Stories From Women Who Walk · 2026-07-31 · 4 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
11 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
Diane Wiska, host of Stories from Women Who Walk and a Story Doula, offers practical guidance on identifying and crafting compelling personal narratives. Rather than inventing stories from scratch, Wiska emphasizes that meaningful stories already exist within your lived experience - your job is to uncover them through deliberate attention and reflection. Drawing on advice that storytelling skill develops through telling more stories, she positions her work as witnessing and facilitating discovery rather than creation. The episode centers on Don Murray's concept of being "a spy to your life" - maintaining alertness to the commonplace, ordinary, and routine where truly important stories emerge. This approach values irony, contradiction, the unsaid, and the unexpected as rich narrative material. For B2B operators, content creators, and anyone looking to develop authentic personal brand storytelling, this framework offers a method for mining genuine material from daily experience without waiting for extraordinary events. Wiska positions formal training (courses, coaches, discovery calls) as investments in recognizing your own storytelling potential.
Look for stories in the ordinary and routine through careful observation - notice contradictions, irony, what people say and don't say, and the unexpected moments. These commonplace details contain the truly important stories, as Don Murray describes in his "spy to my life" philosophy.
A Story Doula acts as a witness and guide who helps you find and shape the story you're already living, rather than creating a new story for you. Their job is to help you process and make sense of experiences you've been working through, often for years.
Anyone can develop storytelling ability through practice and repetition - the more stories you tell, the better you become. Formal investment in courses, coaching, or discovery calls can accelerate your ability to recognize your own storytelling potential and capacity for creation.
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
This 4-minute solo episode is almost entirely filler, generic encouragement, and a pitch for the host's coaching services. The only substantive idea is a borrowed Don Murray quote about being a 'spy to your life,' with nothing novel per minute for a B2B operator.
If you want to become a storyteller, tell stories. If you want to become a better storyteller, tell more stories.
Take a course, get a coach. Invest in your desire to see what you are capable of creating and you can do all three. With me, it begins with a discovery call.
The 'Story Doula' framing is a mildly interesting metaphor, but the most conceptually distinctive content is directly attributed to Don Murray rather than originating from the host. The remaining content is entirely conventional creative-writing encouragement.
My job as witness, as Story Doula is not to give you a story. It's to help you find the one you're already living.
I am always traitor to the predictable, always welcoming to the unexpected.
There is no guest whatsoever. The episode is a solo monologue by a storytelling coach who is not a B2B practitioner and whose credibility in any operator-relevant domain is not established. The episode also functions partly as a service advertisement.
With me, it begins with a discovery call.
The only named reference is a quote attributed to Don Murray (a writing teacher), with no data, no case studies, no timelines, no metrics, and no concrete examples of any kind across the entire episode.
As Don Murray wrote, quote I am a spy to my life, maintaining an alertness to the commonplace, the ordinary, the routine where the really important stories appear.
You have a treasure trove of lived experience experience memories.
There is no conversation, no guest, no questions, and no follow-up in any meaningful sense. The episode is an uninterrupted solo monologue that ends with a writing prompt directed at listeners, offering zero interrogation of ideas.
Here's your prompt. We read the work of others so that we can say, look here, we're not the only ones. What memories and sensations came alive in you when you heard Don Murray's words? Write that story and share it out loud.
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with Story Prompt Friday and your host, Diane Wyzga. I remember this advice from decade ago"If you want to become a storyteller, tell stories. If you want to become a better storyteller, tell more stories." But what’s a good story? A good story starts here: you have a treasure trove of lived experience memories. Are they all worthy of blossoming into well-crafted meaningful stories captivating to your listeners? How will you know unless you begin? The point is you have a brain, an imagination, and more than reasonable ability to begin transforming those lived experience memories into storytelling magic. Take a course. Get a coach. Invest in your desire to see what you are capable of creating. You can do all three with me. Email me for an no-obligation Discovery Chat ! Here’s what I believe : When someone comes to me with a story they need to tell, they are bringing me something they’ve been processing, shaping, and trying to make sense of - possibly for decades. The story is already there. It has been there the whole time. My job - as witness, as story doula - is not to give you a story.
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
Speaker A: Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington. This is Stories from Women who Walk with Story Prompt Friday and your host, Diane Wiska. I remember this advice from decades ago. If you want to become a storyteller, tell stories. If you want to become a better storyteller, tell more stories. But what's a good story? A good story starts here. You have a treasure trove of lived experience experience memories. Are they all worthy of blossoming into well crafted, meaningful stories captivating to your listeners? How will you know unless you begin? The point is you have a brain, an imagination, and more than reasonable ability to begin transforming those lived experience memories and into storytelling magic. Take a course, get a coach. Invest in your desire to see what you are capable of creating and you can do all three. With me, it begins with a discovery call. Here's what I believe. When someone comes to me with a story they need to tell, they are bringing me something they've been processing, shaping and trying to make sense of, possibly for decades. The story is already there. It's been there the whole time. My job as witness, as Story Doula is not to give you a story. It's to help you find the one you're already living. Meanwhile, the very best use of your time might be spent as a spy to your life. As Don Murray wrote, quote I am a spy to my life, maintaining an alertness to the commonplace, the ordinary, the routine where the really important stories appear. I am never bored. I overhear what is said and not said, delight in irony and contradiction, relish answers without questions and questions without answers. Take note of what is and what should be, what was. And maybe I imagine, speculate, make believe, remember, reflect. I am always traitor to the predictable, always welcoming to the unexpected. Close quote here's your prompt. We read the work of others so that we can say, look here, we're not the only ones. What memories and sensations came alive in you when you heard Don Murray's words? Write that story and share it out loud. Sa.
Other episodes covering the same guests and topics, from across The B2B Podcast Index.
Wednesdays on Whidbey: My Relationship With Whidbey Island Mirrors an Arranged Marriage38 / 100
Motivate Your Monday: Eliza Young’s Journey From Survival to Spain with host Steve Ramona30 / 100
60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey: Every Storyteller Could Use a Hand Up28 / 100
60 Seconds for Motivate Your Monday: Release an Expectation & Invite Opportunity24 / 100
60 Seconds for Story Prompt Friday: Camino Truths: Boot Blisters & Kindness of Strangers27 / 100
