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A Weekend In the Life of this Writing-Career Coach

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan here, wishing all writers new vitality to write and promote your work.

On the evening of May 2nd, 2012, I received my sister’s text-message “Nayati is home!” (kidnapped boy had been released, thank God!) I text’ed back “Get some rest” because I knew she must be  exhausted (joining forces and taking action to help find Nayati, conducting class, and comforting her own students).

That evening I got onto facebook to broadcast the news of Nayati’s safe return, called friends who don’t use facebook, and updated my webpage and blog posts. Thank you, Everyone, for your powerful prayers.

The next day (after a long sleep), I went about my day with a lighter heart.

So, I wrote cards (created by Rosemary C.) to Elaine M. (retired teacher), Luisa Adams (author of Woven of Water), Vicki Weiland (developmental editor of nonfiction books) and Lori Hope (author of Help Me Live)

I sent Bardi Rosman Koodrin scoring sheets for the “Immigrant Experience Writing Contest” which I created and sponsored. I understand that winners from all the writing contests through the San Mateo County Fair Literary Arts Division will be published in Carry the Light San Mateo County Fair Literary Anthology 2012.

And, I continue to read Mary Jo McConahay‘s mesmerizing memoir Maya Roads: One Woman’s Journey Among the People of the Rainforest.

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Linda Joy Myers made it possible for me (Teresa LeYung-Ryan) to attend Lynn Cook Henriksen's book launch at Joyce Turley's, and, when we arrived, I was tickled to see Patricia Morin and my dear friend Lynn Scott (right)!

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Another dear friend to me and my sister!  Jonathan was able to go to Norway Day Festival to cheer for my client Carla Danziger too.

Jonathan and Teresa LeYung-Ryan at Fort Mason Center for Norway Day in San Francisco. Cheers to Carla Danziger!

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authors Irene Berman and Carla Danziger talk to fans at Norway Day Festival--photo by Coach Teresa

Carla Danziger, Julie K. Rose, Astrid Karlsen Scott, Norman Ronneberg at Norway Day Festival

Karin Stahl with Carla Danziger author of Hidden Falls

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Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan with featured author Carla Danziger and journalist Cindy Warner at Norway Day Festival

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Jonathan and Teresa LeYung-Ryan cheer for authors Irene Levin Berman and Carla Danziger at Norway Day

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Italian French Baking Company in North Beach, San Francisco

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Teresa LeYung-Ryan and pal Michelle enjoy dining at North Beach San Francisco

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   I emailed my publicity sheet to colleague Laurel Anne Hill who is helping Bardi Rosman Koodrin.  “Teresa LeYung-Ryan and California Writers Club colleagues will be at Author Day June 16, 2012 at the San Mateo County Fair

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My pal Elisa Sasa Southard (travel writer and certified tour director) called to schedule our next work session. Our conversation reminded me to post these links:

http://valerieleeworks.wordpress.com Valerie Lee is the author of Jade Rubies. Here’s a book review of The Jade Rubies by Robert A. Garfinkle.

Jonathan Fung‘s film Hark is a powerful story that will raise awareness of human trafficking and change lives.

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking/index.html Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery. Victims of human trafficking are subjected to force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of commercial sex or forced labor. They are young children, teenagers, men and women. Trafficking in persons occurs throughout the world, including in the United States.

http://www.polarisproject.org   Polaris Project’s client services department has been providing survivors of human trafficking with the support necessary to rebuild lives and regain hope for the future.

NPR’s Talk of the Nation

Polaris Project’s Executive Director Bradley Myles discusses human trafficking in the United States, the NHTRC and what you can do if you suspect some one is being trafficked.

Here’s my webpage with links to The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, National Alliance on Mental Illness, Stamp Out Stigma, and BringChange2Mind.org

Sincerely,

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan says:
“Reach out, not stress out, to materialize your dearest dreams.”

http://writingcoachteresa.com

Coach Teresa has helped over 1,000 writers.

As editor/story consultant, Teresa LeYung-Ryan identifies themes, universal archetypes, front-story & back-story in clients’ manuscripts.

  • Teresa has built her own platform happily. Her first novel Love Made of Heart is used in college composition classes; recommended by the California School Library Association and the California Reading Association; and archived at the San Francisco History Center
  • Teresa’s 10-minute play Answer Me Now has been selected to be part of the 2012 Redwood Writers Play Festival. Tickets to June 29, 30 and July 1 performances will be on sale as of May 1st through the 6th Street Playhouse in Santa Rosa, CA

Coach Teresa’s Blog is abundant resources for you.

 

 

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan here, at Rose Garden Inn in Berkeley CA, with Carla Danziger (author of Hidden Falls) who is in the San Francisco Bay Area getting ready for her appearance at the annual Norway Day celebration of Norwegian Culture at Festival Pavilion, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco on the weekend of May 5 and 6, 2012.

Carla Danziger says: “Lots of Norwegian food,  art,  jewelry,  housewares, gifts, and cultural demonstrations and AUTHORS and book-signings!”

Go to http://norwayday.org  for details.  Velkommen!

On both days, authors Carla Danziger, Irene Levin Berman, Astrid Karlsen Scott, and Julie K. Rose.

In The Little Theater, Festival Pavilion, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco.  11:15am — 12:15pm a Special Program, ‘Norway and the Holocaust: The Untold Story,’ a talk by author Irene Levin Berman, sponsored by the Norwegian Consulate, San Francisco.

And  1:30 – 2:30pm (also in The Little Theater, left when you’ve gone through Festival Pavilion entrance ) Three Books, Three Authors–Astrid Karlsen Scott, Julie Rose, and Carla Danziger!

Also,  Irene Levin Berman and Carla Danziger will be at Booth #14 (far left wall from Festival Pavilion entrance, pass Little Theater, pass food court).

Festival Map:  http://i833.photobucket.com/albums/zz259/solabayarea/FestivalMap2012_sm.jpg

 

 

author of Hidden Falls--Carla Danziger, of Scandinavian descent, inspires soul-searching questions about justice

Watch Author View’s interview on Carla Danziger posted on YouTube.

See you at Norway Day celebrations May 5 and 6, 2012!

Sincerely,

Coach Teresa

http://writingcoachteresa.com

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan encourages you to wear your many hats as a writer — work on the craft and your platform at the same time.  Pursue more and more resources . . . by visiting my website and this blog on a regular basis.  If you are not in the vicinity of the events I blog about . . . please look at the names of the people who are referenced in my posts, go to their websites by clicking on the links I provide or your keying their names in a search engine.  The people  I blog about will lead you to their colleagues, and so on.  More ways to build your platform?  See the exercises in Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days.  I can help you polish your manuscript (identify themes, universal archetypes, front-story & back-story) AND coach you on platform-building – click here.

 

 

 

May 2, 2012   Best  News!  Nayati is HOME!

 http://www.mkis.edu.my/  has updates :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0DOd47zFTQ&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlEi7rrVtaw

http://www.nst.com.my/top-news/gutsy-nayati-insists-on-walking-home-1.80924

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/5/4/nation/11230701&sec=nation

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/nayati-those-kidnappers-cant-beat-me

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/5/5/nation/11238032&sec=nation

 

Everyone,

Could you please please use your social media networks to help 12-year-old ( 7th grade) boy Nayati Shamelin Moodliar who was abducted April 27, 2012.

Even if you don’t know anyone in Asia . . . your friends may; your friends’ friends may.  Please Circulate NAYATI MOODLIAR’s photo & URL http://www.mkis.edu.my/.  Please use your mighty “facebook” voices & mouse clicks to help 12-year-old boy Nayati.

contact Mont'Kiara Int'l School Kuala Lumpur--HELP Nayati Shamelin Moodliar return to his parents

 

KIDNAPPED on 27 April 2012 on his way to school.

NAYATI MOODLIAR

from Mont’Kiara, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

12 years old,  4ft. 11 in. (1.5 m) height, dark brown hair and eyes

mixed origin of Indian and Caucasian.

Please circulate NAYATI’s photo, description and this URL: http://www.mkis.edu.my/

http://www.malaysiandigest.com/news/43429-international-school-student-abducted-this-morning.html   has YouTube video of Nayati Shamelin Moodliar’s parents’ plea to help find their son.

http://www.mkis.edu.my/  has photo of Nayati Shamelin Moodliar

“If you have seen this child, call Malaysian Police 999, or Mont’Kiara International School, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia +60 3 2093 8604.

“In the abduction of Nayati Shamelin Moodliar (12-year-old boy, 7th grade student)  in Mont’Kiara, the auto used was a black Proton Gen 2. The tag number is WNH 1356. There were two Indian male occupants.

“Another Facebook post said that, at the time of the abduction, Nayati was wearing green shorts and a white polo t-shirt with the school’s emblem. It also said that Nayati was “on the way to school, corner of Jalan Kiara 1 & Jalan Kiara, white van took him. Any info to rescue him? Contact his parents Sham 019 233 3065 and Janice 012 365 6202.”  http://www.mkis.edu.my/

Thank you!

 

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung-Ryan

http://www.facebook.com/Teresa.LeYung.Ryan

 

Teresa LeYung-Ryan’s Play (monologue) a Winner of the 2012 Redwood Writers Playwriting Contest

3 April 2012

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan here to share sweet news with you.

At 8:19pm this evening I received a phone call from Linda Loveland Reid, telling me that my 10-minute play Answer Me Now has been chosen as one of the nine plays to be produced.  I listened to Linda as she explained that directors will be selected, auditions will be scheduled, then casting, and rehearsals, and that the plays would be performed at the annual Redwood Writers Play Festival on June 29, 30 and July 1, 2012 in California.

Performances will be June 29, Friday at 8pm; June 30, Saturday at 2pm and 8pm; and July 1, Sunday at 2pm.  Tickets will be $16 per person.

at Santa Rosa’s premier theater, 6th Street Playhouse. The plays will be presented on 6th Street’s Studio stage.

I’m feeling proud and sad at the same time; my play is a monologue (middle-aged daughter talking to her mother); I miss my mom so much.

Thank you, Linda Loveland Reid, for your generosity in creating the annual Redwood Writers Playwriting Contest. Thank you, judges Natasha Carter-Yim, Michael Fontaine and Lennie Dean. Thank you to fellow playwrights and everyone involved in this project.

Thank you, dear Lynn Scott, for your editing my play.

Last week I had already asked dear Elisa Sasa Southard to attend the April 15, 2012 meeting with me, winning or not, so that we could cheer for all the playwrights. Tonight, after receiving the call from Linda . . . I called dear Luisa Adams.  Sasa could still be on her trip. It’s too late to call other pals, so, I write this blog post. Gotta email my sis (teaching abroad) and KB in Australia!

Kim McMillon, I’m thinking of you.  Your plays have inspired me so much!

Kathryn G. McCarty, thank you for inspiring me with your writing and directing plays, and for giving me the thrill to be on stage for the fundraiser performance of  Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues to benefit Community Violence Solutions.

Carol Sheldon, you have inspired me too.  I look forward to seeing your new play this month.

Chandra Garsson, I’m thinking of you too. Your films have inspired me so much!  Last month Chandra had offered to film me performing Answer Me Now so that I would have a Chandra Garsson production for my YouTube channel; I guess I better memorize my own lines… in addition to attending some of the rehearsals (as the playwright, not actor) when casting has been completed for the Redwood Writers Play Festival.

Screenwriter and screenwriting teacher Terrel Seltzer, thank you for having coached us on what a compelling story is.

Goodnight, Everyone!

Being a writer is a reward! Keep writing!

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung-Ryan

As editor/story consultant, Teresa LeYung-Ryan identifies themes and universal archetypes for clients. As author of Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW, she says: “Make your name synonymous with the issues you write about.” Teresa has built her own platform happily; her novel Love Made of Heart is used in college composition classes. She says her novel and her play Answer Me Now carry the theme closest to her heart: mother-daughter relationship.  http://writingcoachteresa.com for Coach Teresa’s Blog and other resources.  “Reach out, not stress out, to materialize your dearest dreams.”

Here’s the email that I just received from Linda.

Dear Play Contest submitters and Redwood members: The judges met today and made their final decision on the winning plays for this year’s Play Contest. (names listed below)
A huge thank you to judges Natasha Carter-Yim, Michael Fontaine and Lennie Dean. We wish that every play could have been chosen and appreciate everyone who participated.
The winners will be recognized at the April 15, 2012 Redwood Writer general meeting at the Flamingo Hotel at 2:30.
The judges will be in attendance to help recognize the winning playwrights.
It is especially exciting this year, as the annual Redwood Writers Play Festival on June 29/30 and July 1, 2012 will be in partnership with Santa Rosa’s premier theater, 6th Street Playhouse. The plays will be presented on 6th Street’s Studio stage. Stand-by for lots more on that front, but for now, please help us celebrate our winning playwrights, listed below in alpha order:
 

Congratulations to the following nine winning playwrights!

Malena Eljumaily                           Special Delivery

Nancy Lockard Gallop                  There There, Now

Gene Griffith                                 Gravediggers

Teresa LeYung-Ryan                    Answer Me Now

Elaine Maikovska                          The Play Is the Thang

Amanda McTigue                          Turn The Other

Harry Reid                                    GPS

Elizabeth VanPatten                       Dream Girl

Jean Wong                                    BFF

Linda Loveland Reid www.lindalovelandreid.com
President of Redwood Writerswww.redwoodwriters.org
April 28 – Writers Conference at SRJC; April 27 Poetry Night
Author of Touch of Magenta = Review by Laura McHale Holland, On-line Examiner…
YouTube…

 

2012 March 10 Kim McMillon Celebrates First Lady Michelle Obama with Music and Poetry

free to the public

Joyce Gordon Gallery in Oakland, CA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Thank you, beloved Kim McMillon!

Sincerely,

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan

 

 

Coach Teresa, what happened on Feb. 16, 2012 at San Francisco Writers Conference?

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan here . . . this is what happened from my point of view. Tell me and my colleagues your point of view by submitting comments to this blog post.  How? Click on the blue title bar of this post, scroll down to get the boxes, fill in boxes and click on “submit comment” button.

I took BART into The City and then MUNI #1 to meet co-presenter & colleague Mary E. Knippel.  At 6:00pm we were to deliver BE YOUR OWN EDITOR at the San Francisco Writers Conference at the Mark Hopkins Hotel at top of Nob Hill.

Authentic details for writers who want to get to the top of Nob Hill: If you off-board BART at Embarcadero station, come up to street level that is closest to Drumm Street. Walk northward on Drumm, then westward on Sacramento Street (a one-way street). At Sacramento St. (near Davis St.), you’d catch the MUNI #1 bus that travels westward on Sacramento Street. $2 fare (driver gives  y0u a transfer that’s good for 4 hours).

The ride is about 10 blocks or .7 mile (through Financial District and Chinatown, and up the hills).  If you’re concerned about not knowing how to push the bell or pull the cord to request your stop, ask the bus driver or fellow passengers to look out for you. Off-board at Mason; walk a block southward on Mason to get to California St. (California St. is parallel to Sacramento St.).  Wait for signals to cross the street.  There you are–at the International Mark Hopkins.

As soon as you step onto the bricked courtyard, courteous hotel employees will greet you.

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Linda Lee and Jane Glendinning among the first to arrive to help make SFWC THE writers conference

 

Story Consultant and Writers' Platform-Building Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan happy to present at SFWC again

presenters Mary E Knippel & Linda Lee solve mystery over their luggage at Mark Hopkins

 

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I saw Laurie McLean, Barbara Santos & Richard Santos, Nina Amir, Neal Sofman, dear mentors Michael Larsen & Elizabeth Pomada, Stephanie Chandler and other colleagues.  Our session was to begin at 6:00pm.  Among the writers who attended our session “Be Your Own Editor” were memoirist Jing Li,  journalist and novelist Don Hudson and Margie Yee Webb (author of Cat Mulan’s Mindful Musings)!

Thank you, Patrick, for setting up the microphone–the room was long–without the microphone, the writers sitting in the back would have had difficulty hearing us.

Thank you to each writer in the room!  Here’s an offer to you if you were in our session on Feb. 16, 2012 –  I’ll be happy to read and give feedback to the first 2 pages (double spaced; pages numbered; manuscript title and your full name in the header) of your manuscript.  Email me: your full name; your project’s genre; list of your themes.  Then I’ll let you know when would be the best time to email me your first 2 pages. I’ll arrange my schedule so that I can focus on one writer a day.  My email address is at gmail.com  My User Name is:  WritingCoachTeresa


Session hand-out for Mary E. Knippel & Teresa LeYung-Ryan’s presentation BE YOUR OWN EDITOR

 

 

Mary E. Knippel & Teresa LeYung-Ryan
Being Your Own Editor
Ensure Your Manuscript 100% Ready For the Next Step
•    hire a book doctor/developmental editor OR
•     pitch to agents or acquisition editors OR
•     be  your own publisher

fiction / narrative nonfiction / prescriptive nonfiction (“how-to” books)

YOUR NAME: ______________________________ Your Project: ________________________________

Tool #1   Grounding Reader with the three Ws (Who? When? Where?)
Tool #2   Hooking Reader from first page to last with core theme and “What does Protagonist want?” (in prescriptive nonfiction “What does Reader need?”)
Tool #3     In Fiction & Narrative Nonfiction (both genres are forms of  “story-telling”) Who are your protagonist, antagonist, and other archetypes?
Tool #4    In Fiction & Narrative Nonfiction (front story / back story)
Tool #5    Foreshadows  Metaphors   Recurring Images
Tool #6    Authentic Details
Tool #7   Monologue   Dialogue   Vernacular
Tool #8   Misspelled words; misplaced modifiers; other frights

and 15 minutes for Questions & Answers

Thank you, dear mentors Michael Larsen & Elizabeth Pomada, for inviting Mary and me to deliver our signature presentation “Be Your Own Editor”!

Thank you, dear Birgit Soyka author of To Drink the Wild Air, for bringing your camera tripod!

Thank you, dear Margie Yee Webb, author of Cat Mulan’s Mindful Musings: Insight and Inspiration for a Wonderful Life, for introducing Mary and me, for taking photos, for having written the purr-fect gift book and letting me show in our session how every page of a prescriptive nonfiction book ought to contain inspiration, wisdom or a metaphor.

Thank you, Camille Thompson, columnist at SanRamonPatch.com, for your gracious help, making our session an enjoyable one.

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Margie Yee Webb (author of Cat Mulan's Mindful Musings) cheers for story consultants Teresa LeYung-Ryan & Mary E. Knippel in their session BE YOUR OWN EDITOR

Camille Thompson greets conference registrants and presenters Mary E Knippel and Teresa LeYung-Ryan BE YOUR OWN EDITOR session for SFWC

 

 

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authors & story consultants Mary E. Knippel & Teresa LeYung-Ryan use classics to draw examples for BE YOUR OWN EDITOR at SFWC--photo by author Margie Yee Webb

authors & story consultants Mary E. Knippel & Teresa LeYung-Ryan give 8 tools at BE YOUR OWN EDITOR packed house session SFWC–photo by author Margie Yee Webb

 

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authors & story consultants Mary E Knippel & Teresa LeYung-Ryan attract writers at BE YOUR OWN EDITOR packed house session SFWC-photo by author Margie Yee Webb

 

 

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testimonials from Mary E Knippel & Teresa LeYung-Ryan's BE YOUR OWN EDITOR session

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan says: "Wearing your 2 hats as a writer---to polish your manuscript and to build your platform---can be as fun as riding a San Francisco cable car."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Across the street at the Fairmont Hotel –  LEARNING & the BRAIN Conference–Connecting Educators to Neuroscientists and Researchers

Vehicular traffic was blocked off in the area because President Obama was to speak at the Masonic Auditorium that evening!

Coach Teresa here took the cable car to go home and pack for Day II of San Francisco Writers Conference.  Please see next post.

Sincerely

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan

“Reach out, not stress out, to materialize your dearest dreams!”

http://writingcoachteresa.com
author of Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW

As editor/story consultant, Coach Teresa helps her clients polish their manuscripts by identifying themes and archetypes.

Her novel Love Made of Heart is used in college composition classes. Thank you, Teachers & Students!


 

Coach Teresa . . . so excited that San Francisco Writers Conference is only hours away! Bestselling authors Lisa See (Dreams of Joy, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan) & Lolly Winston (Good Grief and Happiness Sold Separately) will join legendary editor Alan Rinzler as keynote speakers.

The 2 events (free and open to the public) at the conference? Click here.

120+ presenters at SF Writers Conference!

Post Conference In Depth Writing Intensive Classes February 20, 2012 ! Go to http://www.sfwriters.org

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Author / teacher Prof. Victor Turks has informed me that . . . while San Francisco Writers Conference is happening at the Mark Hopkins, LEARNING & the BRAIN Conference–Connecting Educators to Neuroscientists and Researchers–will be across the street at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco!

Educating the Whole Child/Student:
Using Brain Science for Smarter, Happier and Healthier Learners

February 16-18, 2012 San Francisco Fairmont Hotel, atop Nob Hill in San Francisco, CA

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for SF Writers Conference, Mary and I have created a new interactive session:

Thursday, February  16, 2012, 6:00pm Barclay Room at SF Writers Conference

Mary E. Knippel & Teresa LeYung-Ryan

BEING YOUR OWN EDITOR: Ensuring Your Work is 100% Before Taking the Next Step

Attend this session if you want to Polish Your Manuscripts before:

•             hiring book doctor/developmental editor OR

•             pitching to agents or acquisition editors OR

•             self-publishing

 

for SF Writers Conference, Elisa “Sasa” and I have re-designed our signature session:

Friday, February  17, 2012, 9:00am California Room at SF Writers Conference

Elisa “Sasa” Southard & Teresa LeYung-Ryan

BLOWING UP YOUR BALLOON: Writing a Tagline That Will Sell You and Your Book

Attend this session if you want to:
• hook agents, acquisition editors, readers, media attention
• make your name synonymous with the themes you write about
• have fun building your writer’s platform & fanbase

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I belong to a MasterMind group of 7 members—Mary E. Knippel, Linda Lee, Rebecca Martin, Lori Noack, Martha Alderson, Luisa Adams and me (Teresa LeYung-Ryan).

I’m so happy that I’ll get to present “Be Your Own Editor” with Mary at the SF Writers Conference this year.

“I thank Web Guru Linda Lee for showing me how to have fun with WordPress 3 years ago. Now my blog is synonymous with my name and I get to help thousands of writers. Linda is so kind too!” Teresa LeYung-Ryan, author of Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days

Linda Lee will be presenting on Friday and she’ll be teaching a workshop on Monday Feb. 20, 2012

Sunday, Feb. 19, 2012 noon – 1:00pm at the SFWC

A Blueprint for Writing and Selling Your First Novel  with Martha Alderson, author of The Plot Whisperer (Six Continental Room)

Even though I don’t present on Sunday, I’ll be at the conference that day to be with my buddy Martha.  After all, she’s the guru who taught me how to plot and really understand front-story and back-story in 1999. That year, I found my agent; next year an acquisition editor at a big New York publisher found me through my agent . . . all that would not have happened if I didn’t “get” plot.  Thank you, Plot Whisperer!

Lori Noack, talent extraordinare   www.vrbo.com/315213 and www.etsy.com/shop/VintageSanFrancisco

Rebecca Martin http://dearjane.info will you  be there?

Luisa Adams, author of Woven of Water:  Luisa cannot join us, but she’ll be there in spirit; Mary & I will be using her beautiful memoir when we show-and-tell in our presentation.
Sincerely

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan

“Reach out, not stress out, to materialize your dearest dreams!”

http://writingcoachteresa.com
author of Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days

author of Love Made of Heart


Dear Writers,

Coach Teresa here . . . to encourage you to ask your protagonist “Who are you?”  and show up (with your writing instruments) so that she/he can answer your question over time.

Over time–You create the magical bond between you and your characters.

Whether the story is being presented as fiction or nonfiction . . .  Ask yourself:  “What incident shook my world (or someone I care about‘s world) and I must tell the story.”

With memoirs, the author and Protagonist are YOU. You ask yourself: “What happened to me?”  “How do I tell my story to hook Reader?” My answer is this: “You as Protagonist–stay in story-world. Move about in your story as though you do not know the ending. ‘Grow’ with yourself in story-world. No interjecting commentary from the author that would take us out of story-world. Let us see your story unfold as it happened. After all, you experienced the story in real life; to give us editorial comments as the “experienced one” will usually give the effect that an actor is stepping in front of the camera to interrupt (while the story is being played out in Reader’s mind’s eyes).

With novels, you created the protagonist.  Perhaps he/she was modeled after yourself; even if that weren’t the case, you the author get under his/her skin. Because you are writing fiction, you have the luxury of changing the sequence of events and the specifics of the events. Novel authors also must not interrupt the story with editorial comments that aren’t apropos for the plot point.

“What incident shook my world (or someone I care about‘s world) and I must tell the story.” In my novel Love Made of Heart, something happened to Protagonist Ruby Lin’s mother.  When Ruby finds out what has shaken her mother’s world, her own world also get jolted.

I’m reading Mary Jo McConahay’s memoir Maya Roads: One Woman’s Journey Among the People of the Rainforest and being hooked by her prologue.  The author was fascinated by an exhibit in the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. So fascinated that she went back to the museum the next day to look at the representations of the indigenous Lacandón people, descendants of the ancient Maya.  “I must go there,” she told her sister.

I’m on page 7 of Mary Jo’s book–she has just met Moises Morales, an archaeoastronomer (one who studies ancient beliefs about the sky). I’m intrigued.

Coach Teresa Says To Ask My Protagonist: “Who Are You?”

Happy writing! Happy reading and researching! Happy rewriting!

If you need a story-consultant/editor, please review my webpage by clicking on this link.

Sincerely,

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan

“Reach out, not stress out, when pursuing your dearest dreams!”

http://writingcoachteresa.com
author of Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days

 

Today  in Your-Writing-Mentor Mary E. Knippel‘s “Coaxing Creativity Tuesday Tip”: To thine own self be true…

Coach Teresa here . . . I bow to Mary E. Knippel, William Shakespeare, and to every mentor and coach who remind us of that maxim.

Dear Writers,

Please practice that maxim when you’re creating or recreating the main characters in your stories.  When your protagonist is not being true to herself/himself, internal conflict flares (which makes for terrific story-telling ).

Mary E. Knippel and I (Teresa LeYung-Ryan) will be teaching an abbreviated version of  “Being Your Own Editor–Get Your Manuscript Ready for the Next Step” at the San Francisco Writers Conference on Feb. 16, 2012 at 6:00pm. If you cannot attend the conference this year, but, would like to take our half-day or full-day workshop, please submit a comment to this post and I’ll add your name to our list of writers to contact. Below my signature block  are instructions on how to submit a comment.

Can’t wait?  Ask me or Mary to help you edit now.

Mary specializes in memoirs, how-to books, and short stories.

I specialize in mainstream fiction, women’s fiction, women’s memoirs, children’s fiction, thrillers, short stories, and speeches. I love helping my clients polish their manuscripts by identifying themes and archetypes for them.

 

To thine own self be truealso applies to the other role you play as Writer–the promoter.

Elisa Southard and I (Teresa LeYung-Ryan) will be teaching “Blowing Up Your Balloon: Writing a Tag-Line That Will Sell You and Your Book” at the San Francisco Writers Conference on Feb. 17, 2012 at 9:00am. If you cannot attend the conference this year, but, would like to learn  how to craft your talking-tagline (to hook attention) and how to use it to build your writer’s platform,  please submit a comment to this post and I’ll add your name to our list of writers to contact. Below my signature block are instructions on how to submit a comment.

The first exercise in my workbook Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days is:

“Who Am I?”

Who are you–now?  What do you want?

You can sneak preview the 2 exercises for Day 1 of my workbook by going to Amazon’s page for my workbook; look for my bookcover with the  “Click to look inside” arrow.

So, be true to yourself while wearing the 2 hats as Writer.

Listed below are 2 events (at the San Francisco Writers Conference)— free and open to the public.

Thursday, February 16th, 2012 at 5 p.m.

San Francisco Writers Conference Presents a Free Public Reading

Lisa See reads from Dreams of Joy in the California Room at the Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco

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Saturday, February 18th, 2012 at 6:15 p.m.

San Francisco Writers Conference Mass Booksigning!

Thirty presenters will sign in the Room of the Dons at the Mark Hopkins. Books for sale at the onsite bookstore manned by BookShop West Portal.  Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan will be autographing books.

Sincerely,

Coach Teresa

“Reach out, not stress out, when pursuing your dearest dreams!”

http://writingcoachteresa.com

If you wish to enroll in our half-day or full-day workshop “Be Your Own Editor” then please  submit a comment. To submit a comment through this post, scroll up and click on the blue title bar of this post, then scroll down to get the boxes, fill in the boxes and click on “submit comment” button. (your email addresses will not be revealed; only I, the administrator of this blog, will see it. )

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I wish You

a warm and safe home

nutritious foods everyday

ease of movement

work that makes your heart sing

true friends

worry-free thoughts

hopes and lovely dreams

joy and light for Self

a dancing spirit

Sincerely,

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan

http://writingcoachTeresa.com

Teresa is author of Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW

Teresa is author of Love Made of Heart

Coach Teresa edits manuscripts (contemporary novels; thrillers; children’s novels; memoirs; short stories; anthologies) for authors who want to attract agents  & publishers  OR  want to be their own publishers.