Heart of the Story

Author and writing coach Nadine Kenney Johnstone shares interviews with today's top women writers, including Jen Hatmaker, Catherine Newman, Maggie Smith, Molly Wizenberg, Abigail Thomas, Dr. Hillary McBride, Emily P. Freeman, Laura Tremaine, Sari Botton, Francesca Royster, Susan Piver, Jane Friedman, Mae Yoshikawa, and more. Nadine also shares her own stories of healing, hope, and following her heart.

Best of 2025

Catherine Newman on Midlife, Motherhood, and Anxiety

Jen Hatmaker on The Book That Kept Her AWAKE

Life in the Ellipsis with Maggie Smith

Best of 2024

Best of 2023 Part 1

Best of 2023 Part 2

Nadine continues her recurring theme of midlife, perimenopause and hormones with a new "adventure" — Frozen Shoulder. For anyone not familiar with the three stages of Frozen Shoulder (first, Freezing, the painful one; second Frozen, less pain but less mobility; third Thawing, gradual return of mobility) this is the episode for you. What are some of the causes and the big question, can I please fix it, right now? Nadine shares her experiences as well as a dose of realism in the answers.

Publish the Personal starts Oct 14 and is almost full.

About Nadine:

Nadine Kenney Johnstone is an award-winning author, podcast host, and writing coach. After fifteen years as a writing professor, she founded WriteWELL workshops and retreats for women writers. She interviews today’s top female authors on her podcast, Heart of the Story. Her infertility memoir, Of This Much I'm Sure, was named book of the year by the Chicago Writer's Association. Her latest book, Come Home to Your Heart, is an essay collection and guided journal. She has been featured in Cosmo, Authority, MindBodyGreen, Natural Awakenings,Chicago Magazine, and more. She writes a regular column about mid-life reclamation on Substack.

What does it mean to build a meaningful life when the story you thought you were writing doesn’t turn out the way you expected?

Bestselling author Laura McKowen joins Nadine for a deeply honest conversation about sobriety, emotional sobriety, relationships, writing, longing, and the messy work of becoming more fully ourselves.

Laura shares the questions she now uses to recognize when she’s hiding from herself and how sobriety has taught her to trust her own intuition. They talk about the breakup that forced Laura to choose the clean pain of leaving over the slow erosion of staying—and how, years into alcohol sobriety, she discovered that emotional sobriety has no finish line.

The conversation also moves into Laura’s work-in-progress, a book that began as a story about relationships and has evolved into something much bigger: a meditation on midlife, longing, and what makes a life a love story.

They talk about writing when you no longer feel certain, the courage to put bad pages on the page, the complicated ethics of writing about people we love, and why sometimes the most important stories are the ones that help us finally offer ourselves compassion.

This is a conversation about so many things: recovery, relationships, writing, grief, sisterhood, self-trust, and the possibility that a life can be a love story even when it looks nothing like the one you imagined.

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Publish the Personal starts Oct 14 and is almost full.

About Laura

Laura McKowen is a leading voice in the modern recovery movement and the bestselling author of We Are the Luckiest: The Surprising Magic of a Sober Life, and Push Off from Here: Nine Essential Truths to Get You Through Sobriety (and Everything Else).

Her work explores purpose, the potential of a human life, and the ways pain becomes growth. She has written for The New York Times and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Atlantic, The TODAY Show, and more.

After getting sober in 2014, Laura left her corporate career to build a life around writing, speaking, teaching, and community. Since then, she has led sold-out retreats and workshops on recovery, transformation, and purpose. In 2020, she founded The Luckiest Club, a global sobriety support community, and she writes Love Story, a popular Substack newsletter about sobriety and writing.

About Nadine:

Nadine Kenney Johnstone is an award-winning author, podcast host, and writing coach. After fifteen years as a writing professor, she founded WriteWELL workshops and retreats for women writers. She interviews today’s top female authors on her podcast, Heart of the Story. Her infertility memoir, Of This Much I'm Sure, was named book of the year by the Chicago Writer's Association. Her latest book, Come Home to Your Heart, is an essay collection and guided journal. She has been featured in Cosmo, Authority, MindBodyGreen, Natural Awakenings,Chicago Magazine, and more. She writes a regular column about mid-life reclamation on Substack.

251 In 2021, what was supposed to be an epic cross-country road trip suddenly became something entirely different. Just before the journey began, Nadine's father passed away, turning miles of open road into a landscape of grief, phone calls, paperwork, and trying to carry on when life has other plans. Five years later, the same route offered an unexpected second chance. This time, the road trip was filled with good friends, laughter, new memories—and the unforgettable experience of officiating her friend’s daughter’s wedding. Along the way, this solo episode explores something most of us know all too well: sometimes life interrupts the moments we’ve been looking forward to, and sometimes we get the opportunity to experience them again in a completely different light. It’s an episode about grief, friendship, resilience, and the beautiful realization that a chapter that didn’t go the way we hoped doesn’t always have to be the end of the story.

1. Join the waitlist for Publish the Personal and get priority enrollment when registration opens.
2. Join Dirty Messy Alive for FREE Sept 28-Oct 1 or purchase an all access pass to watch the lessons on your own time.

250 Nadine shares her summer break plans for the podcast. Use the time to catch up on episodes you've missed!

If you’d like a highlight reel of the last 5 yrs, we’ve released a “Best of” Heart of the Story compilation almost every year.

• Best of 2025
• Best of 2024
• Best of 2023 Pt 1 and Pt 2
• Best of 2021

Join Nadine at an upcoming retreat:

Let Go Retreat

• June 14-17, Door County WI

Revision Retreat: Craft Your Best Draft

• Aug 24-28, 2026, Madeline Island School of the Arts, WI

About Nadine:

Nadine Kenney Johnstone is an award-winning author, podcast host, and writing coach. After fifteen years as a writing professor, she founded WriteWELL workshops and retreats for women writers. She interviews today’s top female authors on her podcast, Heart of the Story. Her infertility memoir, Of This Much I'm Sure, was named book of the year by the Chicago Writer's Association. Her latest book, Come Home to Your Heart, is an essay collection and guided journal. She has been featured in Cosmo, Authority, MindBodyGreen, Natural Awakenings,Chicago Magazine, and more. She writes a regular column about mid-life reclamation on Substack.

About Michelle Redo

Heart of the Story producer Michelle Redo has her own podcast, too... Daring to Tell where writers read their true stories of personal daring, then talk about writing and life. Also check out the audiobooks she's produced at her website, michelleredo.com

249 Nadine reflects on an essay she wrote in a time of deep despair.

Join Nadine at an upcoming retreat:

Let Go Retreat

• June 14-17, Door County WI

Revision Retreat: Craft Your Best Draft

• Aug 24-28, 2026, Madeline Island School of the Arts, WI

About Nadine:

Nadine Kenney Johnstone is an award-winning author, podcast host, and writing coach. After fifteen years as a writing professor, she founded WriteWELL workshops and retreats for women writers. She interviews today’s top female authors on her podcast, Heart of the Story. Her infertility memoir, Of This Much I'm Sure, was named book of the year by the Chicago Writer's Association. Her latest book, Come Home to Your Heart, is an essay collection and guided journal. She has been featured in Cosmo, Authority, MindBodyGreen, Natural Awakenings,Chicago Magazine, and more. She writes a regular column about mid-life reclamation on Substack.

About Michelle Redo

Heart of the Story producer Michelle Redo has her own podcast, too... Daring to Tell where writers read their true stories of personal daring, then talk about writing and life. Also check out the audiobooks she's produced at her website, michelleredo.com

248 Nadine reflects on an essay she wrote about her favorite place to be in the summertime.

Join Nadine at an upcoming retreat:

Let Go Retreat

• June 14-17, Door County WI

Revision Retreat: Craft Your Best Draft

• Aug 24-28, 2026, Madeline Island School of the Arts, WI

About Nadine:

Nadine Kenney Johnstone is an award-winning author, podcast host, and writing coach. After fifteen years as a writing professor, she founded WriteWELL workshops and retreats for women writers. She interviews today’s top female authors on her podcast, Heart of the Story. Her infertility memoir, Of This Much I'm Sure, was named book of the year by the Chicago Writer's Association. Her latest book, Come Home to Your Heart, is an essay collection and guided journal. She has been featured in Cosmo, Authority, MindBodyGreen, Natural Awakenings,Chicago Magazine, and more. She writes a regular column about mid-life reclamation on Substack.

About Michelle Redo

Heart of the Story producer Michelle Redo has her own podcast, too... Daring to Tell where writers read their true stories of personal daring, then talk about writing and life. Also check out the audiobooks she's produced at her website, michelleredo.com

247 Nadine reflects on an essay she wrote about a friend swooping in just when she needed it and how it inspired her to pay it forward.

Join Nadine at an upcoming retreat:

Revision Retreat: Craft Your Best Draft

• Aug 24-28, 2026, Madeline Island School of the Arts, WI

Tiny True Stories and Sketches: A Micro Memoir Retreat

• October 26-Nov 2, 2026, SPAIN

About Nadine:

Nadine Kenney Johnstone is an award-winning author, podcast host, and writing coach. After fifteen years as a writing professor, she founded WriteWELL workshops and retreats for women writers. She interviews today’s top female authors on her podcast, Heart of the Story. Her infertility memoir, Of This Much I'm Sure, was named book of the year by the Chicago Writer's Association. Her latest book, Come Home to Your Heart, is an essay collection and guided journal. She has been featured in Cosmo, Authority, MindBodyGreen, Natural Awakenings,Chicago Magazine, and more. She writes a regular column about mid-life reclamation on Substack.

About Michelle Redo

Heart of the Story producer Michelle Redo has her own podcast, too... Daring to Tell where writers read their true stories of personal daring, then talk about writing and life. Also check out the audiobooks she's produced at her website, michelleredo.com

246 Nadine reflects on an essay she wrote about anxiety and safety.

Join Nadine at an upcoming retreat:

Revision Retreat: Craft Your Best Draft

• Aug 24-28, 2026, Madeline Island School of the Arts, WI

Tiny True Stories and Sketches: A Micro Memoir Retreat

• October 26-Nov 2, 2026, SPAIN

About Nadine:

Nadine Kenney Johnstone is an award-winning author, podcast host, and writing coach. After fifteen years as a writing professor, she founded WriteWELL workshops and retreats for women writers. She interviews today’s top female authors on her podcast, Heart of the Story. Her infertility memoir, Of This Much I'm Sure, was named book of the year by the Chicago Writer's Association. Her latest book, Come Home to Your Heart, is an essay collection and guided journal. She has been featured in Cosmo, Authority, MindBodyGreen, Natural Awakenings,Chicago Magazine, and more. She writes a regular column about mid-life reclamation on Substack.

About Michelle Redo

Heart of the Story producer Michelle Redo has her own podcast, too... Daring to Tell where writers read their true stories of personal daring, then talk about writing and life. Also check out the audiobooks she's produced at her website, michelleredo.com

245 What is it like to be a midlife mom raising a middle schooler—when time seems to speed up just as you wish you could slow it down? When your child is reaching for independence, but every part of you wants to keep them close?

As her son approaches his 13th birthday, Nadine reflects on the emotional tug-of-war of this stage of motherhood. She revisits an early moment that first sparked the pang of nostalgia—and explores the bittersweet milestones that come with raising an almost-teen.

This episode is a heartfelt look at growing up and letting go, and the quiet, complicated beauty of loving a child who is becoming their own person.

Join Nadine, Molly Wizenberg, and Hallie Bateman in Spain from Oct 26-Nov 2 for Tiny True Stories and Sketches: A Micro-Memoir Retreat. Whether you’re a seasoned writer or just wanting to preserve impactful memories on the page, remember that every story—no matter how small—is worth capturing.

About Nadine:

Nadine Kenney Johnstone is an award-winning author, podcast host, and writing coach. After fifteen years as a writing professor, she founded WriteWELL workshops and retreats for women writers. She interviews today’s top female authors on her podcast, Heart of the Story. Her infertility memoir, Of This Much I'm Sure, was named book of the year by the Chicago Writer's Association. Her latest book, Come Home to Your Heart, is an essay collection and guided journal. She has been featured in Cosmo, Authority, MindBodyGreen, Natural Awakenings,Chicago Magazine, and more. She writes a regular column about mid-life reclamation on Substack.

About Michelle Redo

Check out producer Michelle Redo's podcast, Daring to Tell and sample the audiobooks she's produced at MichelleRedo.com