Latest / The Bridges and Beacons Podcast / Healing Through Storytelling with Ryan Hall

Transcript

Healing Through Storytelling with Ryan Hall · The Bridges and Beacons Podcast

• 0:38
  SPEAKER_02: Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to the Mystic Nerd Squad podcast.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_02: You guys, it is a special day.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_02: I have had a little bit of a hiatus for some family stuff.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm coming back on today with one of my really good friends in the virtual world and in the book world, the writing, publishing, speaking your truth and healing world, Ryan Hall.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_02: And you guys, today's his birthday.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_02: I feel so honored that Ryan would celebrate part of his birthday with us here on the Mystic Nerd Squad podcast.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_02: So make sure you give him lots of love, send those happy birthday vibes.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: Am I allowed to ask which birthday this is or what beautiful year you were born in?
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, thank you for that.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: But um yeah, no, today uh today is uh birthday number 45.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_02: Same.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: I just had mine in November, so we're the same age.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: So that's good.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: We have all of the the references from the 80s that we can you know litter through the whole podcast.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: References from the 80s that I just kind of slept through because I was in diapers for part of it, but yeah.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: The the latter part.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, it's the latter part, exactly.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_02: So, Ryan, I I want to start out.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_02: I I got so excited.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_02: There were so many things that we could talk about, and we could probably put together a whole weekend's worth of content to talk about the things that we both get really um geeked out on.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_02: But specifically today, we wanted to talk about the healing power of storytelling.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_02: And um just before we came on live, you were sharing your first novel.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_02: First of all, folks, I didn't say, you know, Ryan is a published author, a podcaster, and a publisher.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_02: So he's got a few awesome things and um also a really, like me, a heart-led coach.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_02: So um any offering we have for you today on the process of healing through storytelling is gonna be really meaningful for you.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_02: So if you're someplace right now where you can just sit and grab a cup of coffee or a cup of tea and uh check this out, this is gonna be really healing and powerful for you.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_02: So before we came on, Ryan, you were you were sharing your first novel.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_02: If you want to hold that up for the folks who are watching, um on video, written in the stone.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_02: And so I I'm gonna let you take it because I know, like me, being a podcaster, you you have a very eloquent ability to just speak from the heart.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: So take it away, Ryan.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: And uh yeah, by the way, this for uh for those of y'all watching on video, this is the original cover.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um if you check out my Amazon listing, I do have uh I do have an updated cover um uh for for this book.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: But to to but just a little bit of background on this book, uh my first novel, it came out in 2015.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's about a man named Ethan.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Ethan is a he's like a globetrotting magazine reporter, like Think Time magazine here.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: And um he's originally from a little small town in Alabama, not unlike yours, truly.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: But he was also um he also gained a little bit of notoriety that he did not want when he was held hostage covering the war in the Middle East.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: And and the if you if you've ever read it, there's a the very first sequence is a raid from a Navy SEAL team.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: And that was the that was the very first image that I had in my mind.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: And there's definitely some political intrigue, like you know, if you've ever seen All the President's Men, there's I I kind of borrow very heavily from the at least the film version of that uh for Written in the Stone.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: But as I went along, there became a very powerful message that I was getting um about one particular character in this book, Ethan's mother, who uh named Terry.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Terry, um in you know, in the book, and I'm not gonna give away too much here, but there there needs to be a little context.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um Terry um uh active alcoholics, uh like severe depression and you know, stuff like that.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: And as I was writing this, I was rebounding, so to speak, from losing my own mother some number of years before uh before the book came out.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: And that that that book, in particular that character, became such a powerful way, I believe, for me to for me to really start to heal from losing my mom, who had a lot of the same issues, there was some depression, some substance abuse, and stuff like that.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: And how I ended up doing it was I ended up I guess subconsciously rewriting how I wished her story would have ended.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: And to me, that's just like it just really kind of grew and grew, and uh it was something I wasn't even realizing that I was doing.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't even realizing I was doing it at the time, but it again it became a really powerful way for me to I guess not really to say goodbye, but just to um but just to I guess rebound and heal from a pretty significant blow.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_02: I I love that, and I love how you shared that like in the writing process, some of it is not so contrived.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_02: Like sometimes it's like what's coming through, and the characters come to life and they sort of tell you where you're they want their story to go versus you dictating exactly where it's supposed to go.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_02: And that really does speak to the the healing power in storytelling.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, no, totally.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: And j just to kind of add on to that, is that yes, written in the stone, it is a work of fiction.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: But it is very much based off of real life um incidents in my own life.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: And you I mean you can you know, you you can share these kind of things all you want, but if there's no but if there's not like as you so eloquently put earlier, that kind of heart-centered truth around it, then the story is just gonna read hollow and kind of inauthentic.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh, I love that.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that does that does sort of make the distinction between a book that you just can't put down because you become so invested in the characters.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_02: Like I've seen these t-shirts, I'm like, so like, do I get that one?
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_02: Like I'm like attached to fictional characters.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_02: That was my childhood.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_02: I was, you know, before I was really, you know, a writer, I was a reader of books, like just couldn't put books down.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_02: I would just read until it was gone and then go get the next one.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_02: How about you?
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_02: Were you similar?
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, I yes, I really was.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: I got really like I got really invested in a lot of um, yeah, in a lot of um really older books.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like my dad, my dad was a huge reader.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: I've got a great healing story around him with my second book, but my dad was a huge reader, and I read a lot of his old books.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like I read a lot of his old like Hardy Boys books that he had when he was a kid, you know, that kind of thing.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, no, I I I was a big reader.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: I was a big reader.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I mean, you know, dad was into stuff like Carlos Castaneda and he loved the Lord of the Rings trilogies, which I was never really able to bite into, but it's a niche thing.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_02: Some people are into it, some people aren't.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: For me, it was like anything I could get my hands on by C.S.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_02: Lewis.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I just I loved the way that he created worlds.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: I I can see that in you too.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_02: I I think it was just that like attraction to these contrived fantasy worlds.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_02: I was also very into Stephen King.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: Like when I was 12, I I'm like still kind of shocked that my parents let me read it.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if they actually knew what was in those books, but I feel like they were like, eh, if she can read the words, like she'll she'll manage the content, it'll be fine.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_02: The book is called Harry.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: What possibly could be in it?
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_02: My first my first in to Stephen King was it.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_02: So there you go.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I see you.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: I see you.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_02: So anyway, yeah.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_02: So anything from like just those those fantastically written characters with like flaws, but you also fall in love with them.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_02: I'm that's always for me, like when I'm reading, if I can find a character who is like terribly flawed, but you're really rooting for them, like that gets me excited about a book.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that and I definitely believe that's the type of writer that I am, is that I that that I'm able to create characters that there's a lot of truth behind, that there's a lot of truth in, but there's definitely some, you know, that there's like um you know, like the old Steely Dan song, there's an old dark spot on your past that um that comes to light as the story goes on.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: And that's you know, that's human beings, you know, what can we say?
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: They're human beings, we're all flogged, we're all imperfect, and that's the type of you know, that's the type of characters I really love to sink my teeth into.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, definitely.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_02: So, so you mentioned your in your second book, you you really kind of took that journey of of healing from the loss of your dad.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_02: Hello again.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_02: I've actually started reading this one, so I'm excited to hear about it.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, indeed.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: Well, hello again.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um there's there was a lot more intentionality behind this one.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I lost uh I lost my dad back um back in December of 2014.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: So it's uh a little bit more recent.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh mom passed away in 09.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: But um but my dad uh but just first of all, hello again.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um my protagonist is a guy named Mike Holliday.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now Mike is the is the host of a late night network TV show.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um and you know, he's married early in the book, he's got a ch you know, got a child on the way.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: And he finds out during the taping of one of his shows that his mother finally passes away from cancer.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, the show must go on.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: But he like his mind is just gone at that point.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: So they go back to um they go back, uh he he goes back to his little small Alabama hometown.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, right what you know, but goes back to his old Alabama hometown, and when he's there, he sees the shape that his dad is in.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: Now, at one point his dad was the most um influential blues guitarist.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he he you know, I I mentioned in the book, he he taught Eric Clapton a few things.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's the type of like character that he has.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: And it it's really all about falling back in love with your life by being and doing what you do best.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: Either, you know, making people laugh and interviewing people, or you know, standing on stage with a with a Les Paul around your neck, just making the thing howl like a wolf.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: And um it it it's definitely a book about redemption, but Jimmy Holiday is the i is the um uh the the the the dad character.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I like I took a lot of it from I read Greg Allman's autobiography as I was uh as I was working on this, and you know, Mr.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: But I borrowed, you know, there was a lot, there was a lot of Greg Allman in Jimmy Holliday, but it's mostly my dad.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: Now, my dad, at one point, if he had gotten a couple of breaks, he could have been on that level as a musician.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: My dad was a keyboard player, and he could have been at that level as a musician.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, depression and certain chemical distractions kind of got in his way.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: And he never really like he never really got back into that w once I came along.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he chose to get off the road when I came along because he didn't want to be a touring musician with a young son at home, but he never got back into it, and I d to this day I believe he regretted it for the rest of his life.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: But um but I was very intentional when I was writing Hello Again because I wanted to rewrite the way that my dad I wish that my dad's story would have wound up.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: And there is a I I'm not gonna give it away, but the but there is a scene, um, it it's kind of late in the book where where Jimmy is uh on stage at the Beacon Theater in New York City.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: And to to everybody watching and everybody listening, when you read that chapter, you may want to get some Kleenex.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's a very subtle thing, but you may want to get some tissues at that chapter.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: When you're on stage with Derek Trux and Susan Tedesky and that powerhouse band that they have.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: So but I like I said, I was very intentional with rewriting Tony Hall's story of um, you know, what he could have been if he hadn't let those distractions and those um, you know, his own depression get in the way.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_02: In just a couple minutes, you said something that just like like hit me straight in the heart.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_02: You said that falling back in love with your life again by doing what you do best.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, man, that's like some good life advice.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_02: You know, really figuring out what is it that you do best and do that, and that is like the the key to peace and happiness and joy and totally totally.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it's just it's like getting back to basics.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's like getting back to basics.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's like when you you know, when like when I'm in a great writing zone, uh like I'm floating.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I do best.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: When I'm in a great storytelling zone, or when I'm in a you know, interviewing somebody on a just a killer podcast, that's when I'm at my best.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: But so often I feel like people let the they put their dreams in mothballs.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: They put those, you know, they put those aspirations in mothballs.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: And that I think is where a lot of people run into issues of depression and substance abuse when they just get totally disconnected from who they really are.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh, 100%.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_02: I mean we could think of you know a dozen recent, you know, situations with people that indicate that that is that is for sure the case.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I I think I can appreciate that and you know, going through my own healing journey and uh haven't written, you know, I'm I'm not a fiction writer per se, not that I couldn't, just haven't.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but haven't gone into my whole healing journey.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_02: I've done little pieces of it in the the chapters that I've written for books.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_02: But when I started to feel really good, it's when I embraced, you know, I I'm a bit of a nerd.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_02: Like when I get excited about a topic, I'm gonna nerd out on it.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna, you know, be stumbling over my words and excited and probably too much for the room.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a mystic nerd if you were.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_02: A mystic nerd, right?
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_02: So there are certain things that I can talk about that I just get so excited about, but it makes me a really good podcaster because you know, it the people that I've had on my podcast, including you, are people that I have had other conversations with, and I love having conversations with because I don't know where they're going and I know they're gonna be really fun and really deep, and I'm gonna leave feeling like a million bucks.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's it's the best therapy out there.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: No doubt, no doubt.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_02: So it's kind of making me feel like this is this is like the the place that you brought it to, like falling back in love with your life, doing what you do best is like the magic key.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_02: But this is the message I keep getting.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_02: I I say it's from the universe, God, whoever, whoever pokes me on the shoulder and says, go this direction, you know, um, that what would the world be like?
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_02: This is my question.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_02: What would the world be like if each of us sort of recognize and acknowledge the thing that we love doing the best, and we just offered that to the world in like the most true and raw form without judging or feeling like we have to make it any certain way, imperfectly.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: The word that comes to mind is flow easy.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: The world would just flow a lot easier, the like life would just be a lot more laid back, um, a lot more comfortable, a lot more easy, and um that there would be yeah, it it would just be a lot better place to live if we you know if we all just embody that um mind, body, and soul.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm with you.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_02: So that's kind of my revolution.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like, how do we how do we get people to a point where they feel it's safe to come out and be who you are at the very truest sense, and whatever that means for you as a person, where wherever you've been hiding yourself from the world, like let's let's create a space and a place where people feel safe enough to come out and just be that and not worry of you know judgment because I think it's that like unique piece of things, combination of things that we offer the world that makes it a more exciting and fun place to be.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: Really, no, r really it is, and just to piggyback on that, there's so much, and it's not just sharing your you know, sharing your story, telling your story is not simply about writing.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's not simply about writing.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: People can share their story through visual art, people can share their story through through through food cooking is a great way to share your story and just come out with just who you really are there's just so many more ways but sometimes it's not gonna be easy it's in fact sometimes it's gonna be very very difficult like there is a like there is a if I could just share this quick story there's a scene in Hello again where um where my character um uh my character of Mike comes home from school he's it's a it's a flashback scene and the dad is in the middle like in the depths of his active addiction but nobody knew it like he was hiding it very well and this this is a scene that was taken straight just directly from a scene that happened in my real life with my own dad when he was in the midst of his active addiction and I'll never forget after I wrote that scene I usually write to music especially since Hello again was so musically um you know centered I usually write to music but I wrote this in silence and when I and and when I finished and I don't know I I can't remember if that was intentional or not but I'll never forget after I wrote that after I wrote that scene I closed my laptop and just kind of sat in silence for like three or four minutes until my cell phone rang.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: That first of all that ring was probably the loudest this phone has ever been uh now admittedly it was a dear friend of mine who I you know was very happy to catch up with but that like I had to stuff my heart back down my throat after that incident because sometimes you get like sometimes just speaking personally here sometimes I can get so wrapped up in my um you know in in something that I'm writing that it just like I just get blinders on.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like I just totally get blinders on and this is writing fiction.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: Right and then and and this is writing fiction I mean I'm in the midst of writing my memoir right now and there you know there's a lot that that I haven't even come close to approaching yet.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: And um yeah there's just uh I guess you could call me a method writer.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_02: I I mean I think it's the best kind of method because it's not just writing for the writing's sake.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_02: It's there there's healing happening as you're you know like you said you're you're creating these stories but you're basing it so much on your own life experiences that you know I love how you said like for your parents you were sort of rewriting how you would have wanted their ending to be you know kind of that redemption arc right and and you're also processing through things you know um I love it and I love that you said that you write to music because I I also find music a very powerful medium for allowing things to come through.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_02: Like I love to put on like some real dark music like some some radio head and just like explore some darker poetry.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_02: You know I like writing poetry but you know a lot of my poetry is very positive like channeling positive messages for the world but every once in a while like I just like to indulge into like the the darker side of things and you know I don't know it just feels good I I really get that I I really get that it you know it it's like it's like just to get totally metaphysical here but it's like I can feel my like my dad kind of speaking to me through like what types of music that I choose to listen to just on a daily basis or you know when I'm writing because the thing that like what I write is going to be a lot different if I'm listening to like Miles Davis as compared to like Led Zeppelin or something or like Pink Floyd or something like that.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_02: Oh I'm uh I'm a huge fan of Pink Floyd yeah love some Pink Floyd it's like it's so easy to get into like a certain kind of like mood um that just feels like a healthy indulgence.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah yeah no you you feel a certain way after listening to Dark Side of the Moon.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_02: For sure for sure yeah yeah I love it and uh my mom just passed away a couple weeks ago and she was a huge fan of music so like part of my therapeutic process is listening to the music she loved.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_02: So she she was you know um in the 60s uh and early 70s like she for a portion of time was waitressing in New York City in the village because she could be more close to like following Bob Dylan you know she saw the first um tour that Pink Floyd did where they played Dark Side of the Moon from beginning to end like the whole album so she saw them I think somewhere in New York City I want to say Radio City but I'm not sure if that was exactly where it was but um yeah so like when I was little um my parents used to listen to the radio in the mornings so like they didn't watch TV in the mornings they didn't watch the news they listened to classic rock um 102.7 which is like a you know New York based uh radio station so I hear those songs and it's like flashbacks to my childhood and like just that like good feeling.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_02: So those songs are so therapeutic for me.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah yeah yeah yeah totally like I was one of the few like I you know we're we're close in age I was one of the few people in my high school who had um you know who had heard who knew who Emerson Lakin Palmer was and like I loved um like one of my dad's favorite was Earth Wind and Fire I titled my first book after an Earth Wind and Fire song so um you know James Brown at the Apollo Theater I was one of the few kids in my high school that had ever heard that right so you know yeah yeah just you know I I've got a lot of beautiful memories around you know listening to the Beatles and you know stuff like that.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah who's your favorite Beatle I I I I'm a Paul admittedly I'm a Paul guy.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: How can you not be?
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah yeah how can you not be my my mom's favorite was George Harrison so listening to George Harrison also super therapeutic because I just now now I I have to admit George's All Things Must Pass may be my favorite Beatles solo album.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_02: It's that album is a masterpiece yeah yeah yeah don't listen to that song without tissues however no kidding so yeah yeah and I I that's so exciting because that that is like a nerd out thing for me.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_02: Like I can remember anytime we brought up any you know artists from the 60s or 70s my mom had like this crazy memory for like who they played with and like all those bands that like shared different players like um Jefferson Airplane and like that pole progression she loved uh Yorma Kaukinen uh hot tuna so like we went to see music so my parents have seen tons of live music in in their you know in their marriage with each other they were married 46 years and um when we were kids like we would go see music we would listen to all this music they would play albums for us um and uh we saw I think we've seen hot tuna like in the like in the recent past a bunch of times we used to go see uh musicians at the blue note in the city like so like music was such a huge piece of you know my childhood uh it's like it's it's like coming home to me every time I hear the songs it's like how many times have I heard these songs that I know I don't necessarily know all the lyrics but the guitar solos can just play in my head and you know like I can remember where I was when I heard these songs.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_02: I remember sitting at the kitchen table when I was like five and eating oatmeal and listening to the music on the radio.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah yeah I you know I I I've got an amazing story my yeah like I said my dad was like really close to really like making some big waves in the music business but his um his band opened up for um this was at Memorial Coliseum in Tuscaloosa now known as Coleman Coliseum but um his band opened up for a little up and coming English rock and roll band called Led Zeppelin once upon a time that's amazing and um and and my dad um got to play John Paul Jones's keyboard setup and it it said it was just like magic.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_00: I mean like their monitor system their like their floor monitor system was so I I think he told me was his their floor their monitor system was so good he could hear a mouse fart I love it but yeah no that that's kind of at the and he also something I don't really understand to this day but there was also a connection that he had with the Grateful Dead um that I kind of wish I could ask him but um yeah no yeah music you know if you i I mean if you're watching this right now if you haven't read hello again there's gonna be some there there's gonna be some references to some of the finest music ever made in that book.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_02: Oh I'm excited now I'm really excited.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_02: Oh oh oh totally I can't wait I can't wait to finish reading it so oh my gosh this is this is like what I love about doing this because we can just nerd out on so many different topics and and music is is a huge one for me.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_02: So I want to give you some time to talk about the things you have going on because uh you've got some really awesome projects um I'm gonna link up everything in the show notes so y'all can just listen to Ryan eloquently share all the stuff he has going on and some some offers so go for it.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely well first of all Kelly thank you so much for having me today this has been a this has been a real treat to spend part of my birthday just nerding out um mystically nerding out I guess um but one of the you know one of the things that I'm currently uh enrolling for is I'm putting together a um collaborative book now this collaborative book is called Return to the Blues now this is not necessarily about music um however one of the things that um I think a lot of people who aren't quite as music nerdy as the two of us are is that most of modern popular music all really all of modern popular music was based on the blues was based on you know guys like Robert Johnson and Rosetta Tharp and and uh Muddy Waters and BB King you know all those people it's like the basis of all modern popular music it's the basics and during the pandemic during you know during the shutdown during just all of the just the pain that we have as a collective have had over the past couple years a lot of people have had to strip their life down to the bare wood and and really get down to basics and rebuild their lives from the basics and I want to feature in this book I want to feature people who have had to do that who have had to just strip their lives down and start over from the you know start over from the basics return to their blues and you know this this is something I'm incredibly excited about.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_00: I think uh I think we can have some really powerful stories featured in this book.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's something that I'm uh we're recording this in the middle of March of course but I'm gonna be accepting applications for this through the end of April um and uh I I trust you'll link to the application in the show notes.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um but this is gonna be the first in a series of collaborative books uh and really based off all based off of um musical metaphors let's say I love it yeah no I and all I'm gonna say is that the first one's gonna be about the blues the next one is gonna be about jazz.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_00: Sweet yes but um but that's gonna be coming out um uh end of October but get your applications in now um all the information's gonna be in the application so definitely check that out if you're interested in working with me I'm uh you know as as a writing coach and as a publisher um just shoot me an email at Royalheartscoaching at gmail dot com.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um and um yeah and you know just like you said I've got a um I I I've been publishing I I I am the accredited publisher of Hello Again which is something that I'm crazy excited about.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_00: We just released a really powerful recovery memoir uh called A Girl from Southern Boulevard uh at the end of January um and I've got one coming out at um kind of in the middle of May that's uh it's it's a really raunchy children's book satire that's a that's a genre that's a genre that's a genre and a half right there my friend but it's gonna but it's gonna be uh coming out in the middle of May the manuscript is hilarious love it um and but if you're interested in working with me um in letting me you know trusting me in you know editing and publishing your work to shoot me an email and I'll be happy to connect with you I also have a podcast of which you were uh uh a gracious guest with me about a year or so ago uh called solar powered so you l and um I'm getting close to a hundred episodes on that uh I have a guest in mind that I want for my 100th episode that scares me but awesome but if but when I when I'm able to secure this interview it will not only be exciting for 45 year old Ryan but it'll be exciting for 10 year old Ryan and that's all I'm gonna say about that.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yes that's all kind of all I want to say about that but yeah no I've got a lot of slashes I've got a lot of stuff going on you can find me on the social media machine and um yeah I think that's about it.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_02: That's all I I love it and I I'm so excited for you I think you know we get to be multipassionate we get to have you know lives that are not checking off boxes and filling the boxes so you can't you can't pinpoint us down we're gonna do all kinds of weird stuff that surprises you I think that's that's the new entrepreneur can't tie me down yeah yeah you you can't square pick that kind of thing no no mystic nerd like it's just I made it up it's a thing creative license right so oh my gosh I I really encourage you if you're listening if you're watching if you're catching this in the replay you know connect with Ryan follow him on all the social medias everything will be um in the show notes check out this project he has coming up it sounds amazing I'm really excited for you um and a collaborative writing if you are a writer and you're a little you know intimidated about the prospect of writing a whole book number one right here beside me is somebody who can kind of help you with getting through that process but number two participating in a collaborative work is such a great way to do it.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_02: I've I did four last year and it was a really cool process.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah it really it really is um uh just a shout out to my dear friend Liz Hill who who was the um publisher on two collaborative projects that I was a part of uh in the last year and a half or so and she's kind of the reason she kind of talked me into getting into the publishing thing and I'm just took the ball and ran with it.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_00: So um yeah.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah I and I think you know people can feel like they're in a safe space even if you feel like you don't know how to produce a published work that part of these projects is that ability to have somebody coaching you through the process of polishing your work.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_00: So indeed yeah because it can it can be intimidating yeah it can be intimidating knowing that you're gonna be writing something so like personal to you that um that is going to be read by human eyes that can be intimidating but it doesn't have to be you've got people out there like myself who can coach you who can hold your hand through this to get a story out there that's going to change the world because as Robin Williams said in Dead Poet Society a my favorite actor of all time and I still haven't been able to watch that movie since he passed away but um but just my favorite quote uh of his from that movie was never forget words and ideas can change the world your words your ideas can change the world you may need some help getting it out there but it needs to be out there it needs to live I agree with you 100% yeah so so connect with Ryan even if it's just to have a conversation if you're if you're interested you know and I know from watching Ryan seeing the different projects he's in you know spending some time with him virtually um being on his podcast if you're into podcasting and and guesting Ryan's is a great one um uh I can speak from experience and I I just wish you the happiest birthday a great 45 year that's what I'm working on I don't know what you're supposed to be doing in your 45 year but I'm doing it but uh I hope you have a great day um and uh thank you so much for coming on sharing your heart and I hope we've sort of gotten people's curiosity piqued with uh writing as a process for healing absolutely and Kelly this has been a true honor thank you so much for having me and um I look forward to connecting with you and with all y'all in the future absolutely and please come back when your projects are released to come share with us we would love to have that I will I I I will take your word on that one.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely all right have a good one guys thanks for joining us bye now