Posts Tagged ‘author’

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What to do before hiring an editor for your manuscript?

My advice for narrative non-fiction writers is the same for fiction writers.

“Look at Your Manuscript with an Editor’s Lens”

by Teresa LeYung Ryan–Developmental Editor/Manuscript Consultant/Writing Career Coach

Since writing a story with the intent to engage the reader is so much like meeting a stranger and wanting him/her to be interested in us, I will focus on “how to make the first quarter of your story a compelling read.”

I love working with diligent writers who want to transform their manuscripts into page-turners. However, there are things you can do before you give your work to an editor. Let me show you how you can help yourself.

Does your manuscript pass these tests?

• Planting hook(s) or story-question(s);
• Grounding the reader with the three Ws and the big C (Who?  When?  Where? Circumstances);
• Showing (not telling) what the protagonist wants;
• Paying attention to language and rules

Let’s learn from the pros.

Planting Hook or Story-Question:

In The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts, Maxine Hong Kingston hooks us with the first line: “You must not tell anyone,” my mother said, “what I am about to tell you…”   Then, Ms. Kingston transitions into her story with:  “Whenever she had to warn us about life, my mother told stories that ran like this one . . .”

Grounding the Reader with the Three Ws and the big C:

In Woven of Water, while the story timeline spans from 1957 to 2005, Californian author Luisa Adams brilliantly shows us who she was as a girl (not with a year-by-year narrative, but with a single exquisite chapter).  Because she grounded us with “who, when, where” and the “circumstances” as to why she had left her love affair with water, we eagerly follow as she takes us into her enchanted world of a “cottage in the forest.”  Another device to ground the reader is the employment of sensory details (not long descriptions).  Sensory details put the reader in the scene/story world.  Re-read one of your favorite author’s books. Study from the masters.

Showing What the Protagonist Wants:

In The Other Mother, young Carol Schaefer wants to ask questions:  “Was there any way to keep my baby?  Was there anyone who would help me find a way to do that?”

In Eat, Pray, Love, Elisabeth Gilbert says: I wish Giovanni would kiss me.

In Love Made of Heart, my protagonist Ruby Lin prays: Please don’t end up like Grandmother (while witnessing police officers escorting her own mother out of her apartment).

Paying Attention to Language and Rules:

Read the first five pages of Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt and you will see how this wordsmith plays with language and rules. (You can “bend” the rules to create flow, but you must not ignore them.)

In Bastard Out of Carolina, Dorothy Allison’s protagonist Bone is a girl.  Bone’s voice is convincing in dialogue and in internal monologue. Brilliant use of dialect.

Sentences Deserve Your Attention:

Remember Groucho Marx’s line “One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas…”? That sentence got a lot of laughs.  But, what if you didn’t want to be funny (ambiguous in this case)?

How would you rewrite these sentences?  See the misplaced modifiers?

• He likes to fish near the Farallon Islands, they jump when they’re hungry at dawn or dusk. (the islands jump?)
• She insists on knowing when I come home and leave, not to be nosy, but for safety reasons. (who is not nosy?)
• Being cautious as not to step on the dog’s tail, the children tip-toed away from him while sleeping. (who’s sleeping?)

To improve your sentence structure and other skills, I recommend these books:

• The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White
• Woe is I: Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English by Patricia T. O’Conner

More Advice:

• In all the stories I referenced above, the authors present memorable experiences by employing authentic details, unusual story-worlds though real, and poetic language. You want to do the same for your story.
• Also, these stories have another vital component–all the plotlines have what Martha Alderson, author of Blockbuster Plots Pure and Simple, calls “Cause and Effect” linked scenes.  Another must-read blog:  http://plotwhisperer.blogspot.com/search?q=first+quarter
• When you’re writing non-fiction and you do not have the luxury of rearranging the sequence of events to create a page-turning plotline, you can engage the reader by using concise expositions to leap over blocks of time in order to focus on the core themes and fast-forward to the next scene.  A helpful website for memoir writers: http://www.memoriesandmemoirs.com
• You the author must show the reader what the protagonist wants, even if the protagonist doesn’t know at first.
• We don’t have to “like” a protagonist, but, we do need to connect with him/her on an emotional level. Perhaps what he/she wants is also what we want.
• Story-telling is a skill learned, practiced, and mastered. May you practice with joy.

In the fiercely competitive arena of the publishing world, how does one stand out in a crowd?  Building relationships is one key to success in this business. Another key is to know how to translate the themes from your life to your writing and articulate those themes as community concerns.  I want to see all hardworking writers realize their dreams. My best wishes to you!

To read other posts in my blog (about writing contests, publishing opportunities, more tips on platform-building), click on [ Home ] and scroll down  OR key in words in the search box to find specific posts. Example: if you key in the words: poetry anthology 2011 into my blog’s search box and click [search], you will see my post containing info about the  Las Positas College Anthology and other contests for other genres (Thank you, Poet Laureate Deborah Grossman!) To read the entire version of a post, click on the title bar of that post.

To see my website for all my books, go to:  http://writingcoachteresa.com

Reach out, not stress out!

Sincerely,

Build-Your-Writer’s-Platform Coach Teresa

Teresa LeYung Ryan–Developmental Editor/Manuscript Consultant, Writing Career Coach, Author, Publisher

Teresa specializes in editing fiction and narrative non-fiction with themes on the human condition.

She likes spunky protagonists in thrillers, women’s novels, memoirs, and children’s literature.

Love Made of Heart is:
• recommended by the California School Library Association and the California Reading Association

• read by students at Stanford University, U.C. Berkeley, CCSF, and many other colleges and high schools.

• used in Advanced Composition English-as-a-Second-Language classes
• archived at the San Francisco History Center

Teresa says: “The more you read, the more your own writing will flow.”  
Please click here for my blog’s home page  http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/

My fun workbook is now available through Amazon!

BUILD YOUR WRITER’S PLATFORM & FANBASE IN 22 DAYS: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW

http://www.amazon.com/Build-Your-Writers-Platform-Fanbase/dp/0983010005/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1297630400&sr=1-1

http://lovemadeofheart.com/BUILD-YOUR-WRITER%27S-PLATFORM-&-FANBASE-IN-22-DAYS.html

What Does a Writer’s Life Look Like this Week?

Monday, author Elisa Southard and I took BART and Muni to meet with San Francisco Writers Conference co-founder Michael Larsen at the coffee shop in Grace Cathedral. Michael gave me lots of ideas for the new edition of my workbook BUILD  YOUR WRITER’S PLATFORM & FANBASE IN 22 DAYS: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers and Media Attention NOW.

Elisa Southard is building her fanbase for her new book BIG CITY  TRAVEL SKILLS –for young, first-time travelers.

Elisa & I will be presenting at the exciting San Francisco Writers Conference again, so, please look for us Feb. 18-20, 2011.

Tuesday I went to my part-time day-job (what a blessing to have a second source of income and work with gracious folks); also, answered emails from writers (including one from Chris Wachlin about how to get Kepler’s Books & Magazine to stock the wonderful anthology Fault Zone that members of California Writers Club-San Francisco Peninsula Branch have published).

Today, I met author Margaret Davis and her husband at the Oakland Museum of California.  I was mesmerized by
the Gallery of California History;  the new gallery is based on the theme of Coming to California.  The exhibit will be there until December 2, 2013.  Check it out.

Margaret, thank you for “word shifting” my workbook title and telling me what Dan Poynter said.

What a treat it was to see Margaret & Ray!  Then I hopped on BART and landed in San Francisco again.  Lora Baldwin (Frank Baldwin is working on another script) and their 2 boys were in town; I had a chance to catch up with Lora (doing the 2 biggest jobs on this planet–being a mom and home schooling her children) and get a dose of joyful energy from her and those beautiful kids.

Connections?  Frank Baldwin is one my mentors ( I refer to him as Obewan); he was one of Margaret Davis’s advisors when she was writing Straight Down the Middle.

Everyone mentioned in this post are or were involved with California Writers Club and the Jack London Writers Conference.   I had met Michael Larsen & Elizabeth Pomada and Frank Baldwin at that conference in the last 1990s. Margaret Davis and I are members of the San Francisco/Peninsula Branch of CWC; Elisa Southard was with the Marin Branch.

I come home and see that Jane Glendinning has emailed me photos of my presentation in October 2010 at CWC  Berkeley Branch (they meet at Oakland Main Library).

Thank you, Michael & Elizabeth, Elisa, Chris, Margaret & Ray, Jane, Lora & Frank, and the Baldwin children for making my week, and it’s only Wednesday!

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung Ryan

Manuscript Consultant / Writing Career Coach / Author / Publisher

http://WritingCoachTeresa.com

Are There Publishing-Writing Opportunities for Students-Young Writers-Children?

The Capitol City Young Writers have opened submissions for a literary journal by writers aged 10-18. Deadline is March 15, 2011. Check it out and help spread the word. Thank you, Linda McCabe and Margie Yee Webb, for telling me.

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On January 22nd Elisa Southard will be co-chairing the judging for the Bay Area Travel Writers Student Contest Submission deadline was January 1, 2011.  Keep them in mind later in the year so that you can get in on their next contest.  How perfect for Elisa Southard, the travel writer, to co-chair this event. Elisa is working on a new book—Big City Travel Skills–for young, first-time travelers.

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The Mt. Diablo Branch of California Writers Club
Young Writers Workshops and Contest “Honoring a New Generation of California Writers”
6th – 7th – 8th Grades,  Contra Costa County, California

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Check out Stone Soup for young writers and artists

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Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung Ryan–creator of “Heroes, Tricksters & Villains” workshop for young writers

Manuscript Consultant / Writing Career Coach / Author / Publisher

http://WritingCoachTeresa.com and click on “Writers’ Resources”

What are some of the rewards being a writing career coach?

Author Francine Thomas Howard emailed me with marvelous news about her second novel.  I went to her blog to see if she has broadcast her news and found her post about me!  Thank you, Francine!  I cheer for you.

Francine wrote:

“In the mentor department, I hit the jackpot!  I wrote Page From a Tennessee Journal in four months at the end of 2002.  No eyes, other than my own had ever seen a word of it until I spotted a sign inviting wanna-be writers to a group discussion led by  Teresa LeYung Ryan.

“Teresa had just published her wonderful book, Love Made of Heart, in the Fall of ’02.  Despite her busy schedule, she made time to give back to a group of struggling writers.

http://francinethomashoward.wordpress.com/2010/10/25/the-importance-of-a-mentor/

Coach Teresa here.  I love my work because I get to work with writers.  Acknowledgment from them is the biggest reward.

Writers Who Have Completed the Exercises in my 22-Day workbook:

“Thank you, CoachTeresa! This is a treasure full of insightful information delivered in manageable segments culminating in a masterpiece.” Mary E. Knippel, Creativity Mentor who helps busy women embrace simple shifts and celebrate change with grace and gratitude.  http://openuptoyourcreativity.com

“Coach Teresa, my brain has been on fire since our meeting. There is so much I want to do with my blog and the ideas keep on coming. Thank you!” Yolande Barial, a sensually spiritual writer who knows that with God all things are possible!  A contributing author in If Women Ruled the World. http://yolandebarial.wordpress.com

“Coach Teresa, you are such a bodhisattva! You have always been available for help, and now you are finally putting all you know into your new manual. Gratitude!” Lynn Scott, author of A Joyful Encounter: My Mother, My Alzheimer Clients, and Me; Oldham Street http://LynnScottbooks.com

Thank you, Mary, Yolande, Lynn!!!

“How do I build my platform as a writer?”

If you wish to order the workbook for yourself or for a writer-friend:

http://lovemadeofheart.com/Build-Your-Name-Beat-the-Game-Be-Happily-Published.html

Happy Holidays, Everyone!

Sincerely,

Writing Career Coach Teresa LeYung Ryan

On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  To read the full text:   http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

Is there an event in San Francisco on December 10, 2010 for Universal Declaration of Human Rights?

Yes!

Is Thanksgiving Day an American Holiday?     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving

I give thanks to everyone in my life and wish you all tasty and nourishing foods, music, art, laughter, books, literacy, nature, love and peace.

MamaCoAtl & Kim McMillon, thank you for giving me a role in blogging about activities to raise public awareness that say “END Violence Against Women & Girls!”: http://16daysofartivismforthehealingofviolence.wordpress.com/

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
In honor of UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women & Girls, please feel free to tell the world about any events you support by submitting a comment at:
http://16daysofartivismforthehealingofviolence.wordpress.com/tell-us-about-your-events-to-commemorate-international-day-for-the-elimination-of-violence-against-women/

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung Ryan
Author / Writing Career Coach / Manuscript Consultant / Publisher

16 days of ARTivism (Nov. 25 – Dec. 10 San Francisco Bay Area) begin on Nov. 25 United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women & Girls, which is also Thanksgiving Day this year  http://16daysofartivismforthehealingofviolence.wordpress.com/

GraceArt Publishing is the publisher of Build My Name, Beat the Game: 22 Days to Identify & Develop My Writer’s Platform to Attract Agents, Acquisition Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention. Paypal is available http://writingcoachteresa.com

Teresa says: “Reach out, not stress out, when building your writer’s name/platform.”  

To comment on any of my columns (blog posts), just click on the blue title bar of the post, fill in the boxes and press “submit.”  Please click here for my blog http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/

Love Made of Heart inspires adult-children of mentally-ill parents to speak openly about the stigmas that their parents suffer.  http://LoveMadeOfHeart.com

I am happy to announce my Love Made of Heart online store where you’ll find gift items for yourselves, women, children, moms, grandmas, babies, friends and pets. http://lovemadeofheart.com/Love-Made-of-Heart-Online-Store-&-Gift-Shop.html

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

Are There Any Events in San Francisco Bay Area for International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women & Girls?

Yes!

Today, Tuesday November 23, 2010,  Noon– at steps of San Francisco City Hall.  MamaCoAtl, playwright Kim McMillon, Poet Nina Serrano, city officials and community members will kick off 16 Days of ARTivism for healing and education to end violence against women and girls. How befitting that the 16 days of ARTivism will then begin on Nov. 25 United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women & Girls, which is also Thanksgiving Day this year 2010!
For schedule of events through Dec. 10, 2010 http://16daysofartivismforthehealingofviolence.wordpress.com/

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung Ryan,  Author/ Writing Career Coach / Manuscript Consultant / GraceArt Publishing

“Teresa uses her book Love Made of Heart to help survivors of violence find their own voices through writing.”

http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/

http://writingcoachteresa.com

My pal Elisa Southard, author/travel writer/marketing coach, got me a ticket to the  Diablo Actors Ensemble’s production of Twelve Angry Men (by Reginald Rose, the teleplay was first broadcast live on CBS’s show Studio One in 1954).   Seasoned actor Will Southard (Elisa’s husband) portrays Juror #8 (the role played by Robert Cummings in the teleplay and then by Henry Fonda in the film).

I went to Diablo Actors Ensemble with  Elisa’s father-in-law and sister-in-law Kaer Soutthard of Executive Support Solutions and CardkinArts.

http://executivesupportsolutions.biz/

Twelve Angry Men is one of the plays I would watch again and again.  Reginald Rose’s lines/expressions of prejudices are raw and timeless.  Every moment in the play is layered with dramatic tension.

What is the play Twelve Angry Men about?

Twelve jurors in deliberation.   A sixteen-year-old Latino is charged with murder/stabbing his father in the chest with a switchblade. Will the jurors find him “not guilty”?  Or will they vote “guilty”?   The verdict of guilty will mean the death penalty for the boy. One juror stands alone to say: “I have reasonable doubt.”

Will Southard as Juror 8 in what I'd call symbolism in stage direction of "looking out" and "thinking outside the box"

Fine performances by Will Southard and his fellow cast members.  Bravo, Will !

This engagement is pretty much sold-out.  Contact the Diablo Actors Ensemble (a 50-seat theater) in Walnut Creek, CA

If I were given the opportunity to audition for a part in this play, I would want to be Juror #5 (portrayed by Eddie Peabody for Diablo Actors Ensemble, by Jack Klugman in the film, and by Lee Philips in the teleplay.)

I applaud the cast, director Vince Faso, the crew, Artistic Director Scott Fryer (who was also Foreman in the cast), Managing Director Samantha Fryer, and DAE board members and volunteers.

Elisa Southard, recent-keynote speaker at the Redwood Writers Conference, I thank you again for inviting me to this powerful performance.   My party afterward (stimulating conversations with playwright/director Kathryn McCarty, Elisa’s and Will’s siblings, their in-laws and friends) was icing on the cake!

http://www.enotes.com/twelve-angry-men

In the teleplay, Robert Cummings was Juror #8,  Franchot Tone Juror #3, and Edward Arnold Juror #10. I’m going to look for a copy of teleplay.

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung Ryan

Book Doctor/Manuscript Consultant, Writing Career Coach, Author, Publisher

Teresa specializes in editing fiction with universal themes; women’s memoirs; novels for young adults; short stories.  She likes spunky protagonists.

Love Made of Heart is:
• recommended by the California School Library Association and the California Reading Association

• read by students at Stanford University, U.C. Berkeley, CCSF, and many other colleges and high schools.

• used in Advanced Composition English-as-a-Second-Language classes
• archived at the San Francisco History Center

GraceArt Publishing is the publisher of Build My Name, Beat the Game: 22 Days to Identify & Develop My Writer’s Platform to Attract Agents, Acquisition Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention.

Teresa says: “Reach out, not stress out, when building your writer’s name/platform.”  

To comment on any of my columns (blog posts), just click on the blue title bar of the post, fill in the boxes and press “submit.”  Please click here for my blog http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/

What Should I Do Before I Hire an Editor to Review My Manuscript?

The question is answered by Teresa LeYung Ryan–Book Doctor/Manuscript Consultant, Career Coach, Author

Nina Amir, creator of Write Nonfiction in November http://writenonfictioninnovember.com/ had invited me to be her guest-blogger in 2008, to help answer that question.  My advice for narrative non-fiction writers is the same for fiction writers.

“How to Look at Your Manuscript with an Editor’s Lens”

Since writing a story with the intent to engage the reader is so much like meeting a stranger and wanting him/her to be interested in you, I will focus on how to make the first quarter of your story a compelling read.

I love working with diligent writers who want to transform their manuscripts into page-turners. However, there are things you can do before you give your work to an editor. Let me show you how you can help yourself.

As an editor, the four biggest mistakes I encounter are manuscripts that are weak in these elements:

• Planting hook(s) or story-question(s);
• Grounding the reader with the three Ws (Who?  When?  Where?);
• Showing (not telling) what the protagonist wants;
• Paying attention to language and rules

Let’s learn from the pros.

Planting Hook or Story-Question:

In The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts, Maxine Hong Kingston hooks us with the first line: “You must not tell anyone,” my mother said, “what I am about to tell you…”   Then, Ms. Kingston transitions into her story with:  “Whenever she had to warn us about life, my mother told stories that ran like this one . . .”

Grounding the Reader with the Three Ws:

In Woven of Water, while the story timeline spans from 1957 to 2005, Californian author Luisa Adams brilliantly shows us who she was as a girl (not with a year-by-year narrative, but with a single exquisite chapter).  Because she grounded us with “who, when, where,” we eagerly follow as she takes us into her enchanted world of a “cottage in the forest.”  Another device to ground the reader is the employment of sensory details (not long descriptions).  Sensory details put the reader in the scene/story world.  Re-read one of your favorite author’s books. Study from the masters.

Showing What the Protagonist Wants:

In The Other Mother, young Carol Schaefer wants to ask questions:  “Was there any way to keep my baby?  Was there anyone who would help me find a way to do that?”

Paying Attention to Language and Rules:

Read the first five pages of Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt and you will see how this wordsmith plays with language and rules. (You can “bend” the rules to create flow, but you must not ignore them.)

Sentences Deserve Your Attention:

Nina Amir’s post on her blog  http://writenonfictioninnovember.wordpress.com/2007/11/ is a must-read.

Remember Groucho Marx’s line “One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas…”? That sentence got a lot of laughs.  But, what if you didn’t want to be funny (ambiguous in this case)?

How would you rewrite these poorly constructed sentences?

• He likes to fish near the Farallon Islands and they jump when they’re hungry at dawn or dusk.
• She insists on knowing when I come home and leave, not to be nosy, but for safety reasons.
• Being cautious as not to step on the dog’s tail, the children tip-toed away from him while sleeping.
• My husband still in bed snoring, I have always enjoyed rising before dawn and I eat my toast and drink my green tea on the terrace.

To improve your sentence structure and other skills, I recommend these books:

• The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White
• Woe is I: Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English by Patricia T. O’Conner

More Advice:

• In all four stories (The Woman Warrior, Woven of Water, The Other Mother, Angela’s Ashes), the authors present memorable experiences by employing authentic details, unusual story-worlds though real, and poetic language. You want to do the same for your story.
• Also, these stories have another vital component-all four plotlines have what Martha Alderson, author of Blockbuster Plots, Pure and Simple, calls “Cause and Effect” linked scenes.  Another must-read blog:  http://plotwhisperer.blogspot.com/search?q=first+quarter
• When you’re writing non-fiction and do not have the luxury of rearranging the sequence of events to create a page-turning plotline, you can engage the reader by using concise expositions to leap over blocks of time in order to focus on the core themes and fast-forward the story. A helpful website: http://www.memoriesandmemoirs.com
• You the author must show the reader what the protagonist wants, even if the protagonist doesn’t know at first.
• We don’t have to “like” a protagonist, but, we do need to connect with him/her on an emotional level.

In the fiercely competitive arena of the publishing world, how does one stand out in a crowd?  Building relationships is one key to success in this business. Another key is to know how to translate the themes from your life to your writing and articulate those themes as community concerns.  I want to see all hardworking writers realize their dreams. My best wishes to you!

Do you know a writer who wants to go to a writers’ conference but can’t afford it? Encourage her/him to ask family and friends to chip in (what better Christmas gift or birthday gift!).

For non-fiction authors: Writing for Change Conference http://www.sfwritingforchange.org/

For both fiction and non-fiction authors:  San Francisco Writers Conference http://sfwriters.org

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung Ryan

Book Doctor/Manuscript Consultant, Career Coach, Author, Publisher

Coach Teresa edits manuscripts for authors who want to attract agents  & publishers  OR  want to be their own publishers. She specializes in contemporary novels, thrillers, children’s & YA novels, memoirs, short stories, and anthologies. She likes spunky protagonists.

Love Made of Heart is:
• recommended by the California School Library Association and the California Reading Association

• read by students at Stanford University, U.C. Berkeley, CCSF, and many other colleges and high schools.

• used in Advanced Composition English-as-a-Second-Language classes
• archived at the San Francisco History Center

GraceArt Publishing is the publisher of Build My Name, Beat the Game: 22 Days to Identify & Develop My Writer’s Platform to Attract Agents, Acquisition Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention.

Teresa says: “Reach out, not stress out, when building your writer’s name/platform.”  

To comment on any of my columns (blog posts), just click on the blue title bar of the post, fill in the boxes and press “submit.”  Please click here for my blog http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/

A Week of Wearing 3 Hats – Writing Career Coach – Author -  Publisher

As Writing Career Coach

I presented “Build My Name, Beat the Game” to delightful writers at the Redwood Writers Conference.  Writers in my session, please scroll down until you see my post/column entitled “Redwood Writers Conference Pure Joy” and follow instructions please to build your names.

There’s post-conference work for me.  I’ll email colleagues and follow up on our conversations; I’ll email writers in my session some coaching notes; I’ll pitch my workshop to other organizations.

Do you know a non-fiction writer who wants to go to a writers’  conference but can’t afford it? Encourage her/him to ask family and  friends to chip in (what better Christmas gift or birthday gift!).   Check out Writing for Change Conference.

As Author

I’m writing down “gems” as they pop into my head.  Gems in the form of dialogue, metaphors, descriptions, hooks, and story-questions.

I had a chance to chat with Martha Engber at the Redwood Writers Conference and read the jacket copy of her novel  The Wind Thief.  I started reading it when I got home Saturday night and have been reading a little everyday.  What lovely prose and sensory details! What a gifted writer.  Tanya Egan Gibson is another gifted writer; I’m also reading her novel How to Buy a Love of Reading. My reading well-written books can only make me a better writer.

As Publisher

I’m updating Build My Name, Beat the Game: 22 Days to Identify & Develop My Writer’s Platform to Attract Agents, Acquisition Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention so that I can take the next step in publishing the next edition–and that is letting Nancy Mulvany create the index.

This evening I attended a Business and Leadership program at the Commonwealth Club on “iPad Revolution and the Future of Digital Magazines” with Matthew Davis of Zinio and Matt Carlson of Hot Studio, two pioneers in this emerging field.  Kevin O’Malley, President, TechTalk/Studio was Moderator (Thank you, Kevin, for inviting me.  The program was enlightening).

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung Ryan

Coach Teresa says: “Reach out, not stress out, when building your writer’s name/platform.”  

To comment on any of my columns (blog posts), just click on the blue title bar of the post, fill in the boxes and press “submit.”  Please click here http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/ for Home Page of my blog.