzler and The Fall Guy

Tue, 22 Aug 2023 00:00:00 -0400

Spoiler Alert! In this bonus episode Michelle Redo talks with author Gretchen Cherington about all the revelations she discovered through writing The Butcher, The Embezzler and The Fall Guy: A Family Memoir of Scandal and Greed in the Meat Industry.

Jody J. Sperling with The 9 Lives of Marva DeLonghi

Tue, 01 Aug 2023 00:00:00 -0400

A discussion about fiction and nonfiction with Jody J. Sperling about his new Speculative Fiction Detective Novel- The 9 Lives of Marva DeLonghi.

Listen to more of Phil Redo's music.

Brave No More: An Essay by Michelle Redo

Tue, 04 Jul 2023 00:00:00 -0400

Michelle Redo invites Katherin Vasilopoulos to guest host when Michelle reads her own essay--Brave No More. Check out Katherin's podcast And So, She Left.

Curious about the Bugzooka?

Pauline Oliveros died in 2016 but her Deep Listening Institute continues to resound.

Listen to more of Phil Redo's music.

Gretchen Cherington with The Butcher, The Embezzler, and The Fall Guy

Tue, 06 Jun 2023 00:00:00 -0400

Check out Gretchen Cherington's NEW memoir, The Butcher, The Embezzler, and The Fall Guy: A Family Memoir of Scandal and Greed in the Meat Industry.

Listen to more of Phil Redo's music.

Brad Listi with Be Brief and Tell Them Everything

Tue, 02 May 2023 00:00:00 -0400

If you like this podcast, you might also like my monthly newsletter... Hit Pause. Sign up for it at my website michelleredo.com

Get your copy of Be Brief And Tell Them Everything, and listen to Brad Listi's podcast Otherppl.

Listen to Jody Sperling's podcast TRBM; check out his new book The 9 Lives of Marva DeLonghi

Phil Redo has lots more music. Check it out!

Sushi Tuesdays with Charlotte Maya

Tue, 04 Apr 2023 00:00:00 -0400

Writer Charlotte Maya reads from her debut memoir Sushi Tuesdays: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Family Resilience. discussing the importance of talking clearly about depression and suicide. Follow her on Instagram @charlottemayawriter

To sign up for Michelle Redo's monthly podcast newsletter called Hit Pause visit michelleredo.com

Neurosurgeon Dr. James Doty with Into the Magic Shop

Tue, 07 Mar 2023 00:00:00 -0400

Thanks for listening!

Learn more about Dr. James Doty's Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, and check out his award-winning New York Times Best Selling book Into the Magic Shop.

And you can hear Caroline Fitzgerald and I discuss healing tears in episode 5, from January of 2022.

Come Home to Your Heart with Nadine Kenney Johnstone

Tue, 14 Feb 2023 00:00:00 -0400

The rest of the episode and conversation with Writer, Podcaster and Writing Teacher Nadine Kenney Johnstone.

Listen to her podcast Heart of the Story (produced by your humble host, Michelle Redo) and be sure to pre-order her book and guided journal Come Home to Your Heart today!

Journaling with Nadine Kenney Johnstone

Tue, 07 Feb 2023 00:00:00 -0400

Preliminary conversation with writing teacher, podcaster and retreat leader Nadine Kenney Johnstone, in advance of her new book announcement coming Sunday Feb 12 on Heart of the Story! Be sure to check it out. Then Nadine will read a chapter from her new book on Daring to Tell, later this month.

The Colors I Saw with Eliza C Walton

Tue, 03 Jan 2023 00:00:00 -0400

Where is truth fiction and fiction truth especially when one's reality becomes a diagnosis of rectal cancer?

"At the very least, it’s a sign of life. The source of my embarrassment speaks of existence. I am alive."

In her memoir Eliza Walton shares her actual experience and pushes us into those spaces where she gives life to a fictional edgy alter ego with a deft hand.

Michelle Redo talks with Maine writer Eliza Walton about her book, The Colors I Saw: A Cancer Memoir, published in 2019. You can contact Eliza through her publisher Golden Alley Press.

Follow me on Twitter @michelleredo

***

Here's a look at the opening of the December newsletter... if you want to receive the rest of the story just email me at michelle@michelleredo.com.

A Turtle and a Piano

The other day I walked into the big box pet store on the hunt for Rocky’s “slow eating chicken” as we call it. I breezed down the main aisle past the rodents and reptiles when something charming and green arrested me so I had to turn three paces back to bend down and look.

It was a turtle.

A testudo tortoise in fact, maybe about the size of my fully outstretched hand, and he had a good deal of height too. Maybe four inches or so? The brightest green of his head and legs leapt out at me with an undertone of darker grayish green. He was crawling just a little. His head stretched towards a bowl of greens, his front legs reaching forward. Basically, there was motion, which seems rare for a pet store reptile. He wasn’t static, not hiding. And I was immediately smitten. Could I bring home a turtle? What would Rocky think? What would Phil think?

I didn’t know you could even get turtles anymore. I had one of those tiny ones as pets when I was little. The ones so small they may get stuck under the radiator… probably desperately seeking heat, only finding dust. While I don’t recall mine dying, I don’t recall having them for very long either. Maybe they escaped? Stayed under the radiator?

Why do I love turtles so? I don’t know. I’d kind of forgotten that I find them so captivating. With their ability to just tuck in at any moment and hide from the world. That lovely thick shell, almost impermeable. A slow, steady creature without many natural predators, and that life span!

This turtle, the label proclaimed, had an average lifespan of fifty years.

What? This little guy? Fifty years?

Hmm… With this new info I looked at him wistfully, pulled out my phone and clicked a picture of this fine little being and wished him well. I stood up, and continued on my mission for slow-eating chicken (for some reason, Rocky always leaves some in his dish for later). I jabbed at my phone as I sent the picture off to Phil.

“This guy will outlive us.” Send.

It was a weird little moment. This turtle and me. It reminded me our time on this planet is not unlimited. Something we always know but brush away to be dealt with later. As if later is that promising time when we think we’ll be ready to think about our end date...

Want the rest of the story? Put "The rest of the story?" in the subject line of an email to michelle@michelleredo.com

Death Doulas, End of Life and other festive holiday topics

Tue, 06 Dec 2022 00:00:00 -0400

Visit Rachel Lee's website at This-Is-Getting-Old.com. And don't forget to check out her cartoons.

Some of the other website resources we discussed were The Conversation Project, Cake and Departing Dearly.

Have thoughts or feeback about Daring to Tell? Share with me at my website, michelleredo.com or follow me on Twitter @michelleredo

My Monarch and Me

Tue, 01 Nov 2022 00:00:00 -0400

Michelle Redo shares a story of witnessing transformation when it came to the corner of her doorway. If you are curious about some of the websites mentioned here are some links...

Wisconsin Pollinators

Journey North

Listen to more of Phil Redo's music.

Follow me on Twitter @michelleredo

The Buddhist Enneagram with Susan Piver

Tue, 04 Oct 2022 00:00:00 -0400

Host Michelle Redo shares her Enneagram number with The Open Heart Project founder and best selling author Susan Piver (a #4), who reads from her new book The Buddhist Enneagram

Sailing at the Edge of Disaster with Elizabeth Garber

Tue, 06 Sep 2022 00:00:00 -0400

Maine writer Elizabeth Garber releases Sailing at the Edge of Disaster: The Memoir of a Young Woman's Daring Year later this month, September of 2022. Check out one of her many book launch events through September and October also at ElizabethGarber.com.

Make Me Brave is written by Phil Redo, hear more of his music on Spotify or Bandcamp.

To Do No Harm with Dr. Tonya Coats

Tue, 02 Aug 2022 00:00:00 -0400

For the August episode host Michelle Redo talks with doctor, mother and writer Tonya Coats, whose essay To Do No Harm deals with themes of parenting, discrimination, and acceptance.

You can find more of Tonya's writing at River Teeth, on the Heart of the Story podcast with Nadine Kenney Johnstone, or on her own website Tonyacoatswrites.com

The other Tanya (with an a) Tanya Whiton is the writing teacher I mentioned at the top of the show. I can highly recommend signing up for one of her classes!

You can follow me on Twitter @michelleredo or sign up for the Hit Pause Newsletter at MichelleRedo.com

Thanks for listening!

Jody Sperling & personal connection on Twitter

Tue, 19 Jul 2022 00:00:00 -0400

BONUS! Michelle Redo talks with Jody Sperling, another writer/podcaster about podcasting and marketing ourselves as writers. Find Jody on Twitter @jodyjsperling and listen to his newly rebranded podcast The Reluctant Book Marketer

Follow Michelle on Twitter @michelleredo

Curious about Jody Sperling's manuscript?

THE NINE LIVES OF MARVA DELONGHI is a Speculative Noir. Marva hires Luke and Lyle, washed-up detective partners, to investigate death threats she's been receiving. Shortly after, she is murdered, and her death begins a cycle in which Luke and Lyle continue to die, returning to the moment they first met Marva in their office. Only saving her life can break the cycle.

The Wonder by Michelle Redo

Tue, 05 Jul 2022 00:00:00 -0400

My essay that won #19 in the 2021 Writers Digest Personal Essay Competition!

Today's guest host is Melanie Brooks... author of Writing Hard Stories.

This month's spotlight bookstore is Twice Told Tales on Maine St. in Brunswick. Quality used books run by the Friends of Curtis Memorial Library.

If you're curious about the Bugzooka, heard about in today's episode, here's what it looks like. I receive no proceeds from any Bugzooka sales (But I probably should!)

And check out the #Amwriting podcast's Blue Print for a Book Challenge happening this summer!

Laura Davis reads from The Burning Light of Two Stars

Tue, 07 Jun 2022 00:00:00 -0400

Go to Michelle Redo to sign up for the monthly Daring to Tell newsletter, Hit Pause. Or follow on Twitter @michelleredo

Learn more about Laura Davis, her retreats and writing classes, and her The Burning Light of Two Stars at her website.

Listen to #amwriting, another great podcast talking about all types of writing and the writing process.

Be the first person to visit Royal River Books on Main Street in Yarmouth, Maine and say you heard about them on Daring to Tell, and get your special gift bag with all kinds of fun prizes!

Thanks for Daring to LISTEN!

Third Best-An Adoption Essay with Betsy Armstrong

Tue, 03 May 2022 00:00:00 -0400

To read more of Betsy's work, including her award-winning essay The Alchemy of Apple Pie, check out her website, Betsyarmstrong.com

I hope you will also sign-up for the Daring to Tell newsletter called Hit Pause, where I share some of my other thoughts and musings as I consider the conversations we have with writers here each month, sign up for that at my website, Michelleredo.com

Looking for another podcast to check out? Listen to Heart of the Story with Nadine Kenney Johnstone for stories of healing, hope and following her heart.

And be sure to listen to the end to hear this month's special independent bookstore partner with Daring to Tell, where you can go to claim a special Daring to Tell Gift Package!

A Hard Silence — An AIDS Story with Melanie Brooks

Tue, 05 Apr 2022 00:00:00 -0400

Melanie Brooks, author of Writing Hard Stories, reads from her memoir manuscript, A Hard Silence, which shares her perspective on what it was like to grow up living with the deep secret that her father contracted AIDS in 1985 from a tainted blood transfusion.

Order a copy of Melanie's book, Writing Hard Stories online at Bookshop.org

OR...

For listeners in the vicinity of midcoast Maine, Daring to Tell wants to encourage you to get out and experience the joy and serendipity of visiting a bookstore! So we've partnered with The Corner Bookshop at 229 Water Street in Bath, Maine (right down the little alley off of Front Street). The first listener to visit in person and mention hearing this episode of Daring to Tell will win a special free Daring to Tell gift package! And anyone mentioning Daring to Tell can receive a one time 20% discount off your purchase, throughout the month of April 2022.

Also mentioned in this episode revelations by Mary Gauthier which you can read about in her book Saved by a Song: The Art and Healing Power of Songwriting.

A Preganacy Tell-All with Alena Dillon

Tue, 01 Mar 2022 00:00:00 -0400

An up-close and very personal look at what pregnancy was like, both physically and emotionally, for Alena Dillon author of the new memoir My Body is a Big Fat Temple - Real life is seldom for the squeamish... and her book is a very real look at what to expect if and when you are expecting.

Follow me on Twitter @michelleredo

Email at my website michelleredo.com

If you want to check out another podcast for writers, try Heart of the Story with writer and writing coach Nadine Kenney Johnstone.

Phuc Tran and his memoir Sigh, Gone

Tue, 01 Feb 2022 00:00:00 -0400

A discussion of tattoos, the Western Canon, alienation and never staying in the same lane, plus Phuc Tran reads two extremely intense stories for completely different reasons.

Follow Michelle on Twitter @michelleredo or connect through my website, michelleredo.com

Mothers and Daughters in Congratulations and Best Wishes with Caroline Fitzgerald

Tue, 04 Jan 2022 00:00:00 -0400

Clinical Hypnotherapist Caroline Fitzgerald reads from her yet-to-be published memoir- I Think I Might Die Without You.

Follow me on Twitter @michelleredo

This Too Shall Pass— A deeply personal essay at a sensitive time of year

Tue, 21 Dec 2021 00:00:00 -0400

Holiday time magnifies both joy and grief... Yet, the power of story helps Jeannine Burgdorf contemplate being motherless while coming to terms with infertility in this intensely vulnerable and deeply personal essay.

To read more from Jeannine visit her Substack page or follower her on Twitter and Instagram @havingfunwrong.

Follow me on Twitter @michelleredo

email: Michelle@michelleredo.com

Zibby Owens on podcasting, writing and her new publishing venture Zibby Books

Mon, 06 Dec 2021 00:00:00 -0400

The creative and business mind behind the ever-growing Mom's Don't Have Time To empire- Zibby Owens talks with Michelle Redo for this special bonus episode conversation about podcasting, writing and her newest business-story venture- Zibby Books.

The Art of Reassembly after early mother loss with Peg Conway

Tue, 02 Nov 2021 00:00:00 -0400

Peg Conway shares two chapters from her new memoir called The Art of Reassembly: A Memoir of Early Mother Loss and Aftergrief

Or email me Michelle@MichelleRedo.com

Afghanistan Historical Context

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 00:00:00 -0400

It's the season two debut! Author Chris Woolf reads from his newly released memoir, Bumbling Through the Hindu Kush: A Memoir of Fear and Kindness in Afghanistan.

Life contains expletives, and so does this episode.

Bumbling Through the Hindu Kush-BONUS PREVIEW

Tue, 17 Aug 2021 00:00:00 -0400

A journey from Kabul, Afghanistan to the city of Taloqan in 1991 as told by Chris Woolf, former BBC journalist. This special bonus episode previews his conversation with Michelle Redo in advance of the release of his forthcoming memoir, Bumbling Through the Hindu Kush: A Memoir of Fear and Kindness in Afghanistan.

Stay tuned for a section from his book for the season two launch of Daring to Tell coming in November.

Follow more about Bumbling Through the Hindu Kush on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram with #bumblingbook

Mothering Ourselves

Thu, 08 Apr 2021 00:00:00 -0400

Three essays to get you thinking about ways to prepare for Mother's Day...especially if it's a difficult holiday for you, including a virtual workshop/event featuring these three writers. It's Mother (Yourself) Day.

Whether or not you still have your mother, and whether or not you are a mother, mothering ourselves isn't necessarily obvious or intuitive or demonstrated... that's why we've put together a 90 minute virtual workshop event to remind you about the mothering skills and practices we can all bring to our lives... in order be our best selves for everyone else.

More on Peg Conway, Robyn Fisher, and Betsy Armstrong.

Comments to share about Daring to Tell? Email Michelle@michelleredo.com

On Belonging (or not), Family and Maine

Thu, 01 Apr 2021 00:00:00 -0400

In this season one finale, Nadine Kenney Johnstone steps in as guest host as Michelle reads her essay on moving to Maine, the discovery of an ancestral autobiography. Music credits for the series are the songs Make Me Brave and Nothing Like written, performed and produced by Phil Redo. Check out more of his music at Band Camp.

Music, writing, death, love, fear, success, failure, and happiness

Thu, 25 Mar 2021 00:00:00 -0400

Fearless Writing author William Kenower talks about writing music as well as prose in this contemplation of some of the big topics and fears that face writers, creative types, and human beings.

He's also host of the Author2Author podcast- great conversations with writers from all genres.

His new book, Everyone Has What It Takes comes out in June of 2021.

Questions or comments about Daring to Tell? Send them to Michelle@MichelleRedo.com

Surviving and Thriving After Domestic Violence

Thu, 18 Mar 2021 00:00:00 -0400

Sarah Malone reads a chapter from her memoir depicting a single night from early on in a thirteen year abusive relationship. Sarah talks candidly about the tenacity to get through day to day, as well as the lifelines she received by the way of positive feedback, kind words and success in the workplace when away from her home.

Sarah is on the Board of the YWCA Evanston-North Shore as well as a member with the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence in helping other women survive and thrive after domestic violence.

She is also President and Principle Consultant at The Aldon Malone Group and can be contacted through Linked In.

Childhood mother loss and discovering joy in grieving

Thu, 11 Mar 2021 00:00:00 -0400

Peg Conway's memoir The Art of Reassembly will come out later this year. And this is the link to her book group for adults bereaved in childhood.

Would you want an ebook of the essays you've heard in Daring to Tell? Would you want to read other essays or stories inspired by the series? Email me, Michelle@MichelleRedo.com.

Coldness and kindness from an ER doctor

Thu, 04 Mar 2021 00:00:00 -0400

Writer Frank Huyer is also an ER physician and reads a piece from his most recent book White Hot Light: Twenty Five Years in Emergency Medicine. It is a meditation on loneliness and a candid look both the coldness and kindness of humanity, not just in others but also within ourselves. This is an interview he did with Pen America where he discusses the role of censorship in medicine during the Covid-19 pandemic that he touches on at the end of our conversation.

A mother, her teen daughter, depression and suicide prevention

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 00:00:00 -0400

A mother's story of her teenage daughter's struggle with depression and suicide attempts early in the Covid 19 pandemic.

Writer Betsy Armstrong reads her essay about her daughter's suicide attempts, with her daughter's permission. In spite of having a background in crisis counseling a mom discusses the difficulties of treating depression when its in our own homes.

BONUS Suicide Prevention with David O'Leary and Betsy Armstrong

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 00:00:00 -0400

Boston radio morning guy David O'Leary also is a passionate suicide prevention activist with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and joins writer Betsy Armstrong and Michelle Redo for a follow-up discussion about her essay and suicide prevention.

A Physician Assistant speaks up about burnout on the job

Thu, 18 Feb 2021 00:00:00 -0400

Dermatology Physician's Assistant Hope Cook digs deep to beat back burnout on the job, every time it creeps back.

Hope also shares all her optimism, and ideas to stay motivation and inspired at her website And talks with other women who are transforming their own lives on her podcast, Recharting Your Life with Hope

A wife cares for her husband in late stage Lewy Body Dementia

Thu, 04 Feb 2021 00:00:00 -0400

Caring for a spouse in the late stages of Lewy Body Dementia. Robyn Fisher's blog and podcast are at her website, as is a resource page for Lewy Body Dementia. She also has a YouTube channel that features Bill's music and the trio they had.

A Long Walk is her podcast.

The Forgetting is a podcast that features writer and journalist Greg O'Brien, in conversation with his friend and interviewer David Shenk. Greg has committed himself to documentthe mind of someone with Alzheimer's Disease as long as he is able. He also has written a book On Pluto. Shenk has also written a book called The Forgetting.

Robyn also discusses her journey with Bill and LBD on the podcast Recharting Your Life with Hope.

A father breaks the rules at his nursing home; his daughter irreverently manages it all

Thu, 28 Jan 2021 00:00:00 -0400

Ready for some irreverent elder care insights? Writer Rachel Lee lost five parental figures in 5 years (and that was just from 2011-2015). And her website This-is-getting-old.com is there to make you laugh instead of cry while sharing stories plus valuable resources in order to help YOU navigate the waters of end of life care for elders.

Write your questions or comments about this or any episode to me at Michelle@michelleredo.com
Daring to Tell is a production of Flying Pig Audio.
Theme music from Flying Pig Music.

Memoirs, Mothers, Authenticity and Unconditional Love

Thu, 21 Jan 2021 00:00:00 -0400

Memoirs, Mothers, Authenticity and Unconditional Love

Check out Nadine Kenney Johnstone at her website. Or check out her memoir Of This Much I'm Sure.

Also, here's a link to the source of the Elizabeth Gilbert quote that Nadine referenced, plus the excerpt that she mentioned...

"The women whom I love and admire for their strength and grace did not get that way because shit worked out. They got that way because shit went wrong, and they handled it. They handled it in a thousand different ways on a thousand different days, but they handled it."

Write your questions or comments about this or any episode to me at Michelle@michelleredo.com

Daring to Tell is a production of Flying Pig Audio.

Theme music from Flying Pig Music.

Trailer

Thu, 07 Jan 2021 00:00:00 -0400

Introduction and snippets of some of the stories you'll hear throughout the season.