As Told To

Everybody's got a story to tell. Sometimes they need a little bit of help. Veteran ghostwriter Daniel Paisner talks shop with his fellow collaborators and shines a light on what it means to pursue a writing life on the back of someone else’s story.

Episode 76: Aaron Philip Clark 11/05/2024

Episode 75: Betsy Lerner 10/22/2024

Episode 74: Jill Sobule 10/08/2024

Episode 74: Jill Sobule Over the course of her nearly forty-year career, singer-songwriter Jill Sobule has earned a singular spot in the American songbook. Best known for her breakout 1995 singles “” (from the “Clueless” soundtrack) and “” (which came out more than 10 years before the Katy Perry hit of the same name), her quirky, heartfelt, cheer-filled songs are difficult to categorize: she sings about the death penalty, anorexia, shoplifting, the French Resistance, LGBTQ issues and Mexican wrestling. In another decade, Jon Pareles, the chief pop music critic of The New York Times, wrote that she stands “among the stellar New York singer-songwriters of the last decade”—high praise that has surely applied in all subsequent decades. Jill’s songs are enchanting, disarmingly funny and achingly poignant, and many of them are featured in her Drama Desk-nominated autobiographical musical "," which premiered at the Wild Project in NYC in 2022 and returns for a limited engagement in November 2024. “We didn’t have to create a story around these songs,” she says of the show, which she really, really hopes isn’t dismissed as just another jukebox musical featuring songs from an artist’s back catalogue. “These songs are my story. I just wrote a few more to fill out the narrative.” Jill joins us on the podcast to discuss her rich and varied career as one of the music industry’s most uniquely collaborative artists. She’s performed with musicians such as Neil Young, Billy Bragg, Steve Earle, Cyndi Lauper, and Warren Zevon, and once released a concept album of original music with lyrics written by some of her favorite writers, including Jonathan Lethem, Rick Moody, Mary Jo Salter, Vendela Vida, and David Hajdu. She regularly tours with comedian/actress/author Julia Sweeney in their two-woman “Jill & Julia” show. Two highlights from the very many cool, pinch me-type moments that have stamped Jill Sobule’s remarkable career: she inducted Neil Diamond into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, and she appeared as herself on an episode of “The Simpsons.” So, you know, there’s that. Learn more about Jill Sobule: Please support the sponsors who support our show: Chelsea Devantez's Daniel Paisner's Daniel Paisner's (PODCAST) | 30% discount (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membership podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef Sutton podcast podcast (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order (PODCAST) | 30% discount (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount /episode/index/show/astoldto/id/33343157

Episode 73: J. Michael Straczynski 09/24/2024

Episode 73: J. Michael Straczynski “The task of writing is to take a character and put him up a tree and start throwing rocks at him,” notes novelist, screenwriter, comic book writer, and television showrunner J. Michael Straczynski. The two-time Hugo Award-winning author is perhaps best known as the creator of the television series “Babylon 5”, and as the screenwriter for the 2008 Oscar-nominated Clint Eastwood film “Changeling.” He is also the author of the Superman: Earth One” trilogy of graphic novels, and for many years he was the writer for Marvel Comics’ “Thor,” “Fantastic Four,” and “The Amazing Spider-Man” series, as well as for DC’s “Superman,” “Wonder Woman,” and “Before Watchmen” titles. These days, Joe is spending most of his time throwing rocks on behalf of his late friend Harlan Ellison, the legendary writer of speculative fiction, who is having a bit of a moment more than six years after his death. As the executor of the Harlan Ellison estate, Joe has been the driving force behind the re-release of the first two installments of Ellison’s landmark story collections and , which the author had always imagined as a trilogy. Now, thanks to Joe Straczynski’s dedication, the long-awaited third installment of “the most significant and controversial Science Fiction collections of our time,” will finally see the light of day with the publication of The , due from Blackstone Publishing in October 2024. “Harlan was my friend, and I have an obligation to him to get his work where it needs to be, in front of a mainstream audience,” Joe reflects on a year that has also seen the publication of a new collection of Ellison’s stories () as well as a novel of his own (). Join us as we talk with J. Michael Straczynski on his influences as a writer, on the art and craft of storytelling in all its many forms, and on what it has meant to him to be able to breathe new life into the work of an artist hailed by the Los Angeles Times as “a twentieth-century Lewis Carroll.” Learn more about J. Michael Straczynski: Please support the sponsors who support our show: Chelsea Devantez's Daniel Paisner's Daniel Paisner's (PODCAST) | 30% discount (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membership podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef Sutton podcast podcast (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order (PODCAST) | 30% discount (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount /episode/index/show/astoldto/id/33174032

Episode 72: Nancy French 09/10/2024

Second Printing: Frank Santopadre 08/27/2024

Second Printing: Frank Santopadre Originally aired Dec. 6, 2022. Frank Santopadre is a veteran comedy writer and the longtime co-host of “,” with the late, great Gilbert Gottfried. Prior to working with Gilbert, Frank helped to write jokes and supporting material for numerous awards shows (including the Daytime Emmys, the TV Land Awards, and the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize). He has also written comics for Bazooka Joe bubble gum, and mock ad copy, concepts, and character profiles for the Topps Company’s popular Wacky Packs and Garbage Pail Kids trading cards series. Oh, and did we mention he also wrote for Mad and Cracked magazines? And the somewhat less zany The New York Times, The Washington Post, People, US Weekly, and Politico? Along the way, he has created comedy material for an eclectic line-up of celebrated personalities, including Bill Murray, Howard Stern, Sarah Silverman, Meryl Streep, Martin Short, and Ben Stiller, and briefly served as a staff writer on what he proudly calls “the worst sitcom in television history”—a forgettable show from the late ‘90s called “,” hailed by The Los Angeles Times during its mercifully-brief run as “mirthless.” Join us for a somewhat more mirth-filled hour, as we talk about what it was like to help give voice to one of the most singular voices in the annals of American comedy—a joyful burden Frank kinda, sorta shared with podcast host Daniel Paisner, who collaborated with Gilbert Gottfried on his 2011 memoir . Learn more about Frank Santopadre, visit his , like his , and follow him on . Please support the sponsors who support our show: Chelsea Devantez's Daniel Paisner's Daniel Paisner's (PODCAST) | 30% discount (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membership podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef Sutton podcast podcast (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order (PODCAST) | 30% discount (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount /episode/index/show/astoldto/id/32713252

Episode 71: Gathering of the Ghosts 08/13/2024

Episode 70: Hope Edelman 07/30/2024

Episode 70: Hope Edelman Hope Edelman is an author, ghostwriter, essayist, writing instructor and life coach. The through-line connecting much of her work, from the collaborations she’s helped to write to her own best-selling memoirs, is the theme of parent-loss. “Navigating motherhood without your mom is like assembling a complex puzzle without the picture on the box,” she writes in a blog post on her website. She’s been writing about the grief and loss in her own life since her best-selling 1994 memoir —a book she began as a graduate student at the University of Iowa, when she realized she was being called to write about her mother’s death more than a decade earlier. It's a calling that connects Hope to her ghostwriting clients as well. Her first collaboration, a dual memoir written with actors Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez——is informed by the death of Sheen’s mother, when the actor was just 11 years old, while her current project, written with Owen Elliot-Kugell, the daughter of the late Cass Elliot——finds its narrative drive in the sudden death of the author’s mother, who died in her sleep in a London apartment nearly ten years after she shot to fame as a member of The Mamas & The Papas. The recipient of a Pushcart Prize for Creative Nonfiction, Hope has taught writing at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, the University of Iowa, and Antioch University-Los Angeles. Join us for a compelling conversation on what it means to find a way to heal as you find your voice as a writer. Learn more about Hope Edelman: Please support the sponsors who support our show: Chelsea Devantez's Daniel Paisner's Daniel Paisner's (PODCAST) | 30% discount (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membership podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef Sutton podcast podcast (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order (PODCAST) | 30% discount (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount /episode/index/show/astoldto/id/32333477

Episode 69: Adam Nimoy 07/16/2024

Episode 68: Michael Franklin 07/02/2024

Episode 67: Ellis Henican 06/18/2024

Episode 66: Chelsea Devantez 06/04/2024

Episode 65: Maria Burns Ortiz 05/21/2024

Episode 64: Zibby Owens 05/07/2024

Episode 64: Zibby Owens “Reading to me is like breathing,” notes Zibby Owens, the creator and host of the Webby Award- winning podcast “Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books,” who joins us on the podcast to discuss her lifelong love of reading and writing and her commitment to championing books and authors. Indeed, Zibby has built on the success of her podcast to become the publishing industry’s “most powerful book-fluencer,” according to New York magazine. A frequent contributor to “Good Morning America” and other media outlets, she is the co-founder and CEO of Zibby Books, an independent book publisher, and the owner of Zibby’s Bookshop, an independent bookstore in Santa Monica, California. Across her Zibby Media empire—which devoted followers have christened “the Zibby-verse”—she also offers retreats, classes, special events, a book club, a writing group, and other bookish opportunities. “Everything has unraveled one thing at a time,” she says, of her full-on embrace of the book world, and the community of book lovers she has helped to nourish. “It’s like a carpet sort of unspooling in front of me.” Most recently, Zibby has added the title of novelist to her long list of credits. Her just-published first novel, , the story of a frustrated writer who seeks to disrupt the publishing industry, was hailed as “a delightful gift to book lovers,” by New York Times best-selling author Carley Fortune. Join us for a fresh, candid conversation on what it means to celebrate the written word. Learn more about Zibby Owens: “” Please support the sponsors who support our show: Daniel Paisner's Daniel Paisner's (PODCAST) | 30% discount (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membership podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef Sutton podcast podcast (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order (PODCAST) | 30% discount (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount /episode/index/show/astoldto/id/31130808

Episode 63: Todd Strasser 04/23/2024

Episode 62: Genevieve Field 04/09/2024

Episode 62: Genevieve Field Veteran magazine journalist Genevieve Field joins us to discuss her mid-career pivot into ghostwriting, as she celebrates the success of her “Andy Award”-winning collaboration with Hollywood stuntwoman Kimberly Shannon Murphy. , Murphy’s unflinchingly honest account of intergenerational familial abuse, was honored this winter with an inaugural “Andy Award”—so named for the “and” credit often awarded to ghostwriters—at the first annual “Gathering of the Ghosts” conference in New York City, jointly sponsored by Gotham Ghostwriters and the American Society of Journalists and Authors. Genevieve Field is no stranger to long-form storytelling in the voice of one of her subjects, but she is a relative newcomer to book-length memoir and collaborative non-fiction. Prior to embarking on a freelance writing career, she worked as a story editor at The New York Times Magazine, as the editorial director of Seventeen online, and the features director at Glamour. While at Glamour, she was a frequent contributor to the magazine’s first-person celebrity features, presenting “as told to” articles in the voices of notable figures such as Rachel Maddow, Cecile Richards, and Sarah Silverman. She also co-founded the Webby-Award winning magazine and dating site, Nerve. “I help writers unearth the stories in their hearts, get that deep wisdom on the page, and create breakthrough books,” she writes on her website. “Whether serving as a collaborator or editor, my purpose is always the same: to help bring important stories and great writing into the world.” "This book is so much more than the sum of its parts,” notes actor Cameron Diaz in the forward to Glimmer. “It is a gift. It is Kimberly's offering to readers suffering in silence. It is a companion for anyone who has endured trauma, at any level. And it is a beautiful tribute to the strength and power of the human spirit." And, in the talented hands of podcast guest Genevieve Field, it is a powerful example of what it takes to collaborate on a deeply personal memoir of sexual abuse and childhood trauma. Learn more about Genevieve Field: , on her battle with depression, as told to Genevieve Field Please support the sponsors who support our show: Daniel Paisner's Daniel Paisner's (PODCAST) | 30% discount (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membership podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef Sutton podcast (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order (PODCAST) | 30% discount (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount /episode/index/show/astoldto/id/30712083

Episode 61: Seth Davis 03/26/2024

Episode 60: Mark Dagostino 03/12/2024

Episode 59: Douglas Preston 02/27/2024

Episode 59: Douglas Preston “What really amazed me here was that so many of the authors who submitted stories wrote something completely outside their genre,” reflects best-selling author Douglas Preston, one of the project editors behind the dynamic new collaborative novel . “This book is full of all kinds of weird stories.” Yes, it is. And so is podcast guest Douglas Preston, co-author of dozens of New York Times —a shining example of what it means to write in collaboration. In all, Preston has published 39 books of fiction and non-fiction. In addition to books, Preston writes about archaeology and paleontology for the New Yorker. He has worked as an editor for the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and taught nonfiction writing at Princeton University and is the recipient of numerous writing awards in the U.S. and Europe. He served as president of the Authors Guild from 2019 to 2023. Set in a Lower East Side tenement in the early days of the COVID-19 lockdowns, Fourteen Days turns on a narrative frame written by Preston, with contributions from a disparate collection of contemporary writers, headed by fellow project editor Margaret Atwood. In addition to Atwood and Preston, the novel features the “voices” of Charlie Jane Anders, Joseph Cassara, Jennine Capó Crucet, Angie Cruz, Pat Cummings, Sylvia Day, Emma Donoghue, Dave Eggers, Diana Gabaldon, Tess Gerritsen, John Grisham, Maria Hinojosa, Mira Jacob, Erica Jong, CJ Lyons, Celeste Ng, Tommy Orange, Mary Pope Osborne, Alice Randall, Ishmael Reed, Roxana Robinson, Nelly Rosario, James Shapiro, Hampton Sides, R.L. Stine, Nafissa Thompson-Spires, Monique Truong, Scott Turow, Luis Alberto Urrea, Rachel Vail, Weike Wang, Caroline Randall Williams, De’Shawn Charles Winslow, and Meg Wolitzer. All proceeds from the book will be directed to the Authors Guild Foundation, the charitable and educational arm of the Authors Guild, dedicated to empowering all writers, from all backgrounds, at all stages of their careers. Learn more about Douglas Preston: Please support the sponsors who support our show: Daniel Paisner's Daniel Paisner's (PODCAST) | 30% discount (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membership podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef Sutton podcast (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order (PODCAST) | 30% discount (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount /episode/index/show/astoldto/id/30101928

Episode 58: Sarah Tomlinson 02/13/2024

Episode 57: Bethanne Patrick, Missing Pages 'Ghostwriting Non-Fiction The Literary Chameleon' 01/30/2024

Episode 57: Bethanne Patrick, Missing Pages 'Ghostwriting Non-Fiction The Literary Chameleon' “How do you tell someone else’s story, but make it authentic?” That’s the question at the heart of this episode of As Told To: The Ghostwriting Podcast, which is really a repurposed, repackaged edition of a recent episode of , the critically-acclaimed investigative podcast hosted by renowned literary critic Bethanne Patrick—known to readers across social media as “The Book Maven.” Bethanne and her production team at , a leading producer of original podcasts, pull back the curtain on the lucrative culture of non-fiction ghostwriting, and offer a compelling take on the art and practice of writing in collaboration, and the role “literary chameleons” have come to play in the telling of high-profile tales. Along the way, Bethanne looks at the evolution of the practice, and interviews ghostwriting veterans like Jon Sternfeld and Dan Gerstein, both former As Told To guests, as well as cookbook author J.J. Goode. She also spends some time chatting with As Told To host Daniel Paisner, who weighs in with a hard-won insight or two. This special crossover edition of As Told To is being presented with the permission of the Podglomerate team, and Bethanne Patrick, and is intended to further the conversation among writers and creatives who continue to write and create in service of someone else’s voice or vision. Also listen to Part II of the two-part Missing Pages exploration of the ghostwriting trade: “” Learn more about Bethanne Patrick and Missing Pages: Bethanne’s memoir, Please support the sponsors who support our show: Daniel Paisner's Daniel Paisner's (PODCAST) | 30% discount (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membership podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef Sutton podcast (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order (PODCAST) | 30% discount (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount /episode/index/show/astoldto/id/29673238

Episode 56: Kevin Anderson 01/16/2024

Episode 55: Andrew Crofts 01/02/2024

Episode 54: Rebecca Shaw & Ben Kronengold 12/19/2023

Episode 53: Rob Kutner 12/05/2023

Episode 53: Rob Kutner George McFly’s A Match Made in Space, from “Back to the Future”… Hank Moody’s God Hates Us All,” from “Californication”… Dr. Frederick Frankenstein’s How I Did It, from “Young Frankenstein”… Some of our best-loved movies and television shows feature books written by one of the lead characters. In many cases, the publication of those “books” becomes a central plot point or a running gag. (Think Handbook for the Recently Deceased, from “Beetlejuice.”) In other cases, those books leap from the screen and onto our bookshelves—IRL, as the kids like to say. That’s the case with , the in-movie memoir by Scott Lang, also known as Ant-Man, as seen on screen in the Marvel Studios blockbuster, “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.” The book was published by Hyperion Avenue in September and became an immediate New York Times best-seller, but here’s a news flash: it wasn’t really written by Scott Lang, the “Everyman Avenger” played in the movie by actor Paul Rudd. And no, it wasn’t really written by Paul Rudd, , and as it appears as a prop in the movie. In fact, the book was really written by our guest Rob Kutner, a veteran comedy writer who has collected five Emmys, a Peabody and a Grammy writing for such shows as “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” on Comedy Central, and “Conan,” on TBS. Rob’s other television writing credits include “Teen Titans Go,” “Angry Birds: Summer Madness” and “Dennis Miller Live,” and he has also written material for the Oscars, Emmys, and MTV Movie Awards broadcasts, as well as for two White House Correspondents Dinners. He is also the author of and the just-published , with illustrations by David DeGrand. Join us as Rob shares what it was like to channel the voice of a fictional character to craft a page-turning memoir of an ex-con turned world-saving superhero, and to be tasked with the caretaking of the life and legacy of one of the most beloved characters in the Marvel Universe. Learn more about Rob Kutner: Please support the sponsors who support our show. Daniel Paisner's & (PODCAST) | 30% discount (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membership podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef Sutton podcast (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order (PODCAST) | 30% discount (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount /episode/index/show/astoldto/id/28901138

Episode 52: Adeena Sussman 11/21/2023

Episode 51: Rennie Dyball 11/07/2023

Episode 51: Rennie Dyball Rennie Dyball is an award-winning journalist, ghostwriter, middle-grade novelist and children’s book author who’s found a way to marry her lifelong interest in horses with her many and varied talents as a writer. Together with her co-author Piper Klemm, she created the popular Show Strides series of equestrian-themed novels for middle grade readers—originally published by The Plaid Horse and soon to be reissued by Andrews McMeel Universal. Rennie’s standalone novel for children, , was published by The Plaid Horse earlier this year. As a ghostwriter, Rennie has helped to give voice to a number of celebrity-driven autobiographies and memoirs, including the Audible Original memoir, , with Terry Crews and Rebecca King Crews; , with Andrea Barber (Kimmy Gibler from “Full House”); , with Hollywood animal trainer Sue Chipperton; and, , with fashion designer Christian Siriano. An accomplished equestrian, Rennie has also drawn on her love of horses to collaborate on , with top trainers Carleton and Traci Brooks. Her most recent book, , a picture book celebration of body positivity, with illustrations by Mia Saine, was published by Clarion Books in July. Rennie was a reporter and writer at People for over 15 years, before retiring from the magazine in 2017, and she continues to write for People.com as a freelance book critic. “People was the best training ground I could imagine,” she says of her development as a writer. “More than anything, I took away the importance of making every word count.” Join us for a winning conversation on what it takes to build a life and career out of two abiding passions—in Rennie’s case, riding and writing. Learn more about Rennie Dyball: Please support the sponsors who support our show. Daniel Paisner's & (PODCAST) | 30% discount (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membership podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef Sutton podcast (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order (PODCAST) | 30% discount (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount /episode/index/show/astoldto/id/28520753

Episode 50: Dani Shapiro 10/24/2023

Episode 49: Lindsey Jacobellis 10/17/2023

Episode 49: Lindsey Jacobellis Lindsey Jacobellis is the most dominant athlete in the history of women’s snowboardcross—a thrilling head-to-head sport that made its Olympic debut at the 2006 games in Torino, when Lindsey also stepped to the Olympic stage for the first time. And yet the inaugural running of the event was nearly her undoing. At 20 years old, Lindsey had a commanding lead heading into the final stretch of the medal round when she grabbed her board on the penultimate jump and was unable to land cleanly, spilling off the course and looking on in despair as her rival, Tanja Frieden of Switzerland, sped past to claim the gold. The world looked on as well, in judgement and disbelief, and Lindsey’s fall would go down as one of the biggest unforced errors in sports—a misstep that allowed her to ultimately write one of the greatest comeback stories in Olympic history. It also cost her many of her sponsors, and shook her confidence, and in many ways stamped her career before it had really begun, and in her just-published memoir , co-written with podcast host Daniel Paisner, she revisits the anguish and heartbreak that found her on the back of that fall— and followed her around like a black cloud through the next four Olympic cycles, finally leading to her two gold medal runs at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. “I’m calling this book Unforgiving because that word has taken on so many meanings for me,” she writes. “It speaks to the single-minded, relentless pursuit that has helped to shape my snowboarding career…but it also reflects the punishing, intolerant treatment I received in the press, and in and around the Olympic and snowboarding communities. And it reminds me that for the longest time I wasn’t able to forgive myself for this one stupid, rash, thoughtless mistake—a mistake that cost me a whole lot more than a simple medal or the chance (for the moment!) to call myself a champion.” One of the ways Lindsey was finally able to put the fall behind her and reclaim her own narrative was to lean into her many other interests away from the mountain. She moved to California and took up surfing. She became a certified personal trainer and wrote a children’s book, Sochi: A True Story, based on the life-affirming bond she developed with the stray dog she met in the athletes’ village at the Sochi games. And she helped to launch , an event series working to showcase the world’s top female pros and provide an inspirational platform for young female athletes. Join us as we visit with the GOAT of women’s snowboardcross to talk about what it was like to rewrite her story on the snow—and, now, to share that story on the page. Learn more about Lindsey Jacobellis: Please support the sponsors who support our show. Daniel Paisner's & (PODCAST) | 30% discount (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membership podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef Sutton podcast (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order (PODCAST) | 30% discount (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount /episode/index/show/astoldto/id/28320050

Episode 48: Jeff Daniels 10/10/2023

Episode 48: Jeff Daniels “Sometimes I’m asked if I’ll ever write a book,” notes actor, playwright and singer-songwriter Jeff Daniels, “and I always answer that I already have. It’s in my songs.” This is true. But now it’s also true that the stuff of Jeff Daniels’s life is on delightful display in the Audible Originals memoir “”—a collection of stories, musings and songs that invites listeners into the heart and mindset of one of our most versatile performers, offered with grace and good cheer and midwestern soul. Daniels, the two-time Emmy Award-winning actor and star of such iconic films as “Terms of Endearment,” “The Purple Rose of Cairo,” “Dumb and Dumber,” “Pleasantville,” and “The Squid and the Whale,” recalls being inspired in this effort by the story-laced songs of Steve Goodman and Arlo Guthrie, and, more recently, by Bruce Springsteen’s “Springsteen on Broadway.” Part podcast, part musical memoir, part bulletins from the frontlines of contemporary storytelling, “Alive and Well Enough” is a wildly entertaining mash-up of Jeff Daniels’s many gifts as a writer and performer, including scenes from some of the author’s original plays, many of which have been staged at in his hometown of Chelsea, Mich. “[It’s] is the only place where I get to do everything I do,” he says of his new audio project, which he calls “an adventure of an accidental artist who one day looked up and realized he had a sense of humor, a passion for writing, and stories to tell.” Join us for an insightful, engaging and surprisingly candid conversation on what it means to channel the work of some of our finest playwrights and screenwriters – like Lanford Wilson (“Fourth of July”), Scott Frank (“Godless”) and Aaron Sorkin (“The Newsroom” and the Broadway adaptation of “To Kill a Mockingbird”). “When you’re inside the writing, it rubs off,” he says. This is true as well. Note: This episode of As Told To: The Ghostwriting Podcast features narrative and song excerpts from Jeff Daniels’s audio memoir “Alive and Well Enough,” presented courtesy of Audible Originals. Jeff Daniels photo credit: Sam Jones More from Jeff Daniels: Please support the sponsors who support our show. Daniel Paisner's & (PODCAST) | 30% discount (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membership podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef Sutton podcast (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order (PODCAST) | 30% discount (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount /episode/index/show/astoldto/id/28242506

As Told To

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