Ethan Bryan is an author, musician, storyteller, and passionate fan of the Kansas City Royals. His stories are a celebration of life and the game of baseball. I talked to Ethan about his books, stories of the game, and how storytelling touches our souls. He’s also got some advice for aspiring writers.
UPDATE: At the time of this recording, the show was called The Your Voice Podcast. Since this recording, Kay has rebranded to Life and Mission.
Baseball Stories
[00:01:07] America at the Seams – Ethan collected baseball stories from all 50 states for this coffee table book.
[00:05:04] “I’m convinced everyone has a baseball story even if they’re not a fan of the game.”
[00:06:00] Baseball brings people together.
[00:07:32] The story of SungWoo Lee, a long-distance KC Royals fan from South Korea. A beautiful stadium, Twitter connections, the keys to city, an opening pitch – and the Royals win the World Series. You’ve got to hear this!
[00:11:37] Ethan’s books
[00:14:27] The best book store in the country
How to Tell Stories
“When you’re able to phrase it in the form of a story, you have someone else come out and say, ‘I know exactly what you mean.’ It opens up windows into their story as well.”
[00:21:24] Storytelling for nonprofits. This is something I (Kay) love to do, so there’s a story here from the organization I work with. I shared it as an example of how storytelling gets us past the statistics and the list of accomplishments, and connects us to each other on a deeper human level.
[00:26:42] Telling another person’s story responsibly. Ethan shares his process.
[00:28:44] “When someone reads something that I’ve written about them I want them to be really proud of it.”
[00:33:41] Ethan gave us a few book recommendations for writing and story development.
[00:38:53] “I think my calling as a writer is mostly to be a feel good writer to try and leave the reader with a smile and a renewed feeling of hope.” Ethan runs through a short description of his books so we can decide which one to read first.
Links
Twitter: @Ethan_Bryan
Ethan’s favorite bookstore is Hearts & Minds Books
Ethan wrote a book about his year playing catch – we talked about it in episode #51 – Listen Now
