Teresa LeYung-Ryan

Posts Tagged ‘Coach Teresa’

Coach Teresa, How Is Building My Writer’s Platform Similar to Landing a Job?

Last weekend I (Teresa LeYung-Ryan) introduced Margie Yee Webb (author of Cat Mulan’s Mindful Musings: Insight and Inspiration for a Wonderful Life) to Luan Stauss at Laurel Bookstore.  I bought a copy of Margie’s book and a copy of The Job-Hunter’s Survival Guide: How to Find Hope and Rewarding Work, Even When “There Are No Jobs” by Richard N. Bolles (author of What Color Is Your Parachute?).
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I have started a list of books I recommend. Building one’s writing career requires the same perseverance as finding and landing work that brings you joy.

The parallels in Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days with Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan and The Job-Hunter’s Survival Guide with Richard N. Bolles include:

You have a great query letter or book proposal, but, will the right agent or acquisition editor or publisher see it? / You have a well-written resume, but, who gets to really see it?

Books get published every day / There are always jobs out there

Saying that you write about all kinds of subject matters doesn’t make you an expert in a field / “Staying loose” about what you’re looking for is job-hunting suicide.

Reach out not stress out to help yourself and colleagues / In facing any problem, look for three alternatives

Do the exercises “Who Am I?” / Do a thorough self-inventory

Also I recommend Elisa Southard’s book Break Through the Noise: 9 Tools to Propel Your Marketing Message

Consider reading: Coach Teresa, did you write an article about plotting a writer’s platform for Plot Teacher Martha Alderson?

Richard N. Bolles recommends Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover and Suze Orman’s 2009 Action Plan: Keeping Your Money Safe and Sound.

Amazon.com reveals pages 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9 You can see the exercises for Day I in the workbook Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung-Ryan

Author, Manuscript Consultant,  Writing Career Coach

To submit your comment to any post (article) in my blog, click on the blue header (title bar) of the post and fill in the boxes (you don’t need to fill in your website address if you don’t have a website); then be sure to click “submit comment” otherwise I won’t get to see your comment. I’d like to hear from you.

Coach Teresa, How Do Writers & Authors Rebuild Their Lives?

June 28, 2011 was a delightful display of authors rebuilding their lives.

Birgit Soyka and I (Teresa LeYung Ryan) were the featured authors at our Women’s National Book Association-San Francisco Chapter event at BookShop West Portal in San Francisco.

Birgit Soyka and Teresa LeYung Ryan celebrate Rebuild Your Life Month at BookShop West Portal - photo by Teresa's sister Maria

Birgit Soyka rebuilt her life, leaving Germany and coming to California. Motorcycle racing there and motorcycle racing here – two different worlds. Read her book To Drink the Wild Air.

I, Teresa LeYung-Ryan, rebuilt my career after Love Made of Heart was published by Kensington Publishing Corp. New York.  I discovered that I had an eye as an editor–helping other writers identify the themes and archetypes in their stories, so, I became a manuscript consultant.  Then when my clients reported that agents and publishers passed them by because they (the writers) didn’t have platforms and fanbases, I became a writing career coach for them.  And, I published Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW

Neal Sofman, the owner of BookShop West Portal, had to rebuild his business. Remember A Clean Well Lighted Place for Books? Those bookstores were owned by Neal.  To survive hard times, he had to close those stores.  Closure of one dream, invitation to another dream. BookShop West Portal in San Francisco is thriving.

Neal Sofman & BookShop West Portal get support from WNBA's Teresa LeYung Ryan & Birgit Soyka--photo by Leigh Anne Lindsey

I thank everyone who stepped out on rainy June 28, 2011 to support BookShop West Portal, WNBA, Birgit Soyka and yours truly Teresa LeYung-Ryan. May everyone who wants to rebuild her/his life do it joyfully.

Thank you to Neal, Kevin, Loretta, Jose, Jess at BookShop West Portal, Leigh Anne Lindsey, Birgit, Birgit’s friends, my sister and my friends Jonathan, Paula, Michelle Tapia, Miss Lauren Jung, bookstore loyalists and everyone there that evening.

And, remember, “Reach out, not stress out, when building or rebuilding your platform and fanbase!”

Writing Career Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan (who helps writers build their platforms and fanbases) celebrates "Rebuild Your Life Month" at BookShop West Portal photo by Maria

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Lauren Jung and Michelle Tapia read scene from Love Made of Heart photo by Teresa LeYung-Ryan's sister Maria

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Maria and Jonathan support BookShop West Portal

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Paula, Michelle, Lauren, Teresa LeYung-Ryan, Jonathan support BookShop West Portal photo by Maria

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authors & publishers Leigh Anne Lindsey & Teresa LeYung Ryan cheer for Women's National Book Assn & BookShop West Portal

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Neal Sofman & BookShop West Portal praised by Author & Writing Career Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan photo by Maria

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung-Ryan

Manuscript Consultant

Writing Career Coach

author of Love Made of Heart

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

Dear Birgit,

I had so much fun celebrating “Rebuild Your Life Month” with you, my friends and yours at BookShop West Portal! I too blogged http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/coach-teresa-how-do-writers-authors-rebuild-their-lives/ See you and Jacqueline on Thursday July 7, 2011 at San Francisco Public Library-main branch, Stong Conference Room 6:00-7:30pm for WNBA meet-up!

Cheers from Writing Career Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan

Coach Teresa, what books are you reading this month?

Two weeks ago I reported to jury duty. Before leaving my house that morning to catch bus and BART, I went to my bookcases to look for volumes of Greek Tragedies (I’ve had those books since college days).

Why did I want to reread translations of Greek Tragedies? To study literary works that engaged me decades ago and have been in my memory since. In Greek Tragedies, oftentimes the villains are the parents, with help from the gods and goddesses. My studying these classics helps me gain  examples of plotline structuring and archetypes for my clients whose manuscripts carry similar themes–what if a family member is the wicked antagonist?

So, I re-read Aeschylus: The Libation Bearers (translated by Richmond Lattimore) and Sophocles: Electra (translated by David Greene), and, I’m re-reading Euripides: Iphigenia in Tauris (translated by Witter Bynner).

Did I get selected as a juror?  That is another story which I will tell later.

Liz Bittner just finished reading Barbara Kingsolver’s novel The Poisonwood Bible and she lent me her copy.  I am enjoying it immensely.

Writers, I’ve updated my post “Coach Teresa, what should I do before hiring an editor?”

Happy writing and rewriting!

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung Ryan

Writing Career Coach; Manuscript Consultant; Author

of Love Made of  Heart; Author of Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days

“Coach Teresa, what should I do before hiring an editor?”

Look at Your Manuscript with an Editor’s Lens

By Teresa LeYung Ryan

Writing Career Coach; Manuscript Consultant; Author

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, you’d want to hook the reader’s attention in the first quarter of your story (starting with the first page, oftentimes with the first line).

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.

The big four elements to look for in your manuscript:

• 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 (the middle-aged woman) takes us into her enchanted world of a “cottage in the forest.”

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?”

Elizabeth Gilbert hooks us with “I wish Giovanni would kiss me…” in her memoir Eat, Pray, Love. Simple as that.  She’ll have other desires as her story moves forward, but, right there on page 1, she’s clear about what she wants.

In Love Made of Heart, protagonist Ruby Lin is thinking: What have I done?  I watch the uniformed police officers escort my mother from my 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 the rules.)

Are you saying: “Coach Teresa, that’s my style–I don’t like to use commas all that much. You might see typos but that’s your job right to correct them? I write like I talk. Okay.”

I say: “Read your manuscript out loud.  Do you really talk like that?  If you hear yourself pausing in a sentence, that’s probably where you’d put a comma. You are a writer; use correct spelling.  Do use vernacular that is indicative of your story-world; however, will your reader hear the differences in speech patterns in your characters OR will they hear just one voice in all the characters?”

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)? Watch out for those misplaced modifiers.

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 structuring 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 referenced above, the authors present memorable experiences by employing authentic details, unusual story-worlds, and poetic language. You want to do the same for your story.
• Also, the 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: Plot Whisperer
• 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: Linda Joy Myer’s 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.
• Read my colleague Vicki Weiland’s “Vicki’s Four Questions” © on her blog: http://vickiweiland.wordpress.com/vickis-four-questions-%C2%A9/

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!

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung Ryan

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.

22-Day Platform-Building Coach Teresa LeYung Ryan helps authors identify their themes to hook agents' and publishers' attention.

author of Love Made of  Heart

author of Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days

To submit your comment to any post in my blog, click on the blue header (title bar) of the post and fill in the boxes; then be sure to click “submit comment” otherwise your comment will be lost and you’d have to fill in boxes again. I’d like to hear from you.

Coach Teresa, how do I continue promoting myself after an event or a book signing or a reading?

Here’s my answer:

You’ve spent weeks, maybe even months, publicizing your event.  You deliver the event (and I hope you had fun), then you, the audience, everyone involved in coordination . . .  you all go home or on to another event. Have you forgotten something? That something is “follow up” work.  Who did you talk to at the event?  What did you promise? Below is an example – how to follow up. Angela Pang and her coworkers at AsianWeek work extremely hard each year orchestrating the Asian Heritage Street Celebration.  This is my Email to her; I cc’ed my booth partners Margie Yee Webb and Patricia Tsang, M.D.

May 22, 2011

Dear Angela,

If you need quotes from us for post-event newsletter . . . here goes;  also, 3 photos attached.

Who were the authors at this year’s AHSC? Margie Yee Webb (Cat Mulan’s Mindful Musings: Insight and Inspiration for a Wonderful Life), Teresa LeYung Ryan (Love Made of Heart; Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days), and Patricia Tsang, M.D. (Optimal Healing: A Guide to Traditional Chinese Medicine).  Margie Yee Webb says: “California Writers Club is proud to once again be part of the Asian Heritage Street Celebration to encourage everyone to write their stories.  We are also pleased to support schools through donations to the School Raffle Program.” Teresa LeYung Ryan says: “I thank Margie and Asian-Week Foundation for re-connecting me to the Asian-American community. My third year at AHSC, I had so much fun with my friends.”  Patricia Tsang, M.D. says: “A street fair with food, culture, art, literature, martial arts, health science, and more. What can be more enticing to an Asian?  The celebration gave me a chance to reconnect with my roots as well as share information about my book.”

Angela, thanks again for making our experience enjoyable!   Margie & Pat, I’ll email you more photos later 

Sincerely,

Coach Teresa LeYung Ryan  on facebook!

Check out Teresa’s YouTube videos http://www.youtube.com/teresaleyung

http://writingcoachteresa.com

You notice how I embedded our URLs in our names? (so that if Angela or AsianWeek e-newsletter readers want to read more about us and California Writers Club. . . they’d be taken to our websites).  By the way, my two booth partners and I are also members of Women’s National Book Association -San Francisco Chapter.

Coach Teresa here has a lot of follow-up emails to send and photos to resize and rename. To see a partial list of people I met at the Asian Heritage Street Celebration, please go to my May 22, 2011 post . Thanks.

Have fun building your writer’s platform!

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan (click on my name to get to my YouTube videos)

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Click on book cover to go to Amazon

Yesterday February 2, 2010 turned into a strange yet motivating day for me as a writer.

A dear friend said yes to driving down to Palo Alto with me to attend the 7:00pm Other Voices TV  “Why Did Haiti Collapse? More Than an Earthquake” at Community Media Center.  I got onto North 101 instead of South 101, so, lost 15 minutes there. Then, relying on MapQuest wrong directions, we lost another 20 minutes. Asking people for directions to 900 San Antonio Road [Community Media Center] led us to the Jewish Community Center instead.
So we did “follow the numbers.”.  I drove to the 800 block of San Antonio and got onto the side of the street with even numbers and headed in the direction of higher numbers than 800.  900 San Antonio Road was tucked away in a strip of buildings partially hidden behind a sound wall.

We made it!  20 minutes late but we made it!  Paul George of Peninsula Peace and Justice Center http://www.peaceandjustice.org was moderator.  His articulate speech on KZSU 90.1 FM http://kzsu.stanford.edu/ on February 1, 2010 had propelled me to attend this program.
The 2 panelists gave compelling eyewitness accounts and the audience learned how we can really help Haiti right now (right now to help lessen the suffering).

Seth Donnelly, a longtime Haiti solidarity activist, has visited Haiti many times, assisting grassroots projects and documenting human rights abuses by the UN occupation forces, was a calm eloquent speaker.

Walter Riley, a longtime civil rights attorney, peace activist, and Haiti Solidarity activist, was in Port-au-Prince when the devastating earthquake struck Haiti.  For three days, he and his family aided in the frantic rescue efforts and witnessed the scope of the devastation.  Walter is the Chair of the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund.

What did I learn from Mr. Donnelly and Mr. Riley?  Many organizations are raising money. Great. Is that money really going to the Haitian grassroots agencies? Is the money to buy food, medical supplies, and building material waiting for red tape (supplies and materials sitting on tarmacs while Haitians are dying)?  Apparently, Haiti’s grassroots (women’s groups being a huge component) are the ones who can help most effectively because they’re right there helping neighbors; they know their infrastructure. What else did I re-learn?  Natural disaster on top of abject poverty = brutal suffering. Medical personnel, disaster relief workers, and compassionate souls are all heroes.

Channel 27 Mid-Peninsula, California http://www.communitymediacenter.net/

Haiti Emergency Relief Fund   http://www.haitiaction.net/About/HERF/HERF.html

I don’t have the means to write big checks; I do have a big voice as a writer though.

Writers, keep on writing!

Sincerely,

Coach Teresa

http://WritingCoachTeresa.com

Blog  is the abbreviation for  weblog (a blog is a website which provides opportunities for readers to submit their comments)

Verb:  To blog = to write posts (entries) in, add material to, or maintain a weblog.
Noun:  A blog = a shared on-line journal where you can publish your posts (entries about your experiences, observations, expertise, and hobbies); the most recently published post appears first to readers; readers can interact by submitting comments.

Examples:

This post you’re reading is on my blog which is on my website http://lovemadeofheart.com/ (I own this site; I have to pay for domain name renewals and web hosting services)

I have a second blog (free from WordPress.com ) http://writingcoachteresa.wordpress.com/ to show my clients how a free blog works.

I have a third blog http://www.redroom.com/author/teresa-leyung-ryan at Red Room http://redroom.com/ (a wonderful website where authors can sign up to receive a webpage as a Red Room Author).  However, I don’t own this blog either.

To get comfortable submitting comments to blogs,  click on the title of a post on my blog (in order to see the entire post); scroll down to get the comment boxes.  Go to: http://lovemadeofheart.com/ Click on “TERESA’S BLOG”  and scroll down your screen; choose a post that interests you; click on the title of the post to get the comment box.

I’d encourage any writer who do not have a blog website to get one so that  you’ll have an on-line address/URL.  These days, a blog serves as an answering center (give your fans a chance to find you and to communicate with you and still offers you privacy).  If money is an issue, then get a free blog from http://wordpress.com . Because WordPress.com blogs are free, they will not offer you the features you’d get on a blog website that you own. Although you could upgrade your free blog by paying fees to get extra features.  If you go with a free blog now, and, later when you get your own website, ask your webmaster to help you import your posts from the free blog to your site. If you need a guru of a webmaster, check out Linda Lee at http://askmepc.com/

Your blog = a body of work that you publish on cyberspace.

After you get a blog and write some posts, remember to copy the keywords and key phrases (tags) in each post and add them to the tag box for each post. Your blog will compile a list of your tags.  Help search engines help people find you and your work through the tags.

Visit my blog often to learn how I use tags and links in my posts.  http://lovemadeofheart.com/

After you submit a comment to one of my posts, wait a day or so  before going to Google (or another search engine), then key in a string of words (tags) you used in your comment . . . press the “search” key . . . let cyberspace go to work.  Voila!  This is how people will find you.  I’ll tell you more in my  workbook  Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW .

Sincerely,

Writing Career Coach Teresa LeYung Ryan

http://writingcoachteresa.com

ebook Kindle edition $9.81

print edition $12.96

Coach Teresa’s YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/teresaleyung

Teresa LeYung Ryan on facebook!

Invite Coach Teresa to conduct “Major League Tryouts with Coach Teresa to Build My Name” at your writers’ club or group.

Form a study-group, split the cost and hire Coach Teresa to:

* coach you in name-building to attract the right agent or publisher or more fans
* guide you in designing and growing your blog (to showcase your expertise and experiences)
* show you computer-navigating shortcuts and how to easily “find stuff” on the World Wide Web

Monday night, January 18, 2010
Three weeks ago, I thought I would be working today at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service at MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. REGIONAL SHORELINE in Oakland. However, because of overwhelming registration, the organizers didn’t need me.

In a way, I did have a Day of Service. I made phone calls on behalf of my friend (to report elder abuse from a home-care agency).

The phone numbers below came from mental health advocates from Alameda and Contra Costa counties; they encouraged me to file reports.

Adult Protective Service 925-646-2854 serving Contra Costa County, CA

http://www.cdss.ca.gov/agedblinddisabled/

Disability Rights CA 510-267-1200 (formerly State Protection & Advocacy) http://www.disabilityrightsca.org/

Consumer Assistance 1-800-779-0787

After I made the phone calls (left voicemail at the second & third numbers; a person answered at Adult Protective Service and told me a social worker would call me back even though today was a holiday…so professional and reassuring).

Jan. 22, 2010

I learned from  Adult Protective Service and Disability Rights CA that because  home-care services are “businesses”I would need to make a complaint and also report abuse http://ccld.ca.gov/ as well as contact Better Business Bureau http://www.bbb.org/us/ Complaints: http://www.bbb.org/us/Consumer-Complaints/

While researching, I found http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/home-care-services/HO00084 Mayo Clinic website which has and answers regarding home care services. The text below inside [   ] came from the Mayo Clinic website:

[ If you're considering a home care services agency:

• How does the agency hire and train caregivers? Does the agency provide continuing education?
• Are the caregivers licensed in their fields and insured?
• How closely does the agency's supervisor evaluate the quality of home care?
• Do the agency's employees seem friendly and helpful? Make sure you feel comfortable with the agency's representatives.

If you're considering a home health aide:

• Does the home health aide have a good temperament? Make sure you or your loved one feels comfortable with the home health aide. ]

http://www.hcbs.org/ which I will review later.

Jan. 18, 2010

I’m blogging about this because: 1) I want to share those phone numbers and URLs; 2) I think writers make for great advocates (writing down our observations; reporting the observations); and 3) I need to remind myself to be true to myself and honor the powerful voice of the written word.

On Saturday, 40 writers at California Writers Club-SF Peninsula Branch heard how VP Linda Okerlund introduced me.

“Teresa LeYung Ryan wears 3 hats . . . [the third hat] She is a community spirit who uses her first book Love Made of Heart to inspire adult-children of mentally-ill parents to speak openly and unabashedly about the stigmas their parents suffer.”

To speak openly about illness and stigmas and continue being aware–these are my duties.

Today after I made the calls, I was rewarded by wonderful comments on my blog post from the writers at Saturday’s “Major League Tryouts for Building Your Name.”
I thought about my mom (who’s my biggest angel); I remember how she needed someone to speak up on her behalf.

I’d like to think that Mom is watching over me, inspiring me to use words to help people. Writers need help too. A dear writer-friend said to me today: “How do we find time to blog and build our names when we’re writing books?” My respond was: “Our books deserved to be read by people. But, how would people read our books if they don’t know that our books exist?”

To all writers who want others to buy your work, read your work, talk about your work, I encourage you to tell yourself this everyday: “My work deserves to be read by many. My work deserves to be promoted; I’m the best person for the job.”

Sincerely,
Coach Teresa
Teresa LeYung Ryan

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