Category Archives: Writing

BOOK BREAKTHROUGH NYC: IDEAS + RELATIONSHIPS + STRATEGY

For those of you who are considering, or immersed in, taking big steps with your ideas, message, and publishing dreams—there’s an amazing event coming up in the heart of Manhattan that may be exactly what you need.

It’s co-led by Janet Goldstein and Elizabeth Marshall, two of my favorite friends, colleagues, and advisors. If this is a fit for you, do whatever you can to get there. Janet joins me on Conversations with Creative Vagabonds, Thinkers and Innovators this Wednesday, July 13 at 12:30 PM ET to discuss the challenges of to shaping your ideas and spreading them in meaningful, effective, and even VISIONARY ways.

Here’s a short overview:

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BOOK BREAKTHROUGH NYC: IDEAS + RELATIONSHIPS + STRATEGY, July 28-30

www.Book Breakthrough.com

This publishing and strategy “master class” will walk you through the proven models you need to develop your signature ideas, build your following and strategic partnerships, and align your book and business for publishing and entrepreneurial success.

Hosted by Janet Goldstein, a nationally recognized editorial and publishing strategist, and Elizabeth Marshall, and innovative book marketer and founder of AuthorTeleseminars.com, Book Breakthrough NYC is designed to combine the best of an intensive, guided workshop with the energy and connections of an intimate conference.

At Book Breakthrough NYC, you will:

-Discover the all-important role of your concept—including why it might not be what you think and how to do it right.

– Understand how to develop your platform, dream team, and partnerships in a way that is true to you and that can transform your message into a movement.

– Hear from leading authors you know and love, including Todd Kashdan, Les McKeown, Carol Roth, Jenny Blake, Adelaide Lancaster, Andrea J. Lee, as well as a select group of publishing experts, including editors at Hay House, Penguin, McGraw-Hill, the Domino Project, GoogleTalks, literary agents, marketers, and speaker experts.

– Learn business models every author needs to understand to realize their publishing dreams.

– Receive feedback, including a “master class,” think-tank workshop of selected projects.

– Enjoy a cocktail party where you can “rub shoulders” and pitch your work up close and personal.

Janet is the “Idea Doctor” who’s helped authors like David Allen, Harriet Lerner, novelist Barbara Kingsolver, and former Starbucks President, Howard Behar (whose book she co-authored) publish and sell hundreds of thousands of books.

Elizabeth is the connection-maker and author marketer who has worked with many bestselling authors, including Keith Ferrazzi, Seth Godin, and Michael Port (whose book on Contrarian Selling she co-authored) and she’s helped first-time authors like Carol Roth and Les McKeown become WJS and NYT bestsellers.

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You can get the full scoop at the event website, and don’t hesitate to contact Janet and Elizabeth via phone or email if you have questions or need help in deciding whether this event is right for you. (Their contact information is all there.)

www.Book Breakthrough.com

To your ideas, book, and message,

Sandra

(affiliate links apply)

An Anti-Grammarian

Right off I am going to let you know if you love grammar you are going to hate me. I am a anti-grammarian.

After 10 years of facilitating a writing program I’ve come to develop a deep dislike for grammar. I want to love grammar and what it can do to enhance writing. I want to love it as a technique that moves writing from boring to scintillating. I want to love grammar and the way it can frame a piece of writing and hold it all together. I want to love grammar the same way I love the technique an artist uses to create a great work of art. Grammar, right now, I am mad at you. Here’s why.

Ten years ago I co-created a writing group so that a bunch of us could share our work and get some feedback. The group evolved into a workshop format with an instructor, homework, and a reading at the end of the season. The group attracts new writers and writers who are shy about their work. A writer, nervous about their work, comes in and reads a heartfelt story. The emotion in the room is palpable. The feedback is, “in the second paragraph, it should be semi-colon not a colon”. What? The person just gave us an incredible piece about their life as an adoptee and what you noticed is the semi-colon?

I edit an anthology each year with two friends who have told me the grammar of a piece is more important then the content. That is what frustrates me about people and grammar. Grammar becomes a cultish devotion that seems to forget the craft it serves. I read a lovely piece about how Shakespeare used the language to add the pauses and inflection needed.  English grammar did not yet exist for him.

I want to love grammar, but I want to love the content of writing more. I want to love grammar as a tool that helps to clarify and move a piece along.

I will pick up my grammar books again. One day I will love the semi-colon and eradicate a dangling particple. In the meantime, I keep reading and loving the words.

Grammar, we will be friends.