This week, we’re joined by our first-ever recurring guest. The brilliant Ann Handley (WSJ bestselling author of Everybody Writes and globally touring keynote speaker) joins us for a very special episode of “Is This Anything?”, the mini-series, where friends and collaborators join me to work out new ideas, unproven drafts, and hidden ideas to see if it is, in fact, anything.

But because it’s Ann, we’re renaming it Is This ANNything. Get it? Do you get it? (If you didn’t like that, you’re really not gonna like this episode…)

First, we discuss a story we co-wrote on Threads, sharing back and forth posts to build on each others’ previous ideas. Read that story here (you need to click into the first Thread for the threading to make sense. Oh, Threads…)

Then, we share drafts of our newsletters, each at different stages, and workshop improvements.

It’s a refreshing look at two prolific writers and speakers (and one bestselling author!) in the middle of their process.

Read Jay’s final newsletter version here. (Ann has not written the draft publicly as of this episode’s publish date.)

Listen to Ann’s first appearance on How Stories Happen as she dissects a published piece: “How do we all sign our work?” - Episode 3 with Ann Handley

RESOURCES:

⚫ Learn more about Ann at her website and subscribe to her newsletter

⚫ Follow Ann on LinkedIn and Instagram

⚫ Buy Ann’s book, Everybody Writes

🔵 Subscribe to Jay Acunzo's newsletter at jayacunzo.com

🔵 Join Jay's membership program for business storytellers and service providers, the Creator Kitchen

🔵 Follow Jay on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Threads

🟢 Produced by Ilana Nevins

🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink

ABOUT JAY:

Jay Acunzo is an author, speaker, and differentiation-and-thought leadership consultant on a mission to help you make what matters to your career, company, and community. He's an advisor to experts, execs, and entrepreneurs who want to resonate deeper with others, not just reach them. To do so, he helps you turn your expertise into IP and your IP into differentiated messaging, exceptional speeches, and celebrated creative projects, equipping you with the communication techniques and power of today’s top thought leaders—because he believes in standing out through substance and stories, not hollow hype.

A leading voice in B2B content marketing for many years thanks to his roles at brands like Google and HubSpot, companies like Mailchimp, Salesforce, Wistia, and GoDaddy have turned to Jay to strengthen their storytelling, while dozens of individual authors, speakers, consultants, and service providers hire Jay as their dedicated thought partner and exec. producer to help develop their premise, IP, speaking, and shows.

Jay lives in the Boston area with his family as a proud Yankees and Knicks fan. In the 60 seconds per week he's not creating stuff for work or making his kids laugh, he likes to shoot hoops, sip nice bourbons, cook with his wife, and daydream about telling stories like that of his storytelling hero, Anthony Bourdain.

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JOIN MY VIRTUAL BOOTCAMP: Design My Signature Talk

Happening this November, I'm leading a two-day virtual bootcamp to help you design, package, and pitch your signature talk—the speaking product you can reliably deliver virtually or in-person, to evangelize your message, continually speak and get invited to speak thanks to how brilliant you are in the room, and generate spin-out business from the talk as well.

Some talks are blog posts with a runtime. Other talks stir hearts and engage minds.

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“Is this ANNything?” Ann Handley and Jay Acunzo Work Out New Drafts

How Stories Happen