Before You Say Anything

February 7, 2022
Speech ghostwriter Wellman blends career memoir and public speaking advice in her colorful if cursory debut. “It used to be presumed that speaking in public required confidence and charisma and was a skill exercised only by the elite.... But all that has changed. The technology revolution has raised the stakes for everyone,” she writes. As a result, eloquence has become increasingly important because social media amplifies everyone’s “personal manifesto.” She recounts a variety of entertaining anecdotes about speeches she’s helped her clients write: there’s a woman who wanted help writing her eulogy while she was still alive, a porn star preparing to speak at a university, and an astronaut giving a talk at a famous planetarium. Wellman’s writing is humorous and candid (“Dick Clark can s*** it,” she writes), but she’s oddly short on specifics about what can make or break a great speech. Her chapter on delivery, for example, focuses mostly on punctuation and typography and relegates such fundamental public speaking aspects as volume, rhythm, inflection, and projection to one-word mentions. Readers looking for some speech-writing nitty-gritty will find it here, but those in need of help taking it in front of an audience may be left wanting.

Starred review from March 1, 2022
For Wellman, co-founder of a creative speechwriting agency, the world is full of future speech-givers, ever in search of the perfect words for a special occasion. This book is Wellman's guide to effective speechwriting, and her wisdom gained from a fascinating career. To write your father of the bride toast or keynote speech for hire, Wellman's thorough approach begins with a creative brainstorm, followed by an intensive interview process consisting of a wholly unique and probing set of 20 questions. She spares no details in the investigative research on the speech's subject--a task that always leads a curious Wellman down a riveting rabbit hole. All this is in service of delivering a final product that is not only personalized in pristine focus, but also constructed of a totally unique pattern of language devices. Wellman is clear that she never recycles speech material, and excerpts from her work confirm that she also never relies on clich�s, euphemisms, or tired tricks. The book is both a guide for aspiring orators and a poignant memoir about a writer with a gift for poignancy. Wellman's free spirit, penchant for romance, and enduring optimism appear in every lesson.

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