Teresa Jade LeYung's BLOG

What are your January & February writer’s resolutions?

Click on the title of this post. Then scroll down and fill in the boxes.

I’m cheering for you!

Sincerely,

Writing Career Coach Teresa

I am so upset; I don’t get upset often.  I heard words that made me angry for my friend.  Today, my friend told me: “My doctor says I’m demented.”

I could not believe my ears. What happened to “Be impeccable with your word” in The Four Agreements?  Didn’t this doctor read the book?

In that little powerful book, Don Miguel Ruiz gives readers [ Agreement #1. Be Impeccable With Your Word: Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love. ]  http://www.miguelruiz.com Ruiz’s books are based on Toltec teachings.

When I see my friend, I will show her another beautiful book.  Learn to Power Think by Caterina Rando, published by Chronicle Books. The book’s subtitle is: A practical Guide to Positive and Effective Decision Making.  On the back cover, the words “change your thinking change your life” make me smile.

Words are powerful–our using them can create compassion or contempt, peace or war.

May all healthcare providers and receivers (including yours truly) get to practice all 4 agreements in The Four Agreements and the wisdom in Learn to Power Think.

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung Ryan

“My blog is to encourage you to transform your experiences into powerful stories.”

For other posts in my blog, please go to: https://lovemadeofheart.com/blog

If you’re looking for my blog posts pertaining to our Beautiful Brains and Neuroplasticity… https://lovemadeofheart.com/blog  look at right side of screen, you’ll see the category “Beautiful Brains Neuroplasticity”.  Please click on that category to get those posts.

I was visiting my Cyberspace Coach Linda Lee’s website http://askmepc-webdesign.com/ and came across photos of her at WordCamp 2009 San Francisco with buddy Rebecca Martin of Dear Jane http://www.dearjane.info/ and Matthew Mullenweg who is the founding developer of WordPress. On the “About Matthew Mullenweg” page http://ma.tt/about/ Matt says: “WordPress, the blogging software that runs much of this site and millions of other sites around the world. The website says WordPress is ‘a state-of-the-art semantic personal publishing platform’ but more importantly WordPress is a part of who I am. Like eating, breathing, music, I can’t not work on WordPress. The project touches a lot of people, something I’ve recently begun to appreciate. I consider myself very lucky to be able to work on something I love so much.”
Today is his birthday. Happy Birthday, Matt! Thanks for developing such a useful program http://wordpress.com–especially for my clients, my colleagues, and me–writers who need a place to build our platforms (our names/fan base) while we write our books.

Back to Linda Lee http://askmepc-webdesign.com/. Special cheers to Linda Lee who “prodded” me to blog over 2 years ago. It wasn’t until November 2008 when her advice finally sunk in; I guess yours truly needed to hear something 7 times over a year. That same month Martha Alderson asked me to comment https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31672110&postID=6520769433476476003 and share my expertise about building a platform/promoting novels; then Nina Amir  http://writenonfictioninnovember.wordpress.com/2008/11/16/how-to-make-your-manuscript-compelling/ asked me to be a guest-blogger on “How to Make Your Manuscript Compelling” and so I wrote “How to Look at Your Manuscript with an Editor’s Lens”

Nowadays, I look forward to blogging–sharing my observations with writers who want to build their names and have fun doing it.  Thanks, Coach Linda!

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung Ryan

http://WritingCoachTeresa.com

This post is dedicated to the writers who have completed the work in the guide Build Your Name, Beat the Game: Be Happily Published.  My heart feels light and joy for you. I celebrate you.  I invite you to sign in the “Build Your Name Hall of Fame” with your acceptance speech [ click on the title of this post and scroll down to get the comment boxes ] by:

1. Introducing yourself with your new mission statement.
2. Telling us the top 3 exercises from the guide that were most useful to you.
3. Giving us a glimpse into your hopes and dreams for your illustrious writing career.

After you sign in the Hall of Fame, do your writer-friends a favor; tell them about the guide and how they can build their names too.  You’re on your way to other endeavors, and, because you’ve developed a new wonderful habit, every project you touch will benefit from your new energy.

I am available for individual coaching and group coaching. To E-mail me, key in WritingcoachTeresa then @, then Gmail.com In the subject line–show your full name and purpose of your e-mail.

May your work be read by many and preserved in libraries!

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung Ryan

“Make your name synonymous with the themes/subject matters/issues you write about.”

My friend and colleague Elisa Southard and I met on Wednesday to outline our presentation for the San Francisco Writers Conference in February.

Conference registrants have described us as “The Elisa & Teresa Show” because we do skits to demonstrate our points, and, our sessions are always interactive.“Writing-Career Coach Teresa & Talking-Tagline Coach Elisa Southard love helping authors hook attention from agents and publishers.”

This year, SFWC creators Elizabeth Pomada & Michael Larsen want us to present: UPPING YOUR PLATFORM: Building Your Visibility Online and Off with YOUR Talking Tagline.
Fun! As a pre-conference exercise, I ask registrants to Google our names and see what our talking-taglines are.

Elisa Southard IS the Talking-Tagline Queen and the author of  Break Through the Noise: 9 Tools to Propel Your Marketing Message.

She’s my coach when I need to hook attention. She even dreamed up the main part of the title of my new guide !  Build Your Name, Beat the Game.  What a gift!  Thank you, Elisa!

Elisa’s working on a new book herself. Meanwhile I’d like to remind all writers (and anyone who has a service to provide) to visit her website.  http://breakthroughthenoise.com/

Elisa is often quoted as saying, “Don’t kill a marketing moment, execute it.”

Happy New Year, Elisa!  And Happy Writing your new book!

Coach Teresa & Coach Elisa

Sincerely,

Teresa

I’ve been hearing about Smart Cookies on the radio, so, I Googled “Smart Cookies”

http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/money/debt/slideshow1_ss_showus

Oprah.com webpage says: [Last year, 24-year-old Katie Dunsworth decided it was time for her and her friends to stop spending, start saving and get richer. Katie saw Oprah's Debt Diet show and decided to take action. The show motivated Katie and four friends to start a money group and get smart about their spending, saving and investing. They call themselves the Smart Cookies. As a team, the women set up weekly meetings, confess their debt, make a plan to "pay it down" and start investing. "Really the one thing that came across is we need to be held accountable," Katie says.]

In my professional life, I belong to a smart group too. Smart woman Linda Lee and I, Writing-Career Coach Teresa LeYung Ryan, invited 5 colleagues and formed a master-mind group.  Each woman had specific goals, different interests, but we had one thing in common–we were all writers. At our first meeting on March 29, 2008, we set up rules, goals and commitments, and pledged to support each member of the group as well as the group as a whole. 7 women.  7 colleagues.  We called ourselves the Savvy Seven and met once a month.

Linda Lee, founder of Smart Women Stupid Computers http://smartwomenstupidcomputers.com/ and AskMePc  http://askmepc.com/

Teresa LeYung Ryan, Writing-Career Coach Teresa http://writingcoachteresa.com http://writingcoachteresawordpress.com http://www.LoveMadeOfHeart.com/

Mary E. Knippel, Creativity Mentor http://openuptoyourcreativity.com/

Martha Alderson, International Plot Consultant  http://blockbusterplots.com/

Luisa Adams, award-winning writer, author of Woven of Water http://www.rp-author.com/Adams/

Lori Noack, founder of Lori Noack Arts Management. She’d be a super executive director for any organization.

Rebecca Martin, founder of Dear Jane, a Career Advisement Company http://www.dearjane.info/

Each member of Savvy Seven has accomplished her goals & commitments; each one is pursuing new dreams.  March 2010 will be our second anniversary.

Exciting news!  Novels written by Judith Marshall and Margaret Davis have ingredients for the big screen–quirky characters, unusual circumstances, satisfying endings.

Sociologist Margaret Davis (author of Straight Down the Middle) offers a fresh take on the battle of the sexes.  

“The battle of the sexes is over,” according to Maria Shriver in a Forbes Woman article (by Heidi Brown, October 16, 2009).  But does anyone really believe that?

Davis tackles the subject in a different way. Straight Down the Middle tells the tale of Diane who finds herself unwillingly pitched into such a battle.  Diane wants to have a baby, her long-time lover Cindy agrees, and they ask a neighbor Sam to father the child.  But after the baby boy is born, Diane finds herself in the middle of a heated tug-of-war between a strong-willed Sam who wants to maintain contact with his son, and an equally strong-willed  Cindy, who wants him gone.  Diane’s attempts to keep the peace lead to lies, intrigues and cover-ups galore—until finally, she is forced by circumstances to “get out of the middle” and search out her own needs and desires.

The book is “A fresh take on the battle of the sexes.  A smart, modern comedy with a deep heart,” says Author and Screenwriter Frank Baldwin.

http://margaretdavisbooks.com

Glamour Gal Judith Marshall (author of Husbands May Come and Go but Friends are Forever) celebrates fresh hopes, second chances, and the anything-but-simple art of relationships.

Husbands May Come and Go but Friends are Forever is set in a small town in Northern California, in the spring of 2000 when the dot-com boom was at its peak. The story centers around Elizabeth Reilly-Hayden, a successful executive in her late fifties and a divorced mother of two. Emotionally armored and living alone, she wants only to maintain the status quo: her long-term significant other, her job and her trusted friends— five feisty women who first met in high school. Yet in a matter of days, the three anchors that have kept her moored are ripped away. The group of lifelong pals gathers at Lake Tahoe to attend to the funeral arrangements of their beloved friend, and tries to unravel the mystery of her death. Through their shared tragedy, Liz learns how disappointment and grief can bloom into healing and hope.

“Judith Marshall has written a book that, once you start it, you will not want to put down, and once you finish it, you will want to read again. It makes you remember that there is nothing quite so important as good friends.”—D.W. Buffa, author of Breach of Trust and many other legal thrillers.

http://judithmarshall.net/

Margaret & Judith,

I’m thrilled for the two of you. When your novels become Hollywood movies, I won’t wait for the release of DVDs; I will go to the cineplexes.

Teresa LeYung Ryan

I visited my dear pal Martha Alderson’s most helpful blog for plot  http://plotwhisperer.blogspot.com/

Hi, Martha,
Your plot coaching is priceless. I like your analogy “Do like Hollywood movie directors and cup your hands around one eye like a telescope. Write about that one moment in your story.”

As a manuscript consultant, I get to read stories that carry profound themes and I know my clients have spent years working on their projects.

A mistake I often come across is not enough “showing…with sensory details” and too much “summarizing” or “editorializing.” That’s when I’ll ask my client “Have you looked at Martha’s blog or book?”

I guest-blogged on Nina Amir’s about how to make one’s manuscript compelling http://writenonfictioninnovember.wordpress.com/2008/11/16/how-to-make-your-manuscript-compelling/

In that post, I referenced The Woman Warrior, Woven of Water, The Other Mother, Angela’s Ashes–all four memoirs have smooth plotlines with what you’d call “Cause and Effect” linked scenes.

I see your new post:
http://plotwhisperer.blogspot.com/2009/10/when-scene-just-wont-do.html

Happy New Year, Int’l Plot Consultant Martha! Thank you for doing your magic!

Sincerely,
Teresa LeYung Ryan
Writing-Career Coach/”22 Pages Manuscript Consultant”

My first book turned seven on October 1, 2009.  So much has happened since. I wish to publicly thank the following people for helping me bring Love Made of Heart into the world and sending her to wonderful places:

archived in the San Francisco History Center

• Everyone recognized on the acknowledgment page of Love Made of Heart
• My agent Stacey Glick and all her colleagues at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management
• Editor John Scognamiglio, president Steven Zacharius, publisher Laurie Perkin, art director Lou Malcangi, sales director Debbie Tobias then, sales director Doug Mendini, author Libba Bray, copy-editor Jacquie Edwards, and Everyone who were at (or associated with) Kensington Publishing Corp. NY (so many talented folks).
• Nancy Suib, Anne Shulenberger and all independent sales reps;
• Folk who are associated with booksellers, libraries, schools, book groups.
• My darling husband, sister & brother-in-law, family members, friends, mentors and colleagues
• Folks related to Women’s National Book Association, California Writers Club, California Reading Association, California School Library Association, San Francisco History Center
• Teachers & students in Advanced Composition/English-as-a-Second-Language classes
• Readers
• Everyone who helped me quietly (the secret angels)

I wish you all a healthful & prosperous New Year!

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung Ryan
http://WritingCoachTeresa.com
http://LoveMadeOfHeart.com

As an author and a community member, I use my novel Love Made of Heart to:
• help mothers and daughters speak from the heart
• shed light on stigmas suffered by immigrants
• advocate compassion for mental illness
• help survivors of family violence find their own voices
http://LoveMadeOfHeart.com

Love Made of Heart is the story of Ruby Lin, a Chinese-immigrant-daughter, and her journey to self-forgiveness.