L.L. Kirchner's Blog, page 117

The Courage to Change Asks, And Tells, What Makes a Good Story

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This week on”The Courage to Change with Lisa Kirchner,” we sat down with actor, storyteller and writer Katherine Wessling to talk about what makes a good story. Despite Kurt Vonnegut’s simple youtube explanation of story flow, people always try to make the process seem very complex. But even if following a formula works, not every story does. Join us today at 6PM EST as two veteran storytellers share their thoughts.

Katherine Wessling has worked in almost every aspect of the magazine publishing industry, from editor-in-chief to research editor to fashion editor to writer, and is currently the director of research at a major woman’s magazine. She plays an ongoing role in the web series “Cutting Edge” in addition to other productions and performances throughout the year. She’s a teacher with Mediabistro and Ideasmyth. She’s been involved with the Moth since its earliest days.

As always, we’d love to hear from you! We’ll have a live feedback chat with Katherine, that date and time will be posted here.

Would you make good radio?

Maybe you have your own story of that time in your life when you found the inner strength to make a radical change. Hit us up on Twitter or Facebook, or Email Me! Or check out my blog. Then let’s get your story out into the world.

Thank you so much once again for listening to “The Courage to Change with Lisa Kirchner.”

For more, find me  #couragetochange @lisakirchner

#halcbook THE TRAILER

Have you been wondering how to describe Hello American Lady Creature: What I Learned as a Woman in Qatar  in about a minute? Fret no more. This handy dandy book trailer does just that. Have a look!

Order your advance, signed copy today. Click here. (U.S. only.)

The Gorilla and The Bird

This week on “The Courage to Change with Lisa Kirchner” we’re featuring Zachary McDermott, a comic, writer and attorney whose story will surprise you. In his recent essay on Gawker, Mentally Unfit, McDermott tells a very personal tale of undergoing a nervous breakdown. On our show, he reveals it was his mildest experience. But the best part is how he’s found recovery thanks to help from his mother, aka, “The Bird.” Listen live on Thursday, April 17 at 6PM EST. Or join us LIVE on Monday, April 21 at 2PM EST here.

At age 26, Zachary McDermott’s identity was solid: Wichita, Kansas native, recent graduate from UVa Law, rising stand-up comedian, and public defender in Brooklyn. His life underwent a cataclysmic change when he suffered his first psychotic break that landed him a 10-day stint in Bellevue’s locked psychiatric ward; his first of 4. McDermott feared he had become the latest member of hs family rendered incapable of taking care of himself. Today, at 31, McDermott is still practicing as a public defender. He lives and writes in Brooklyn.

For more, find me on Twitter or Facebook.  #couragetochange @lisakirchner

Or maybe you have a story we need to tell.  “The Courage to Change with Lisa Kirchner” is a weekly, half-hour radio show on Intention Radio that features guests who have face changes with courage, in order to help others find the courage to change. Would you make good radio?  Email Me! Or check out my blog.

She Realized She Could Carry On, Or Change Everything

 

A little over two years ago, Cynthia Besteman got the diagnosis no one ever wants to hear: breast cancer. She caught it early, and it was treatable, but this didn’t leave her feeling exactly “lucky” like everyone said it should. She wanted her diagnosis to make a difference in her life. She turned her diagnosis, and subsequent discovery of substandard beauty products, into a successful and philanthropic business venture. Join us  LIVE on Thursday, April 3 at 6pm EST on “The Courage to Change with Lisa Kirchner,” where she’ll discuss all the ways in which she had to change to make room for her new life. Join along on Twitter as we talk about love and death and business. Or on Facebook.  #couragetochange @lisakirchner @violetsrbluenyc  

Originally from Seattle, Cynthia Besteman moved to New York City in 1998 to attend an acting conservatory and never left. After a decade of acting on and off Broadway, she took a job in Real Estate to support her then-husband, who was a director. Successful financially, she was nonetheless not as happy as when she was acting. Her family would hide her phone because she worked constantly.

Then, in 2011, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her experiences led her to start making a skin care line for women undergoing cancer treatment. “I was in fear of what I was putting on my body and that has now become a company named Violets are Blue,” she says. “I took it one step farther and we now donate chemo skin care packages to women being treated at Mount Sinai’s Dubin Breast Center. Check out their website and products here.

Do you have a story we need to tell?  “The Courage to Change with Lisa Kirchner” is a weekly, half-hour radio show on Intention Radio featuring guests who have  changed their lives, to help others find the courage to change. Would you make good radio?  Email Me! Or check out my blog.

My Writing Process: The Blog Tour

Best tour ever, because I don’t have to leave my couch. I mean OFFICE! Thank you, world poet Sweta Vikram, for including me on this tour! If you want to know how a truly prolific writer manages it all, read Sweta’s response to the Writing Process Blog Tour , here. While you’re there, check out her work. Or buy her latest book, No Ocean Here. So good.

What am I working on?

I’m working on the follow-up to my memoir, Hello American Lady Creature: What I Learned as a Woman in Qatar (May 2014, Greenpoint Press). Another memoir, this one is about moving to India to study yoga and meditation, tentatively titled, Meeting My Inner Bitch.

 

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

How is one snowflake different from the next? Every writer has a unique voice, just like every person. 

Why do I write what I do?

I write because it’s the one thing I’ve consistently enjoyed doing my entire life. It’s where I enter that meditative state and can lose myself for hours. It’s bliss. There is no premeditated what. I have way more ideas for things I’d like to write. 

 

How does my writing process work?

My writing doesn’t always work. My process is to just keep going at a thing ’til I can’t stand it anymore, in which case I put it aside to work on later. Or the deadline comes.  

 

The ones to watch next?

Karmen Lizzul, creative director at Family Circle magazine and a Professional Coach trained through IPEC, the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching which is ICF accredited. She received her BFA from School of Visual Arts in New York, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College of Fine arts. She has won numerous awards in Graphic Design and is currently finishing up her first novel. Check out her blog here, and her radio show here.  Her mission is to inspire, connect and sometimes light a fire under your ass! 

Karen Reid was born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland, emigrated at the tender age of 23 to Australia with her then husband and two baby boys. Another move, two more children and eight years later, she moved to Doha, Qatar where she lived for 12 years. Currently in Perth, Karen is the Editor of SCRIBE magazine, an inspirational online education publication, and also works for Valued Lives, a non profit organization that helps vulnerable and disabled people have genuine control over the services they receive. To read Karen’s blogs click on their respective titles: Karen-Ology  (whatever is in my heart to share) and A Compulsive Story (her life’s journey with the disease of compulsive overeating).

Julie Threlkeld is a writer, storyteller and comedian. She appears regularly in storytelling shows in and around New York City and on storytelling podcasts such as The RISK! Show. She has written about running for Runner’s World and Running Times, and about mental health for The New York Times. Her writing and performance can be found at ModernStories.com.

As Her World Changed, This Woman Became an Author

From a single woman in search of an identity to a published author, married with two children, tonight’s guest on “The Courage to Change with Lisa Kirchner” found Qatar the ideal place to blossom. Tune in here tonight at 6pm EST to hear Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar’s story.

I knew Mohana from my time in Qatar, first in her role at Georgetown University, then when she worked at Bloomsbury Press. More recently I saw her name associated with controversy, because her first paperback, Love Comes Later – a love story set between Doha and London – was banned from distribution in Qatar. In light of rejection from the publishing industry and censorship at home, I wondered how she found the courage to keep going. To Mohana this was a no-brainer.

Join our LIVE Twitter chat on Sunday, March 30 at 3PM, using #couragetochange and following @lisakirchner and @moha_doha. For more from this prolific and courageous woman.

Rajakumar has lived in Qatar since 2005, where she met her husband, had two sons, and became a writer. She’s since published eight e-books, including a momoir for first time mothers, a guide for aspiring writers, a short story collection,  and a novel about women’s friendships. Her recent books have focused on various aspects of life in Qatar. From Dunes to Dior, named as a Best Indie book in 2013, is a collection of essays related to her experiences as a female South Asian American living in the Arabian Gulf.  Learn more about her work on her

website.

And, as always, if you you have a story we need to tell, I’d love to hear from you. Here on “The Courage to Change with Lisa Kirchner” we feature guests who have changed their lives, to help others find the courage to change. If you think you’d make good radio, email Me! Or check out my blog.

 

 

Finding Her Creative Side Changed How She Saw Her Family

 

Tonight’s guest on “The Courage to Change with Lisa Kirchner” spent much of her career around artists she admired. The she realized she wanted to be one of them. Tune in here tonight at 6pm EST to hear Dawn J. Fraser tell her story.

Dawn J. Fraser is a humorist, storyteller, and national speaker based out of New York City. She’s an Instructor with The Moth, a storytelling organization, and the host of Barbershop Stories, a storytelling show featuring performers sharing true tales in NYC salons. Dawn works with students, entrepreneurs, and business professionals to enhance their leadership potential, and has consulted with thousands of students on application strategy. She received a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University, and was presented with the Barbara Jordan Award for Women’s Leadership for connecting the arts to social change. Dawn has spoken at notable events including TED@NYC, and been a featured performer along with Neil Gaiman on The Unchained Tour. She loves being a twin, a Trinidadian and Tweetable @dawnjfraser.

We will be LIVE Tweeting this, too, and you KNOW we’re gonna have more good stories to add. Join us – @dawnjfraser and @lisakirchner – on March 25 at 3PM, using #couragetochange. Click “here” to hear the podcast anytime after it airs.  

And, as always, if you you have a story we need to tell, I’d LOVE to hear from you. Here on “The Courage to Change with Lisa Kirchner” we feature guests who have changed their lives, to help others find the courage to change. If you think you’d make good radio, email Me! Or check out my blog.

To Be An Artist For Life Means Constant Changes

Charles Sanchez is always in motion.

Finding your voice as an artist is something that never really stops. You don’t arrive and say, well THAT’S done. Life intercedes. Tonight on “The Courage to Change with Lisa Kirchner,” Charles Sanchez talks about the changes in his life. Instead of decrying circumstances, he’s made changes work in his favor. His forthcoming web series Merce, is one such evolution.

First, Sanchez faced a lack of opportunities in acting, so he turned to directing. Then he discovered he was H.I.V. positive. Yet he found the courage to move to New York and follow his passion for creativity, turning to writing and performing online. Join us here on Tuesday, March 18 at 2pm as we listen to the show and discuss live, just how that’s all possible. #couragetochange @lisakirchner @mercedMMT

Sanchez is an openly gay, H.I.V.-positive writer and performer living in New York City. He studied acting and musical theatre technique at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. As a professional actor, he’s performed  in original works Off Broadway at The Vineyard Theatre and Open Eye: New Stagings, as well as at Lincoln Center with the Little People’s Orchestra. He was seen regionally in theatres ranging from the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park to Murry’s Dinner Playhouse in Little Rock, AR. He conceived, directed and performed in the music revue, “Out of the Trunk” and co-wrote and performed Sweet and Sour Porked Off Off Broadway.  He also co-wrote the book of Aliza, the musical, developed and performed at the Minerva Stage in Williamstown, MA. Last season he directed the cabaret act, “Mismatch.com” at Don’t Tell Mama, and most recently he’s been performing his original stories. He conceived, wrote and starred in Manhattan Man-Travels, a comedy web series on YouTube, which he is now re-imagining along with his producing partner Tyne Firmin. The new comedy series Merce, about a single, gay, H.I.V.-positive man living in NYC will be seen on YouTube in the Fall.

Your host, Lisa Kirchner, is the author of Hello, American Lady Creature: What I Learned as a Woman in Qatar (Greenpoint Press, May 2014). At one time she was simultaneously the religion editor for a GLBT newspaper, the dating columnist for an alt newsweekly, and the bridal editor for a society rag. Not surprisingly, she lives in New York City.

And, as always, if you you have a story we need to tell, email us! And keep up with the show on my blog.