by AnnSheybani | Nov 23, 2020 | Writing, writing lessons
Years ago, I used to run multi-day memoir-writing workshops. I’m telling you, I totally miss those experiences. I often find myself sharing bits of those lessons with my private clients as they build out their manuscripts. Particularly when they’ve got a...
by AnnSheybani | Aug 14, 2017 | writing lessons
If you’re writing a client-attracting book, you’re going to want to consider the big promise you’re making to your reader, the first indication of which is your title. According to Eben Pagan and other online marketing gurus, people will only give...
by AnnSheybani | Jul 3, 2017 | Writing, writing lessons
Writing a book involves the creation of one small chunk of material at a time, because to contemplate the project in its entirety is a set up for insanity and failure. Thus the elephant-eating metaphor I like to use—How do you eat an elephant? Yes, one bite at a time....
by AnnSheybani | Feb 26, 2017 | Reading, Uncategorized, Writing, writing lessons
I’m a huge fan of re-purposing. The question I always ask, lazy git that I am? How can I turn something I’ve spent eons creating into ten other things with next to no additional work? If you’re a podcaster or someone who otherwise interviews folks on a regular basis,...
by AnnSheybani | Feb 22, 2017 | Writing, writing lessons
It was Dennis Lehane, author of Mystic River who admonished us fledgling writers to knock off all the research when working on our books. He’d just gotten a huge movie deal, Clint Eastwood was directing, so there he was at Harvard telling us all how he got to...
by AnnSheybani | Nov 14, 2016 | publishing, Writing, writing lessons
If, after writing your no-doubt best-selling book, you want to go the traditional publishing route, you’ll need to hire an agent to represent you. Manuscripts sent directly to a publisher are called unsolicited submissions. They’re usually thrown away; unceremoniously...
