56 You Have a Book in You way to use dialogue in a book about investment banking. Just have somebody yelling, “Help!” A word of caution: you shouldn’t portray imaginary conversations as if they really happened. Using con- densed or edited versions of actual conversations is 昀椀ne; just be clear about the fact that you’re using hypothetical characters. When your book becomes an international sensation, there’s a slight chance that someone will ask you to verify what you’ve written. It should be veri昀椀able, or it should be so obviously unveri昀椀able that nobody will ask the question in the 昀椀rst place. Work on More than One Project at a Time Before there was Jimmy Fallon, there was Johnny Car- son, and before Johnny Carson, there was Steve Allen. 吀栀is was the man who invented the television talk show, whose form has remained unchanged for more than 昀椀fty years. 吀栀is was a notable achievement, but no more so than Steve’s accomplishments as a writer. He wrote more than 8,000 songs—hits like “吀栀is Could Be the Start of Some- thing Big,” as well as poems, plays, magazine articles, and 昀椀fty- four published books. Obviously this was not a guy who had a problem get- ting words onto the page. Or was he? 吀栀e truth is, Steve Allen was dyslexic and read backwards and upside down.