by AnnSheybani | Oct 6, 2020 | Reading, Writing
One of the biggest fears my clients have is that by telling their personal stories they will appear grandiose, self-absorbed, or narcissistic. “Who am I to tell this story,” they ask. “Really, who cares?” Or, “It’s all been written about before, so why bother?” “There...
by AnnSheybani | Sep 13, 2020 | Reading, Writing
In my line of work, I talk to a lot of fascinating people who consider their stories worthy of Big House publishing. They’ve done the whole rags-to-riches thing, or overcome outrageous abuse, or performed the most amazing feats of courage. I mean, I’m awed...
by AnnSheybani | Jul 30, 2020 | Life, Reading, Writing
I received this email in response to last week’s newsletter. I thought I’d share it with you because, if you put stuff out there on a regular basis, you’re going to receive interesting responses. Sometimes people will thank you for your message,...
by AnnSheybani | Jul 27, 2020 | Life, Reading, Writing
If I were to teach a course about overcoming the emotional damage and the misconceptions picked up from alcoholic parents, this would be the semester’s assigned reading. You’ll see me quote from these books from time to time because some of these issues...
by AnnSheybani | May 11, 2020 | Life, Reading, Writing
Some time back, Walt and I conducted a mastermind call around yearly planning. One of our members raised her hand and talked about her resistance to setting any kind of goals for the year ahead. She wasn’t sure what was getting in the way. As I listened to her...
by AnnSheybani | May 3, 2020 | Reading, Writing
It’s helpful to know that obstacles are part of the writing process, but how are you supposed to deal with them when they raise their ugly heads? What can you do if you’re confused, say, about setting, or plot, or the relevance of that stuff for your chosen genre? And...
