As Told To

October baseball is in the air—and in this episode, it'll be in your ears as well.

Podcast guest Alan Maimon is just out with his latest baseball collaboration—this one written with Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Dave Winfield. Touching All the Bases: A Story of Power, Purpose, and Surviving the Bronx, from BenBella Books, is a baseball memoir with teeth, an unvarnished look at a life and career marked by one of the most famous feuds in baseball history.

Alan is no stranger to the baseball memoir. In fact, he's no stranger to working alongside some of the game's all-time greats. The Winfield book is his fourth collaboration with a member of Baseball's Hall of Fame, following collaborations with Andre Dawson, Jim Palmer, and Tim Raines. (That's gotta be some sort of ghostwriting record, yes?)

He is also the author of the critically-acclaimed Twilight in Hazard: An Appalachian Reckoning, a book that grew out of an assignment to report on the struggles of families and townships in rural Eastern Kentucky for the Louisville-Courier Journal. His work on that beat made him a finalist for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for a series about gaping holes in Kentucky's justice system. He would go on to work for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, where his reporting on police shootings and the court system garnered national awards and acclaim. He started his professional writing career as a news assistant and reporter in the Berlin bureau of the New York Times.

Alan is a Philadelphia native and graduate of Brown University, where he received a Fulbright fellowship to study and work in Austria.

Learn more about Alan Maimon:

• Website
• Twitter
• Instagram
• The Mouth That Roared

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"Our desire to celebrate this magical moment is a tribute to youth, to everyone's youth, when working and playing with your best friends is a dream you never want to end."

That's As Told To podcast guest Nick Davis, writing in the companion volume to his critically-acclaimed documentary "You Had To Be There: How the Toronto 'Godspell' Ignited the Comedy Revolution, Spread Love & Overalls, and Created a Community That Changed the World (In a Canadian Kind of Way)," which opened the 2025 Toronto Film Festival and is currently playing in theaters across the country.

The documentary, with a mouthful of a title, shines meaningful light on the storied 1972 production of the Stephen Schwartz musical, with a cast that included a then-unknown Martin Short, Gilda Radner, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Victor Garber, Dave Thomas and Paul Shaffer—"a Rosetta Stone of funny people," according to The New York Times.

The companion book, which shares the film's mouthful of a title, is now available for pre-order. It will be published in November by Broad Brook Press, and was written in collaboration with Nick's wife and producing partner Jane Mendelsohn and Tony Award-winning producer Stewart F. Lane.

Part oral history, part production memoir, the book tells the remarkable story of that "magical moment" a half-century ago, when the stars aligned and helped to stage a production that became a launching pad for some of North America's most influential entertainers, and the center of a community that valued creativity, generosity, and connection.

Nick Davis is a writer, producer, and filmmaker. His previous films include the multi-part documentary about the 1986 New York Mets, "Once Upon a Time in Queens," which aired as part of ESPN's "30 for 30" series; and "Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived," which he produced and directed for PBS's "American Masters" program. His 2025 documentary "This Ordinary Thing," recounting the stories of non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to rescue Jewish strangers, was nominated for the Cinema for Peace Dove for the Most Valuable Documentary of the Year at the 2026 Cinema for Peace Awards in Berlin.

Learn more about our guest:

• Nick Davis Instagram
• Nick Davis Facebook
• Nick Davis Threads
• "You Had To Be There" Instagram

Please support the sponsors who support our show:

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Nick Davis is a writer, producer and documentary filmmaker. His latest film, "You Had To Be There: How the Toronto 'Godspell' Ignited the Comedy Revolution, Spread Love & Overalls, and Created a Community That Changed the World (In a Canadian Kind of Way)," opened the 2025 Toronto Film Festival and is currently playing in theaters across the country.

The documentary, with a mouthful of a title, shines meaningful light on the storied 1972 production of the Stephen Schwartz musical, with a cast that included a then-unknown Martin Short, Gilda Radner, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Victor Garber, Dave Thomas and Paul Shaffer—"a Rosetta Stone of funny people," according to The New York Times.

Storytelling is in Nick's blood. Filmmaking, too. His grandfather, Herman Mankiewicz, was the celebrated screenwriter behind "Citizen Kane" and other Hollywood classics. His grand-uncle, Joseph Mankiewicz , wrote and directed dozens of films, including "All About Eve" and "Cleopatra." His father, Peter Davis, directed the Academy Award-winning Vietnam documentary "Hearts and Minds."

Together with his wife and producing partner Jane Mendelsohn, the noted American novelist, he runs a New York-based film production company and keeps on the constant lookout for stories he might tell in his singular way. The two have collaborated on a companion volume to their "Godspell" documentary, to be published by Broad Book Press in November 2026.

Nick's 1990 novel Boone, a wild mash-up of performance art, improv, and oral history, written with his lifelong friend Brooks Hansen, was named by The New York Times as one of the most notable books of the year. His memoir Competing with Idiots, a dual portrait of his grandfather and granduncle, was published in 2021 to critical acclaim.

His previous films include the multi-part documentary about the 1986 New York Mets, "Once Upon a Time in Queens," which aired as part of ESPN's "30 for 30" series; and "Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived," which he produced and directed for PBS's "American Masters" program. His 2025 documentary "This Ordinary Thing," recounting the stories of non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to rescue Jewish strangers, was nominated for the Cinema for Peace Dove for the Most Valuable Documentary of the Year at the 2026 Cinema for Peace Awards in Berlin.

Learn more about our guest:

• Nick Davis Instagram
• Nick Davis Facebook
• Nick Davis Threads
• "You Had To Be There" Instagram

Please support the sponsors who support our show:

• Ritani Jewelers
• Daniel Paisner's Balloon Dog
• Daniel Paisner's SHOW: The Making and Unmaking of a Network Television Pilot
• Heaven Help Us by John Kasich
• Unforgiving: Lessons from the Fall by Lindsey Jacobellis
• Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discount
• Libro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membership
• The Darling Killers Podcast
• Film Freaks Forever! podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef Sutton
• Everyday Shakespeare podcast
• A Mighty Blaze podcast
• The Writer's Bone Podcast Network
• Misfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order
• Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discount
• Wizard Pins (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount

Ghostwriter, developmental editor, and book coach Charles Daly joins us for our "Between the Lines" segment of As Told To: The Ghostwriting Podcast, to share a reading from his latest collaboration—a powerful account of the struggles of first responders in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center.

Written in collaboration with noted advocate and activist John Feal, an Army veteran who worked as a demolition supervisor at Ground Zero until a disabling injury five days into the clean-up, I Will Follow You Anywhere: The True Story of the 9/11 Responders Who Took on Congress is the untold story of a true American hero who turned trauma into a call to action. In these pages, the authors share John's remarkable story of grit and resolve, alongside the accounts of his fellow responders, presenting their shared "recipe" for getting things done—including the passage of the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund.

Published on the 25th anniversary of the attacks, the book has been highlighted in major national publications, as well as on CNN, "The Daily Show," and CBS News.

Learn more about our guests:

• John Feal Instagram
• John Feal Threads
• John Feal Facebook
• Charles Daly website
• Charles Daly LinkedIn
• Charles Daly Instagram

Please support the sponsors who support our show:

• Ritani Jewelers
• Daniel Paisner's Balloon Dog
• Daniel Paisner's SHOW: The Making and Unmaking of a Network Television Pilot
• Heaven Help Us by John Kasich
• Unforgiving: Lessons from the Fall by Lindsey Jacobellis
• Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discount
• Libro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membership
• The Darling Killers Podcast
• Film Freaks Forever! podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef Sutton
• Everyday Shakespeare podcast
• A Mighty Blaze podcast
• The Writer's Bone Podcast Network
• Misfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order
• Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discount
• Wizard Pins (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount

John Feal is a native New Yorker and Army veteran who worked as a demolition supervisor at Ground Zero until an 8,000-pound beam crushed his left foot during the clean-up. As he struggled with his own post-9/11 trauma, and scrambled to get out from under his also-disabling medical bills, he watched his fellow responders suffer and die from cancer and other ailments caused by the dust in the air they were told was safe to breathe.

Forgotten by a broken healthcare system and lawmakers who had promised to #NeverForget, and inspired by the men and women who continued to suffer in the fallout from that fateful day, he resolved to fight.

In I Will Follow You Anywhere: The True Story of the 9/11 Responders Who Took on Congress, he shares his remarkable story of grit and resolve, alongside the accounts of his fellow responders, presenting their shared "recipe" for getting things done—including the passage of the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund.

Working with ghostwriter, developmental editor, and book coach Charles Daly, himself a maritime first responder on the Atlantic coast of Ireland, John offers a rogue approach to the ground game of representative government, empowering readers in all walks of life to take on the system and win.

Join us as John and Charlie commemorate the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, and discuss how they worked together on their compelling new book—"A graphic but powerful reminder of the horrors of that day," according to Booklist, "and the horrors that first responders have faced ever since."

Learn more about our guests:

• John Feal Instagram
• John Feal Threads
• John Feal Facebook
• Charles Daly website
• Charles Daly LinkedIn
• Charles Daly Instagram

Please support the sponsors who support our show:

• Ritani Jewelers
• Daniel Paisner's Balloon Dog
• Daniel Paisner's SHOW: The Making and Unmaking of a Network Television Pilot
• Heaven Help Us by John Kasich
• Unforgiving: Lessons from the Fall by Lindsey Jacobellis
• Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discount
• Libro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membership
• The Darling Killers Podcast
• Film Freaks Forever! podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef Sutton
• Everyday Shakespeare podcast
• A Mighty Blaze podcast
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• Misfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order
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This episode originally aired on Sept. 12, 2023.

Novelist, screenwriter, producer and publisher Lee Goldberg knows what it is to work in collaboration. He has helped to write and produce a number of television shows, including "seaQuest" and "Monk," and he also served as a supervising producer and executive producer of the long-running series "Diagnosis Murder," starring Dick Van Dyke.

While working on "Monk" and "Diagnosis Murder," he wrote several original tie-in novels based on those series. Lee is also an accomplished storyteller in his own right—the author of nearly 40 novels, including Lost Hills, True Fiction, and the first five books in the Fox & O'Hare series, written with best-selling mystery novelist Janet Evanovich. His book Malibu Burning, tells the story of an elaborate heist staged in the middle of a raging California wildfire, including two additional books, Calico and Dream Town.

Since this interview kicked off our third season, Lee has released a number of books, including Fallen Star and the just-published thriller Murder by Design. His forthcoming novel Split Screen, the seventh novel in his popular Eve Ronin series, is now available for preorder.

Note: during our conversation, talked turned to one of Daniel Paisner's long ago book projects, in which our As Told To host chronicled the making (and unmaking) of a CBS sitcom pilot. Lee, a student of all things television who just happened to have his own publishing imprint, was intrigued, and subsequently rescued the book, originally entitled Horizontal Hold, from the scrap-heap of out-of-print books. Under his Cutting Edge Books imprint, he reissued the book with a new title—Show—and a new introduction, and we humbly suggest you check it out.

Join us for a fun and informative conversation on what it means to work in and around television, and how it is that one writer has been able to capture the imagination of audiences in a variety of mediums.

Please support the sponsors who support our show:

• Ritani Jewelers
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• Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discount
• Libro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membership
• Film Freaks Forever! podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef Sutton
• Everyday Shakespeare podcast
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• Misfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order
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This episode originally aired February 1, 2022.

Amy Ferris writes like a dream. About love. Also: strength, humanity, depression, aging, inspiration, resilience. But mostly about love. It's kind of her thing—a thing that led her to her first gig as a collaborator, a dual memoir from Joseph "Rev Run" Simmons and Justine Simmons called Old School Love.

Amy's worked primarily as an essayist, an editor, a screenwriter and playwright. She's even published a young adult novel called A Greater Goode. She made a whole bunch of noise with the publication of her 2009 breakout book, Marrying George Clooney: Confessions from a Midlife Crisis, a wildly funny and yet achingly wistful collection of middle-of-the-night musings on life and death and connectedness. (Don't just take our word for it: The New York Times called it "poignant, free-wheeling, cranky and funny.")

The book helped to establish Amy as a voice of her generation and a leading champion of women and women's issues. She is the co-editor of anthology Dancing at the Shame Prom: Sharing the Stories That Kept Us Small, and editor of Shades of Blue: Writers on Depression, Suicide and Feeling Blue, a collection of essays that looked to shine meaningful light on the shadow of depression.

She is a founding board member of the Scranton, PA-based Pages & Places Literary Festival, a co-director of the Story Summit Writer's School, and a frequent guest at writer's conferences and workshops all over the world.

Amy has written for both television and film. Her screenplay, "Funny Valentines," was directed by Julie Dash and was nominated for a best screenplay (BET) award in 2000. She co-wrote the film "Mr. Wonderful," directed by Anthony Minghella.

Updates on Amy since episode aired:

Marrying George Clooney was adapted into a play and staged at the CAP21 Theater Company. Another run of performances is scheduled for September 2026 at Haddonfield Plays and Players in Haddonfield, N.J.

Her most recent memoir, Amy in Retrograde: Desperately Seeking Rewiring, was published earlier this year. A previous memoir, Mighty Gorgeous: A Little Book About Messy Love, was published in 2023.

In memory of her husband, the acclaimed cameraman and cinematographer Ken Ferris, she has established the Ken Ferris Scholarship for Women Writers through the Noom Miracle writing workshops.

Learn more about Amy Ferris:

• Website
• Twitter

Please support the sponsors who support our show:

• Ritani Jewelers
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• Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discount
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Jeff Daniels's audio memoir/podcast series is the darndest thing. He joined us on the podcast in October 2023 to promote the launch of "Alive and Well Enough," a collection of stories, songs, and scenes and monologues from some of the actor's plays. He followed that launch with a second collection, "Alive and Well Enough Continues," a year later, and now here we are a few years after that waiting on "Son of Alive and Well Enough" or "Alive and Well Enough Already."

Really, we can't get enough of this unique storytelling format, and you'll begin to hear why in this intro to the versatile performer's follow-up collection. Part podcast, part musical memoir, part bulletins from the floodlights, culled from a lifetime on stage.

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."

So come on by and set a spell—and, if you like what you hear, circle back and listen to our full conversation with the actor/songwriter/playwright/producer, as he reflects 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").

Oh, and in the goes-without-saying-department, curl up these delightful Audible Originals releases… and thank us later.

More from Jeff Daniels:

• Jeff Daniels & Jonathan Hogan, "Together Again"
• Website
• Facebook

Please support the sponsors who support our show:

• Ritani Jewelers
• Daniel Paisner's Balloon Dog
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• Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discount
• Libro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membership
• Film Freaks Forever! podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef Sutton
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• Misfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order
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This episode originally aired Oct 10, 2023.

"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 "Alive and Well Enough"—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 The Purple Rose Theatre Company 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:

• Jeff Daniels & Jonathan Hogan, "Together Again"
• Website
• Facebook

Please support the sponsors who support our show:

• Ritani Jewelers
• Daniel Paisner's Balloon Dog
• Daniel Paisner's SHOW: The Making and Unmaking of a Network Television Pilot
• Heaven Help Us by John Kasich
• Unforgiving: Lessons from the Fall by Lindsey Jacobellis
• Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discount
• Libro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membership
• Film Freaks Forever! podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef Sutton
• Everyday Shakespeare podcast
• A Mighty Blaze podcast
• The Writer's Bone Podcast Network
• Misfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order
• Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discount
• Wizard Pins (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount

Join us as As Told To podcast guest Daniel Grace reads a passage from his first novel, In the Wake of Golgotha, just published by the indie press Koehler Books. Grace, a veteran ad agency executive and acclaimed winemaker, turns his creative talents to an entirely new form of expression with the publication of his first-novel, a modern-day retelling of "the greatest story ever told." If you're intrigued by Daniel's reading, we hope you'll double back and listen to our primary episode, in which our guest reflects on the very many ways his very many creative pursuits—as an ad man, vintner, and novelist—have become inextricably linked, each reflecting the heart and spirit of a natural storyteller. Oh, and we also hope you'll take the time to read his book and sample a few bottles of his wine.

Please support the sponsors who support our show:

• Ritani Jewelers
• Daniel Paisner's Balloon Dog
• Daniel Paisner's SHOW: The Making and Unmaking of a Network Television Pilot
• Heaven Help Us by John Kasich
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• Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discount
• Libro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membership
• Film Freaks Forever! podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef Sutton
• Everyday Shakespeare podcast
• A Mighty Blaze podcast
• The Writer's Bone Podcast Network
• Misfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order
• Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discount
• Wizard Pins (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount