Ann Brashares is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" series, which has sold over 8.7 million copies. Booklist hailed Ann’s newest book "The Whole Thing Together" as “quintessential Brashares”, it’s a story that explores fractured families, first love, and loss.

Click here to go directly to Ann's shownotes page where we list the resources mentioned in her episode. 

In Ann’s episode, we jump right into the inspiration behind “The Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants” and how she made the transition from the original "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" to "Sisterhood Everlasting". Ann also shares the inspiration behind her newest book and we discuss how she explores the emotional complexities of her characters.

We discover how reading became a refuge for Ann throughout her childhood and how she now finds time to write with a busy family schedule. We also get into the fundamentals of writing challenging and personal scenes in your stories and why it’s so important to surround yourself with trustworthy accountability partners. Ann shares tips about joining a book club and how to approach it in a way that specifically helps to improve your craft at writing.

For listeners working on query letters, Ann walks us through how being personal and specific in your query letter can attract literary agents.

Click here to say "Hi" to Ann!

Happy listening!

Xo,

Yin

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“In order to get going, I just need to write.” -Ann Brashares (Click to tweet!)

“You really just have to liberate yourself to try things, take risks, and write really badly sometimes if necessary.” -Ann Brashares (Click to tweet!)

“I was a reader certainly before I was a writer and I just loved getting involved in stories” -Ann Brashares (Click to tweet!)

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WHAT YOU'LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:

• How reading became a refuge for Ann during her childhood
• Ann shares a snapshot of her new book "The Whole Thing Together"
• How Ann explores the emotional complexities of her characters
• How to write challenging and personal scenes in your stories
• The importance of surrounding yourself with trustworthy accountability partners
• How joining a book club can help improve your craft at writing
• The inspiration behind "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants"
• How to find the time to write with a busy family schedule
• How Ann made the transition from the original "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" to "Sisterhood Everlasting"
• How being personal and specific in your query letter can attract literary agents

Click here to go directly to Ann's shownotes page where we list the resources mentioned in her episode.