Posts by Ron

Griddlesode S15-001: The Buntling Ball Prize

Posted by Ron on Jun 28, 2020 | Comments Off on Griddlesode S15-001: The Buntling Ball Prize

Sometimes I stumble onto one story while researching another. An advertisement caught my eye a few years ago while I was reading an article in an 1870s magazine. I filed it away, forgot about it, then came across it again a couple of months ago. Subsequent research led me to buy two first-edition books. The first is an 1884 novel about the country’s burgeoning economy. The second, published the following year in 1885, is a satirical play about New York City’s Bourgeoisie. The first was a bestseller. The second was not only a flop, but a nineteenth century public relations disaster. Today we’re going back 135 years to tell the story of these two books. It’s a story that I call, The Buntling Ball Prize.

The Buntling Ball Prize

The music on this Griddlesode was licensed from Audiio.com:

In order of appearance are:

Winter by Long for the Coast
Everything or Nothing by WilleyEcho
It’s Gonna Rain by Firework Festival
and Cut Throat by Dorian Robin

Fool Me Once: Learning to Play the Game

Posted by Ron on Nov 23, 2019 | Comments Off on Fool Me Once: Learning to Play the Game

Have you ever been taken advantage of? Have you ever been cheated, lied to, or deceived? At some point in our lives, someone uses our trust against us and were disappointed, hurt, and left somewhat jaded. In this Griddlesode, Ron describes being scammed and the lessons that he learned through the experiences.

Fool Me Once: Learning to Play the Game

The Music in this Griddlesode came from two artists:

Kevin MacLeod

Covert Affair

Derek Clegg (on Free Music Archive)

Answer
C’Est La Vie
Annalise

Griddlesode S14-001: Who Knew Storytelling Could be so Dangerous?

Posted by Ron on Jun 3, 2019 | 1 comment

In 2008, on Griddlesode S4-001, I told the story of my unfortunate road to surgery after breaking my finger playing basketball. I called that story, Paperclip Pinky.

Eleven years later, I have another injury story for you, but rather than hurting it while playing sports, I suffered it while…storytelling. How did I do that, you ask? Well, sit back and listen to a story that I call, “Who Knew Storytelling could be so dangerous?”

The Music in this Griddlesode came from the Kevin MacLeod of incompetech.com. In order of appearance art:

Loopster
Ossuary 6
Exotic Battle

I just want to thank all my longtime listeners. You are the reason that I keep producing this podcast…albeit infrequently. If you need a dose of me, though, checkout my work at storyhow.com, where I teach the techniques that I use to tell stories. I’ve also published a new book called The Proverb Effect. And yes, it too is written as a story.

Griddlesode S13-002: The Most Important Storytelling Trait

Posted by Ron on Dec 31, 2018 | Comments Off on Griddlesode S13-002: The Most Important Storytelling Trait

I’ve been a storyteller as long as I can remember. In 1990, I told the story or the Battle of Lexington & Concord in two hour audio cassette. In 1995, I wrote a business fable called The Edison Effect, that told the story about a manager who lost his job to technology and the lessons that he learned along the way back into the job market. In 2005, I started this storytelling podcast. And so it only made sense that ten years later, I started teaching the art of storytelling to business folks.

Griddlecakes Radio has blessed me with the opportunity to meet many listeners who’ve reached out to tell how my stories have affected them. Others have express their hopes to become better storytellers themselves. I’ve never talked about the act of storytelling on this podcast, and thought that we could use this end-of-the-year Griddlesode to peel back the storytelling curtain. So, for those listeners who want to become better storytellers, this Griddlesode is for you because I’m going to teach you the most important trait that any storyteller must have. And of course I’m going to do so through storytelling…three of them actually.

So sit back and get comfortable while I tell three little stories that share a common theme, the single most important trait that a storyteller must have.

The Music in this Griddlesode came from the Free Music Archive. In order of appearance are:

Warm Duck Shuffle by Arne Huseby
Has-been Blues by the Cantonement Jazz Band
Stormy Blues by Arne Huseby
Bessemer Blues by the Cantonement Jazz Band

Griddlesode S13-001: Project Lizzie: It’s a Wrap

Posted by Ron on Nov 20, 2018 | Comments Off on Griddlesode S13-001: Project Lizzie: It’s a Wrap

It’s called a green leaf, Ancestry.com’s notification symbol that represents a genealogical hint. Most ancestry stories start by clicking on these leaves, but this particular click lead to the end of one. On February 10, 2018, the clues hidden behind this iconic symbol led me to solve a forty-two-year-old mystery.

You first heard about this story four years ago on Griddlesode S9-001. Back then, I had just started a project to follow the clues left on a stack of old postcards, dated between 1904 and 1925, that I found when I was 13 years old. A lot has happened in the last four years and I wanted to get you all caught up. I do in a story that I call, “Project Lizzie: It’s a Wrap.”