6-minute Stories
465 episodes - English - Latest episode: 17 days ago - ★★★★★ - 24 ratingsTrue, personal stories from new voices and experienced writers resonating with the themes of the Personal Essay/Story Publishing Projects: "Bearing Up" (2018) and "Exploring" (2019).
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Episodes
"They Don't Leave Us" by Lorraine Martin Bennett
October 12, 2022 09:00 - 7 minutes - 9.31 MBLorraine Martin Bennett is a print, web, and broadcast journalist who grew up in Murphy, North Carolina. After graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill, she began her career on the Atlanta Journal, writing features and covering news. She became the first woman to head a domestic bureau at the Los Angeles Times. She joined a fledgling CNN, completing her career at CNN International. She still practices her craft by copy editing and occasionally writing stories for the Clay County Progress weekly. Her ...
"Homeless in LA" by Jill Amber Chafin
October 08, 2022 09:00 - 8 minutes - 11 MBJill Amber Chafin is a personal finance writer for LendingTree, an aerial dance teacher, and a mother to two small children in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She co-hosts a nation-wide writers’ critique group where she teaches workshops on the craft of writing. She is currently querying agents for her domestic novel while also working on a young adult novel and her memoir. This story is one of many unique adventures she shared with her eccentric family.
"Poor James" by Mary Clements Fisher
October 05, 2022 09:00 - 8 minutes - 11 MBMary Clements Fisher relished her careers as an educator and businesswoman and celebrates her current mother/grandmother, sweetheart, student, and writer status in Northern California. Writing makes sense of her mad and muddled moments. She published in Quail Belle Magazine, Adanna Journal, Passager Journal, The Weekly Avocet, Personal Story Publishing Project, Prometheus Dreaming Journal, and The Closed Eye Open. Join her @maryfisherwrites and https://maryfisherwrites.squarespace.com
"Metamorphosis" by Catherine C. Con
October 01, 2022 09:00 - 8 minutes - 10.4 MBCatherine C. Con, published in Emrys Journal, Tint Journal, The Bare Life Review, The Petigru Review, HerStry, Shards, Emrys Journal Online, National Women's History Museum, Catfish Stew, Change Seven, Longridge Review, Limit Experience Journal, On The Run, Light House Weekly, New York Times, Black Fork Review. Nominated for 2020 PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers; selected for "2020 Local Authors" by Greenville County Library, SC. Finalist for the Anne C. Barnhill ...
"Medusa's Diary" by Rose-Mary Harrington
September 28, 2022 09:00 - 9 minutes - 9.54 MBRose-Mary resides in Wilmington, North Carolina. Rose-Mary is a member of the Cape Fear Poetry and Prose Society and the Port City Playwrights Project. Her background is in theatre. Rose-Mary’s plays that have been performed all over the Unites States and Great Britain. In 2018 her full-length play Detained was produced by Up Theatre, New York. Rose-Mary was winner of the New Playwrights Project by Utah Shakespeare Company for her play Six Seconds. Rose-Mary is a life member of the Dramatist...
"The Misunderstood Adventures of Godfrey Saddler" by Eric D. Johnson
September 24, 2022 09:00 - 7 minutes - 9.44 MBEric D Johnson lives in Bluffton, South Carolina, where he is a member of the Island Writers Network. Eric is the author of Run to Win and has recently completed his second novel A Second Coming, due to launch in 2022. Eric has contributed to the anthology Journey into My Brother’s Soul and two Island Writers Network anthologies, Reflections and Ripples. Eric enjoys life in the Lowcountry with his wife Gwen and fawning over his granddaughter Gia.
"No More Kisses" by Annette Brown
September 21, 2022 09:00 - 8 minutes - 10.1 MBAnnette L. Brown lives in Atwater, California on an almond farm where she has been writing for her own pleasure for over 30 years. Following her recent retirement from teaching, she has become serious about refining her craft and to this end feels privileged to be part of two writing groups: the Taste Life Twice Writers and the Light Makers’ Society. Annette is inspired by nature, family, beauty, and humor. Pieces reflecting those inspirations have been published in Cathexis Northwest Press ...
"Fugitive Spirits" by Gail Tyson
September 17, 2022 09:00 - 8 minutes - 11.3 MBThe 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.
"Capers in the Convent and a Sinner's Surprise" by Mary Alice Dixon
September 14, 2022 09:00 - 8 minutes - 8.41 MBMary Alice Dixon lives in Charlotte, NC, where she is a hospice volunteer, former professor, and happy member of Charlotte Writers Club and Charlotte Lit. She is a Pushcart nominee, Pinesong Award winner, Broad River Review Rash Award in Poetry finalist, and LIT/south fiction finalist. Her work appears in the PSPP anthologies That Southern Thing, Trouble, and Curious Stuff and is in, or forthcoming from, Amethyst Review, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Kakalak, Main Street Rag, moonShine review, ...
"The Bus Children" by Becky Gould Gibson
September 10, 2022 09:00 - 7 minutes - 7.38 MBBecky Gould Gibson has published eight collections of poetry, notably, Aphrodite’s Daughter (Texas Review Press, 2007); Need-Fire (Bright Hill Press, 2007); Heading Home (Main Street Rag, 2014); The Xanthippe Fragments (Saint Andrews Review Press, 2016); and Indelible (The Broadkill River Press, 2018). Her current focus is creative nonfiction. Two short pieces have appeared in print, one in Canary, another in Snowy Egret. Becky Gibson taught English at Guilford College until her retirement i...
"Confessions of an Ex-Poetry Editor" by Ruth Moose
September 07, 2022 09:00 - 11 minutes - 15.9 MBRuth Moose was on the Creative Writing faculty at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill for 15 years. She has published three collections of short stories, The Wreath Ribbon Quilt, Dreaming in Color, and Neighbors and Other Strangers with individual stories in numerous publications including in Holland, South Africa, England, and Denmark. Moose has published six collections of poetry, most recently, The Librarian and Other Poems and Tea. She received a MacDowell Fellowship, a North Ca...
Welcome to Season 6 - "Twists and Turns"
September 04, 2022 09:00 - 8 minutes - 9.55 MBWelcome to Season 6 of 6-minute Stories. Today, you will hear the introduction to the collection of 50 stories shared on the theme of Twists and Turns. All the stories are printed in our seventh collection for the Personal Story Publishing Project. You will hear a new story twice weekly dropped into our 6-minute Stories podcast for your listening pleasure and for your thoughtful consideration. Thank you for joining all these writers on their life journeys full of twists and turns.
"Picking Up the Pieces" by Randell Jones
August 31, 2022 09:00 - 7 minutes - 9.63 MBRandell Jones is an award-winning writer about the pioneer and Revolutionary War eras and North Carolina history. For 13 years, he served as an invited member of the Road Scholars Speakers Bureau of the North Carolina Humanities Council. In 2013, the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution conferred upon him its national History Award Medal. During 25 years, he has written 100+ history-based guest columns for the Winston-Salem Journal. He created the Personal Story Publishing ...
"When Handkerchiefs Were Fashionable" by Kaye Threatt
August 27, 2022 09:00 - 7 minutes - 8.56 MBKaye Threatt lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. "When Handkerchiefs Were Fashionable" is her third story to be chosen for publication in the Personal Story Publishing Project series. In addition to short stories, she recently wrote her memoir after much encouragement from her husband and daughter.
"Three Blank Pieces of Paper" by Joy York
August 24, 2022 09:00 - 8 minutes - 10.3 MBJoy York lives in Greenwood, Indiana. Her inspiration for writing came from her grandmother’s tradition of oral storytelling. Joy has been writing for fifteen years and is currently a member of the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She self-published her first book, The Bloody Shoe Affair: A daring and thrilling adventure with the jailer’s daughter, a young adult mystery/coming of age novel, in 2015. Genuine Deceit: A Suspense Novel was released in May 2021 on Amazon.
"Zippers Away" by Tonya Penrose
August 20, 2022 09:00 - 8 minutes - 10.1 MBAs an author, Tonya Penrose is moved by the effect humor and narratives have on readers. She is enthusiastic about crafting stories with beguiling characters, adding dashes of humor and engaging dialogue that leave her fingerprint on each page. Tonya is published in anthologies, e-magazines, local press, and literary magazines. She’s a member of Poets and Writers. Her books include Old Mountain Cassie: The Three Lessons, A Secret Gift, Baubles to Die For, and Red, White, and Boom. Releases...
"When West Meets East" by Jane Satchell McAllister
August 17, 2022 09:00 - 8 minutes - 10.3 MBJane Satchell McAllister's writings draw inspiration from the wide variety of people and places she encounters, from her home base in Davie County, North Carolina, to rich adventures across our country and abroad. She has co-authored two Images of America books through Arcadia Publishing and served for nine years as director of the county public library. Her current writing project is compiling her family’s stories so descendants can better understand and enjoy their heritage.
"Dancing Holes in Her Shoes" by Lisa Williams Kline
August 13, 2022 09:00 - 7 minutes - 7.93 MBLisa Williams Kline’s essays and stories have appeared in Literary Mama, Skirt, Sasee, Carolina Woman, moonshine review, The Press 53 Awards Anthology, Idol Talk, and the Personal Story Publishing Project, among others. She is the author of a short story collection called Take Me (Main Street Rag), as well as ten novels for young readers. She lives in Davidson with her husband, who is a retired veterinarian, an attack cat who can open doors, and a sweet chihuahua who hardly ever barks.
"Firkins" by Rosemary V. James
August 10, 2022 09:00 - 8 minutes - 10.1 MBRosemary V. James currently resides in Richmond, Kentucky. A retired Occupational Therapist, her pride in life are her eight grandchildren. She is a proud Appalachian woman raised in Estill County, Kentucky. Rosemary began writing in 2019 after the passing of her husband, attending the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning in Lexington, Kentucky. Where she is currently completing the Author Academy 2021-2022, writing a socially informed memoir on child abuse and domestic violence’s impac...
"Sundays at the Beach" by Jane Birnbach
August 06, 2022 09:00 - 7 minutes - 8.82 MBJane Birnbach lives in Wilmington, North Carolina, where she works as a professional fundraiser for a local nonprofit. She has been working with a writing coach for four years and has recently completed a memoir. Jane is a member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network and participates in The Wilmington Write to Publish Group. Professionally she has written grants securing millions of dollars and has also written for several newspapers. Currently Jane is working on additional edits to her mem...
"Mustard Plasters, Chiggers, and Thunder Mugs--Southern Oddities" by Phyliss Grady Adcock
August 03, 2022 09:00 - 7 minutes - 8.36 MBAfter teaching for 34 years, Phyliss Grady Adcock, retired in Morehead City, North Carolina. Her writing has appeared in Mailbox Magazine, Teacher’s Helper, That Southern Thing, Luck and Opportunity, and Trouble. Her grant writing netted over $5,000 for classroom projects. For one grant proposal, she was recognized as the first Raychem Educator of the Year. She is listed in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers for 1996 and 2000. She is currently writing humorous stories about the colorful char...
"Something from Nothing" by R.V. Kuser
July 30, 2022 09:00 - 7 minutes - 8.65 MBR.V. Kuser resides in Winston Salem, North Carolina. He is an advocate, educator, motivational speaker, consultant, and author of two books. He is also a Southeast ADA (American with Disabilities Act) Trainer Member. R.V. is on a lifelong quest for ways to overcome misperceptions about individuals living with disabilities. To let everyone know, we CAN do anything. With his wife, Marlene, they both give a greater insight when speaking publicly and advocating. They would love to hear from you—...
"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Foreword, 1927"
July 27, 2022 09:00 - 8 minutes - 7.82 MBThis is a bonus episode --a reprise from July 3, 2021 —another reason to celebrate the Fourth of July Writers and readers alike will enjoy this bit of literary history shared in the publisher’s foreword of the 1927 re-issue of the 1866 original.
"Music Box Memories" by Barbara Houston
July 23, 2022 09:00 - 7 minutes - 9.6 MBBarbara Houston lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. A member of a memoir writing group, the Scribblers, she is currently writing stories about her life. After college, Barbara taught English for four years. Other career moves steered her to training and human resources. She served as Director of Human Resources at Discovery Place Museum in Charlotte for over ten years. Now retired, Barbara enjoys her writing projects, reading fiction, singing with The Charlotte Singers, spending time with fa...
"Double-barrel Memories" by Zeke Benjamin
July 20, 2022 09:00 - 6 minutes - 8.24 MBEdgar L. Benjamin, nickname Zeke, lives in Mountville, South Carolina. He is a graduate of Clemson University and is retired from the US Postal Service and from the South Carolina Army National Guard. This is his first attempt at writing, but he hopes to write more short stories in the future. He hopes you enjoy it.
"Who's That Lady" by Paula Teem Levi
July 16, 2022 09:00 - 7 minutes - 8.68 MBPaula Teem Levi is a retired Registered Nurse living in Clover, South Carolina. She is a member of several genealogical societies. Her stories, “Broken Branch,” “You Got You Another One,” “Bury Me With My People,” and “That Blue Tick Hound” appeared in earlier anthologies of the Personal Story Publishing Project. Her goal is to preserve as many family stories as possible for future generations so that they will not be at risk of being forgotten or lost forever.
"Banya Lessons" by Joel R. Stegall
July 13, 2022 09:00 - 7 minutes - 9.12 MBJoel R. Stegall, a music professor and academic administrator, began his academic career as a choir director and then chair of the music department at Mars Hill University. He later served in administrative posts at Ithaca College, the University of Florida, and Shenandoah University. From this last post, he developed and led a Russian/American academic exchange program. Since retiring to Winston-Salem, he has worked as an academic consultant, amateur woodworker and as a not-quite-inept gene...
"My Old Chevy" by Joe Brown
July 09, 2022 09:00 - 7 minutes - 8.64 MBJoseph Brown is a native of North Carolina, born in Yadkin County and reared in Davie County. He now resides in the Bethania area of Forsyth County and has lived all his life within 40 miles of his birthplace. In February 2020 he retired from 50 years in the construction industry. Most of his previous writing has been daily journals on his mission trips to Kentucky, Canada, and Ecuador. Several of his published stories have appeared in earlier collections of Personal Story Publishing Projects.
“A Walk on the Moor with Emily” by Cherie Cox
July 06, 2022 09:00 - 7 minutes - 10 MBCherie Cox of Charlotte, North Carolina, enjoys poets and writers. A journalist and attorney, she placed first in Charlotte Writers Club poetry awards, 2002. Her published work includes the literary and the legal: Hickory Daily Record, Kakalak, Personal Story Publishing Project, North Carolina legal periodicals and The Kissing Bough (Christmas Stories).
"Independence Day, 1968" by Jim Billman
July 02, 2022 09:00 - 7 minutes - 8.67 MBJim Billman lives in Owensboro, Kentucky, and has been a soldier, an educator, and the owner of a small construction business. Now devoting much of his time to writing, he has authored a non-fiction book about public school reform and a historical mystery novel. His present work is a coming-of-age novel about a young man who moves from a rural school to an inner-city one.
"An Angel's Smile" by Janet K. Baxter
June 29, 2022 09:00 - 8 minutes - 9.54 MBJanet K. Baxter lives in Kings Mountain, North Carolina and is a member of the Charlotte Writer’s Club and Scribblers, a memoir critique group. Her stories, “Horse Whispering for the Average Woman,” “Southern Blues,” “A Frank Lesson,” and “Cappie, The Boomerang Horse” appeared in Exploring, That Southern Thing, Luck and Opportunity, and Trouble, four previous anthologies published by the Personal Story Publishing Project. Her story, “Your Classic Friend, Frank” won second place in the 2019 N...
"Initially Disappointed" by Suzanne Cottrell
June 25, 2022 09:00 - 7 minutes - 8.86 MBSuzanne Cottrell, a member of Creative Voices, Taste Life Twice Writers, and NC Writers’ Network, lives with her husband in Granville County, NC. 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, Quail Bell Magazine, Parks and Points, and Nailpolish Stories. She’s the author of three poetry chapbooks: Gifts of...
"Rock-a-bye in Aunt Adelaide's Bed" by Janet Lynne Douglass
June 22, 2022 09:00 - 7 minutes - 9.05 MBJanet Lynne Douglass is a Family Nurse Practitioner in South Carolina. She received her undergraduate and Master of Nursing degrees from the University of South Carolina. She received her Doctor of Nursing Practice from The George Washington University in Washington D.C. Janet has published works in academic journals including "A Nurse’s Personal Story, from Childhood to Advanced Practice Registered Nurse." Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics, vol. 9 no. 2 (2019) and Journal of Theory Constructi...
"Bow Tie Whimsy" by Linda Freudenberger
June 18, 2022 09:00 - 6 minutes - 8.64 MB– I danced out of the store. A gift-giving lesson crosses generations.
"My Dad Was Santa Claus" by Doug Croft
June 15, 2022 09:00 - 7 minutes - 10.5 MBDoug Croft lives in Charlotte North Carolina. For his own enjoyment, he journals poetically and occasionally writes essays. His poetry has twice appeared in the Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival Boundless Anthology, Waco WordFest Cultural Arts Festival, along with three magazines: Synkroniciti, Auroras & Blossoms, Culture Cult. He has received two awards in regional writing competitions and has written five sketches which have been performed in various settings.
"The Whatzit Bag" by Maria Cloninger
June 11, 2022 09:00 - 7 minutes - 8.35 MBMaria Cloninger lives in Shelby, North Carolina. After years of crafting legal briefs for federal court as a disability specialist, Maria decided to pursue writing for pleasure. She enjoys participating in local writer groups and workshops. She also attends book signings to meet and talk with authors. She enjoys the challenge of writing short essays and stories. Here story “Trick-or-Treat Or Fraud” appeared in “Trouble,” 2021 Personal Story Publishing Project.
"SuperNova" by Ken Chamlee
June 08, 2022 09:00 - 7 minutes - 6.5 MB– all metal body, power nothing Driverhood comes in late life by way of the “battle taxi.”
"Not on My Bucket List" by Wendy A. Miller
June 04, 2022 09:00 - 8 minutes - 10.8 MB– boldly go. Touch this plant. Shout. Experience the rhythms of the jungle.
"Eleven Eleven" by J.P. McGillicuddy
June 01, 2022 09:00 - 8 minutes - 10.6 MBJ.P. McGillicuddy lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. A former magazine editor, he has authored numerous published articles spanning sports, health care and government. He also created and wrote “The Mecklenburgers,” an award-winning local television program. His poetry received a 2019 award from Charlotte Writers Club and was exhibited in Mooresville Arts “Beyond Poems and Paintings” in 2020. His essays, “The White Section,” “Opportunity Named Harry,” and “The Terror Inside” appeared in pre...
"The Class of '44 Ring" by Patricia E. Watts
May 28, 2022 09:00 - 8 minutes - 9.61 MBPatricia E. Watts lives in Mountville, South Carolina where the love of local and family history has given her a passion to write stories to pass down to her children. She has found through stories of tragedies, tears, and triumphs and even mysteries that she has a rich heritage worth telling. Four stories have appeared in previous PSPP anthologies: “A Real Small Town” in That Southern Thing, paired stories “Sometimes the Prize Goes to the Wrong Person” and “The Orphan Train” in Luck and Opp...
"The Long Short Walk" by Carlton Clayton
May 25, 2022 09:00 - 7 minutes - 9.36 MBCarlton Clayton lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he is a volunteer with the North Carolina Writer’s Network Prison Outreach Program and a member of the Charlotte Writer’s Club. Though he is working on a full-length memoir, he enjoys most the short form. Carlton also has work in Pembroke Magazine, Iron Horse Literary Review, and the New York Quarterly.
"Garage Curious" by Bill Donohue
May 21, 2022 09:00 - 8 minutes - 10.9 MBBill Donohue is a disability advocate living in Winston Salem. Most of his writing (ncwaiveractionteam.com) informs and prods legislative inertia for the 15,000 with Developmental Disabilities waiting a decade or more for services while potential caregivers struggle for a living wage. Bill’s first novel is a family’s saga with early onset dementia, chronicled in “The Kind of September,” Amazon (2013).
"The Gift That Keeps On Giving" by Marie Mitchell
May 18, 2022 09:00 - 8 minutes - 10.7 MB—the family gift exchange. A memento of special occasions becomes the gift nobody wants but everyone expects.
"The Ring" by Lynette Blair Mitchell
May 15, 2022 09:00 - 8 minutes - 9.95 MB– the cool metal, the warmth of love. By grace and by providence, improbable connections help heal.
"Why Do Things Have To Be So Hard" by Lubrina Burton
May 12, 2022 18:08 - 7 minutes - 9.39 MBLubrina Burton resides in Lexington, Kentucky and hails from rural Knox County. She credits her second-grade teacher and cousin, Ms. Thelma Buell, for first encouraging and nurturing her love of writing. Lubrina is a veteran of the U.S. Army and a graduate of Eastern Kentucky University. Currently she is enrolled in the Carnegie Center’s Author Academy in Lexington. She is working on a collection of personal essays related to her time in the military.
"The Promise of Romance" by Arlene Mandell
May 11, 2022 09:00 - 8 minutes - 9.65 MBArlene Mandell is an artist living in Linville, North Carolina; enjoy her colorful portraits at Carlton Gallery in Banner Elk. A native New Yorker, she taught in Manhattan’s Head Start program, then joined a travel magazine in Miami, Florida, where she met Captain Dan. Their relocation to the Blue Ridge Mountains inspired a love of writing. Her memoirs “Eye of the Dolphin,” “Artist Borne,” “Gobsmacked in the Gulfstream,” “Renegade Daughter,” “It Started with a Typo,” “Shopping for the Homele...
"Daisy's Rocking Chair" by Becky Scarlett
May 07, 2022 09:00 - 7 minutes - 9.28 MB– if I’d only known. While we are rocking along, some treasured reminders can slip away.
"On Wings of Angels" by Randell Jones (a reprise from May 24, 2020)
May 05, 2022 14:12 - 8 minutes - 7.93 MBSeventy-seven years ago, on May 5, 1945, during the closing days of World War II in Europe, America experienced its only casualties from enemy action against the American mainland.
"Gobsmacked" by Camille M. Abbott
May 04, 2022 09:00 - 7 minutes - 9.82 MBOriginally from California, Camille M. Abbott has called Lewisville, North Carolina, home since 1988. For decades she has created children’s stories sharing the exploits of “Herr Kater, The Cat of Nine Lives,” along with scripts for The Felt and Soul Puppeteers at Old Salem's Children's Museum in Winston-Salem. Currently she is writing the script for “The Little Red Man” production at Bethabara Historical Park, premiering in October 2022.
"The Box" by M.J. Norwood
April 30, 2022 09:00 - 7 minutes - 9.3 MBM. J. Norwood lives in East Bend, North Carolina, but spends much of her time with her husband restoring a 1966 Alberg 35 sailboat in New Bern. She is a member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network, and author of The Sandbar and The Shoals, the first two books in The Sandbar Series. Currently writing her third book, she continues to be inspired by the lasting memories of her childhood family beach trips to Topsail Island.