by AnnSheybani | Jul 26, 2026 | Writing
The other day I got on a call with a coach I’ve known for years. Smart woman. Built a real business, wrote a real book once, the hard way, the way that takes eighteen months and costs you a little piece of your soul. This time she’d written a new one in a...
by AnnSheybani | Jul 18, 2026 | Writing
Last weekend I was at a conference for book promotion and marketing. Which means I spent two days in a room full of book people — authors, publishers, marketers, the kind of crowd that shows up to the airport with three paperbacks in their carry-on just in case. And...
by AnnSheybani | Jul 1, 2026 | Writing
I’m going to tell you about the worst nap I never took. Stick with me — this is about your manuscript, I promise. A few years back Walt and I were on Denali, in Alaska, five days into the climb. Eighty-pound pack on my back. Dragging a sled behind me with...
by AnnSheybani | Jun 28, 2026 | Writing
When I first started calling myself a writing instructor, shared my thoughts on the topic in black and white, I was convinced every writer I’d ever met—in a workshop, at grad school, out there in social media land—would see me for the fraud I feared myself to...
by AnnSheybani | Jun 22, 2026 | Life, Writing
If you attended Deep Write Saturday, then you know all about writing prompts, which I offered up in case you didn’t know which direction to go. Writing prompts are a great way to unstick yourself, particularly when you’re trying to work linearly. I decided to take my...
by AnnSheybani | May 25, 2026 | Life, Reading, Writing
On Saturday I called my mother to check on her. She’s getting up there in age, and she’d been flat on her back for a couple of weeks. Zero appetite. Which, if you know my mother, is the part that should worry you. The woman has never met a casserole she...
