Teresa Jade LeYung's BLOG

 

Coach Teresa, what happened on Friday Feb. 17, 2012 at San Francisco Writers Conference?

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan here . . . this is what happened from my POV. Please 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.

**

Elisa Sasa Southard arrived at my home before 7:00am and off we went.  I had packed chicken meatball/naan breakfast roll-ups for us. We were inside the Mark Hopkins before 8:00am. Thank you, author Birgit Soyka and Tessa Bertoldi, for helping us distribute session hand-out material and keep track of time at our 9:00am-9:45am presentation “Blowing Up Your Balloon: Writing a Tagline That Will Sell You and Your Book”

**

**

**

**

**

 

 

 

 

 

 

**

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**

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

YOUR NAME: _________________________________________________________

Before Talking Tagline: _{_______________________________________________________________________________________}

AFTER crafting your personalized “talking tagline” from this workshop: ____________________

____________________________________________________________________________

Elisa “Sasa”’s definition of talking-tagline: “A one-sentence pitch that transforms every encounter into a marketing moment.”

Coach Teresa’s definition of platform: “Making your name stand for something—to attract targeted consumers—who are likely to buy what you have to sell.”

My next steps:
•    Go to http://BreakThroughTheNoise.com and watch Elisa’s TV clip about talking-taglines.
•    Go to http://WritingCoachTeresa.com click on “Coach Teresa’s Blog” and bookmark it.
•    I shall ____________________________________________________________

 

**

**

**

**

**

Elisa “Sasa” Southard wears 2 hats:

•    As author of Break Through the Noise, 9 Tools to Propel Your Marketing Message, she helps writers turn personal skills into marketing talent http://BreakThroughTheNoise.com

•    As creator of Big City Travel Skills Project, Sasa helps young travelers turn into smart and savvy adventurers

http://elisaonassignment.com/

***************

Teresa LeYung-Ryan also wears 2 hats:

•    As author of Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW, she coaches writers on making their names synonymous with the themes/subject matters/issues they write about.

•    As editor/story consultant, she helps writers polish their manuscripts by identifying their themes and archetypes

Her novel Love Made of Heart is used in college composition classes.

http://writingcoachteresa.com

**

**

**

 

 

 

 

 

**

At lunchtime, the room’s energy fell to deep sadness when Elizabeth Pomada told us that Shirley Fong-Torres (who delighted us last year at SFWC) died a few months after the 2011 conference. Shirley was only 64. I am so sad for her family. Blossom branches in a huge vase on the SFWC stage reminded us of Shirley’s vibrance.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Lisa See’s keynote speech was most inspiring.  Lisa said when she reads a book she reads the beginning, then the ending, then back and forth until she reaches the middle; then she’ll read the ending again. Coach Teresa here . . . to remind my clients . . . Before you rework the beginning of your novel or memoir, review your ending.  Lisa’s reading m.o. is a helpful trick for writers. As Plot Whisperer Martha Alderson says: “The beginning foreshadows the ending.” “The ending dictates the beginning.”

Read fabulous story-teller Lisa Lee’s books!

 

 

*

*

*

**                                                                                                     **

**

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**

 

 

 

 

 

 

**

 

 

 

**

 

 

Alan Rinzler’s keynote speech at 5:00pm gave us a glimpse into 50 years of the publishing world. Fascinating!  Alan was the acquisition editor who believed in Claude Brown’s 1,400-page manuscript when no one else at the publishing house did. Alan helped Claude edit the book to 400 pages  Manchild in the Promised Land: A Modern Classic of the Black Experience.

**

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**

I saw Scott James aka Kemble Scott!  Scott is an inspiration and generous mentor in the publishing arena.

**

**

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**

 

 

 

 

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, 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.

**

 

 

**

 

 

 

 

 

**

 

***

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

 

 

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.

**

 

 

**

**

 

**

 

**

 

 

**

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**

**

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**

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

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

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

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

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

* * * * * * * * * * *

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

Bay Bridge westbound will be closed though 8:00pm Feb. 17th through 5:00am Feb. 21st, 2012.

Dear Friends/Colleagues/Clients/Friends of Writers,

Please help a friend/client/student who wants to be happily published. Forward this list of events.Thanks!
San Francisco Writers Conference sold out; for post conference classes Feb. 20 http://www.sfwriters.org/

2 events — free and open to the public (do not need conference registration).

Thursday, February 16th, 2012, 5:00-6:00p.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

Saturday, February 18th, 2012, 6:15-7:00 p.m.
San Francisco Writers Conference Mass Booksigning! free and open to the public
Thirty presenters will sign in the Room of the Dons at the Mark Hopkins Hotel. Books for sale at the onsite bookstore BookShop West Portal. No-host bar.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
March 1, 2012, promptly 6:15-7:30 p.m. Women’s National Book Association SF Chapter members and prospective members welcomed to attend Your-Writing Mentor Mary E. Knippel’s “Ready Your Pitch for WNBA-SF Meet The Agents Event” at SF Main Library, Stong Conference Room (no food allowed). Must RSVP at least 24 hours before meeting– by emailing: MaryEKnippel (use @ sign) gmail.com and put in your subject line: RSVP for March 1 WNBA. Bring your business cards or postcards. Mary will start promptly at 6:15pm
Mary E. Knippel’s book The Secret Artist – Give Yourself Permission to Let Your Creativity Shine! will be debuted soon.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

IBPA’s Publishing University on March 9-10, 2012 NEW location on the West Coast

Where is it? Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf hotel, San Francisco, CA

What is it? You won’t want to miss the Independent Book Publishers Association’s Publishing University 2012:“Content is King: Print, Electronic and Online Strategies to Help New and Growing Publishers Boost the Bottom Line.”
Leigh Anne Lindsey of Seastorm Press http://seastormpress.com will be on the marketing panel.

http://ibpapublishinguniversity.com

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Saturday, March 24th, 2012 WNBA-SF Chapter’s signature event “Meet the Agents & Acquisition Editors—Speed Dating” 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Sinbad’s Restaurant, Pier 2, San Francisco—-Lynn Henriksen, Event Chair. 8:00am 3 coaches (Teresa LeYung-Ryan, Mary E. Knippel & Tanya Egan Gibson) will help you craft your pitch. 9:00-noon pitch to a dozen agents & acquisition editors. $55 WNBA member, $65 non-member, or $75 at the door; Keynote Luncheon – 12:30 – $35.00 Must be registered for “Meet the Agents & Acquisition Editor ” to attend luncheon. http://wnba-sfchapter.org/

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
First Thursday of the month WNBA-SF Chapter “Authors Exchange Solutions” series at San Francisco Public Library Check http://wnba-sfchapter.org/ for meeting times and room. Series produced by Teresa LeYung-Ryan, Mary E. Knippel and Birgit Soyka.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Women’s National Book Association – chapters in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Dallas, Nashville, Charlotte, Detroit, Boston, New York, and Washington D.C. !
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Check out California Writers Club too http://calwriters.org/ 19 branches in the state!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Check out meetings at Bay Area Independent Publishers Association http://www.baipa.net/
and Northern California Publishers & Authors http://www.norcalpa.org/
and Writers Forum of Petaluma with Marlene Cullen: http://www.thewritespot.us/

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