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...
by AnnSheybani | Mar 16, 2020 | Life, Writing
I got to thinking about this bike rack I refused to buy because it looked like way too much bother. Anything that requires me to read a user’s manual, well, I I just don’t need it badly enough. Yet, if I hadn’t been nagged to death to buy the damn...
by AnnSheybani | Mar 9, 2020 | Reading, Writing
Lately, I’ve had my head in manuscripts just rife with purple prose. Purple prose, for those of you unfamiliar with the term, is writing that’s so extravagant, ornate, or flowery, it breaks the flow and draws excessive attention to itself. Purple prose is...
by AnnSheybani | Mar 1, 2020 | Reading, Writing
While I was in the States a few years back, I had dinner with my buddy Tim Vandehey, another ghostwriter who lives in Kansas City. Tim knows the publishing industry inside and out. He writes for celebrities and industry leaders and has had a number of his projects hit...
by AnnSheybani | Feb 24, 2020 | Life, Writing
Not long ago, I overheard a group of young women discussing Gal Gadot of Wonder Woman fame. One of the women read aloud from an article on her I-phone, a basic summary of how the actress had turned herself into a jaw-dropping, sword-wielding Amazon over the course of...
by AnnSheybani | Feb 17, 2020 | Writing
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...
