Teresa LeYung-Ryan

Posts Tagged ‘Kim McMillon’

April is National Poetry Month but every day is poetry.  When I listen to songs, I tend to remember the lyrics before I can remember the melodies.  Commercials hook me when I hear poetry in them.

Here are poets I pay attention to.  They all wear many brilliant hats.

• Martha Clark Scala.   This YouTube video shows Martha the poet on April 2, 2010 at Escape from New York Pizza, San Francisco   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5e7v716WQ0 To see what other hats Martha wears, please visit  www.mcscala.com

• Joan Gelfand.  A powerful speaker.  http://joangelfand.com/listen http://joangelfand.com/main/ has the link to the video of Joan with Kim McMillon with Janice Edwards on Bay Area Vista.

• Deborah Grossman, City of Pleasanton Poet Laureate!   Delightful.  You can meet Deborah at events this summer, autumn and winter: http://www.ci.pleasanton.ca.us/community/arts/civic-arts-literary.html http://www.deborahgrossman.com/

• Yolande Barial, founder of Your Words Project.  You just have to meet Yolande and hear her poetry, her spoken word.  Please add audio to your blog.  http://yolandebarial.wordpress.com/

• Maxine Hong Kingston.  Her book The Woman Warrior had inspired me to write my stories which turned into Love Made of Heart the novel.    Lunch Poems: Maxine Hong Kingston.  She is SO funny!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeaOmyZk4U0 And mesmerizing.  Zen circles; Chinese 4 word poems.

My hat off to you, Martha, Joan, Deborah, Yolande, Maxine!

Sincerely,

Teresa

Writing Career Coach Teresa LeYung Ryan says: “Build your name, beat the game, be happily published.”  http://WritingCoachTeresa.com

Hello Writers of Fiction and Non-Fiction,

I’ll be at these events in May and June, 2010:

This Thursday May 13, 2010 I will be attending the Effie Lee Morris Lecture at the San Francisco Main Library, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA 94102

Saturday, May 15, 2010  11 a.m. – 6 p.m. PST

Asian Heritage Street Celebration (starts at Larkin and McAllister Streets in San Francisco, in front of the Asian Art Museum in Civic Center, leading up to the Little Saigon District)

Look for Teresa LeYung Ryan (author of Love Made of Heart), Margie Yee Webb, Frances Kakugawa and Lloyd Lofthouse  at the California Writers Club booth.

The fair features Asian American artists, DJs, martial arts, today’s Asian pop culture, j-cars, a Muay Thai kickboxing ring, scrumptious food, children’s area, cultural procession, anime, free hepatitis B screenings and more! www.asianfairsf.com

The event is free and open to the public.   Teresa will post location of  their booth; please check: http://writingcoachteresa.com

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Tuesday, May 18, 2010  11:00am – 12:45pm PST

Blockbuster Plots Consultant Martha Alderson http://blockbusterplots.com &  Writing Career Coach Teresa LeYung Ryan on Kim McMillon’s “Writers’ Sanctuary” Blog Talk Radio Show http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onword/page/3 If you miss  the live show, you can listen to the archive at:   http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onword/2010/05/18/writers-sanctuary-with-kim-mcmillon

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Friday June 18, 2010

Time: 11 AM PDT |12 PM MDT | 1 PM CDT |2 PM EDT

Writing Career Coach Teresa LeYung Ryan  on Linda Joy Myers’s Teleseminar for The National Association of Memoir Writers (NAMW)

[June NAMW Member-only Teleseminar] Join Writing Career Coach Teresa LeYung Ryan as She Helps Memoir Writers Use What They Know to Build Fame!  Fun & Simple Steps for Memoir Writers to Thrive
Not already a member of NAMW? Visit http://www.namw.org now!

How do writers thrive in the fiercely competitive industry? Find out for yourself in this delightful session with Coach Teresa who created Build Your Name, Beat the Game: Be Happily Published (the 22 minutes for 22 days workbook).

She will help you:

* understand the need to build one’s name/fame in today’s publishing arena.
* identify advocates, endorsers and fans.
* gain recognition through your words and your community.

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Saturday, June 19, 2010 2:00pm PST

San Mateo County Fair / Peninsula Festival

Four Bay Area novelists discuss their writing experiences and offer tips for aspiring fiction writers.

Teresa LeYung Ryan, author of Love Made of Heart. www.writingcoachteresa.com

Margaret Davis, author of Straight Down the Middle. www.margaretdavisbooks.com

Judith Marshall, author of Husbands May Come and Go but Friends are Forever.  www.judithmarshall.net

Jon Corey, author of A Plague of Scoundrels

Moderator:  Tory Hartmann  http://toryhartmann.com/

Bios

Teresa LeYung Ryan uses her novel Love Made of Heart to shed light on secret agonies suffered by mothers and daughters in domestic violence. She is also a writing career coach and creator of Build Your Name, Beat the Game: Be Happily Published.

Margaret Davis (Straight Down the Middle) is a sociologist who is also the author of Families in a Working World and A Practical Guide to Organization Design. Her second novel, Katie Carlisle, will be available soon.

Judith Marshall (Husbands May Come and Go but Friends are Forever) is the owner of Kelso Books, a publishing house. Husbands has been optioned for the screen and her second novel, Staying Afloat, will be available soon.

Jon Cory (A Plague of Scoundrels). Retirement enabled Jon to return to creative writing after a career in business. His debut novel received the 2009 Independent Publishers’ Silver Medal award for popular fiction.

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Coach Teresa here.

Can you relate to any one of these statements?

* Agents and acquisition editors say publishers prefer to work with authors who are already celebrities or have established platforms (i.e. means to build fan base). How do I compete?
* I am published. There aren’t enough hours in a day to write, let alone run around and network.
* I believe in my writing and I’m committed to building my career, but, my budget is limited.

Teresa LeYung Ryan says: “You are the expert of your experiences whether you’re writing fiction or non-fiction. When you make your name synonymous with the themes/subject matters/issues in your writing, you beat the game. You too can be happily published.

Coach Teresa’s 22-day playbook Build Your Name, Beat the Game: Be Happily Published has arrived.  $22

Grab a few writer-friends or ask your writers’ club to invite me and I will conduct:

“Major League Tryouts with Coach Teresa– Build Your Name, Beat the Game: Be Happily Published”

Cheering for all writers!

Coach Teresa

http://WritingCoachTeresa.com

Our mission statements seem to ripple outward, then circuitously flow back to us in order to give us reflection so that our messages take on larger and stronger ripples.

Dear Writers, Colleagues, Mentors, Friends, Family Members,    

Director Kathryn McCarty has asked me to ask you to help spread the word about this benefit performance.  Please use Facebook, Tweeter, your blogs, emails, etc. to extend the invitation to your friends who live in the SF Bay Area.  You have my gratitude.

On Monday April 12, 2010, 7:30pm  Let’s pack Craneway Pavilion in Richmond, CA to support V-Day & our communities at the one-night performance of Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues. In spite of an already packed schedule, Director Kathryn G. McCarty was compelled to take on this project–a fundraiser for Community Violence Solutions in response to the crime of last October when a former student of hers was gang-raped at Richmond High School.  Kathy said: “I am afraid we are kidding ourselves if we think violence, or apathy to violence just happens in Richmond.  It’s epidemic. .. It’s going to take the entire Bay Area Community to reach out.  We all have to take a stand in teaching young people how to think for themselves. There are alternatives to violence.”   “V” in V-Day stands for Victory, Valentine and Vagina. Tickets through  http://galateanplayers.com/ General Admission $40; Students & Seniors $25; buffet dinner & show $65  OR https://www.goldstar.com/ (for half-price general admission tickets). Tell Director Kathy (925) 676-5705 that cast member Teresa LeYung Ryan sent you (if GoldStar runs out of half-price tickets; Kathy can arrange for more half-price tickets). The show is produced by Galatean Players in association with Contra Costa College.

Craneway Pavilion is at 1414 Harbour Way South, in the Marina district of Richmond, CA, convenient to the 580 freeway.   www.craneway.com

Could you email me as well if you can attend on April 12, 2010?  I’d like to look for you after performance and personally thank you. I’ll be updating my website  http://WritingCoachTeresa.com with photos from rehearsals.

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung Ryan, author of Love Made of Heart
Here’s the backstory–the ripples . . . In April 2004 Poet and women’s advocate Shirley Itim Melo Phelps had invited me to Community Violence Solutions’ Evening of Awareness; Jackie Speier was the keynote speaker that night. The following year, Shirley, Cynthia Peterson and Rhonda James at CVS asked me to be their keynote speaker for Denim Day and Take Back the Night.

Yesterday April 3, 2010 after my first day of rehearsal of The Vagina Monologues, I came home and found photos from 2005 (when I had delivered  those 2 speeches for Community Violence Solutions).

I am honored to be included in the cast, all empowering women, guided by Director Kathryn G. McCarty who has reconnected me with Community Violence Solutions. In Eve Ensler’s play, the section about “what would your vagina wear?”  I’d say “ultra soft denim” to commemorate “Denim Day” which breaks the dress-code thus breaking the silence about sexual violence.

Teresa LeYung Ryan and Sergeant Sandra Douglas 2005 Denim Day

Here are exerpts from my April 27, 2005 speech at Pittsburg, CA.  (My friend, author Elisa Southard, and columnist Clara-Rae Genser were there that day in 2005, giving me moral support.)

“The Denim Day Campaign began in 1999 with the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (also known as CalCASA) and the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women as part of an international protest of an Italian High Court decision to overturn a rape conviction because the victim wore jeans.  I am now quoting from CalCASA:

The justices dismissed charges against a 45-year-old rape suspect because his 18-year-old victim was wearing jeans at the time of the attack. The Court blamed the victim for the rape, stating in their decision that because the victim’s jeans were so tight, she would have had to remove them herself.  The judgment sparked a worldwide outcry from those who understand coercion, threats and violence that come with the act of rape.  The unpopular verdict became an international symbol of myth-based injustice for sexual assault victims.

Women of the Italian Legislature protested the decision by wearing jeans.  As news of the decision spread, so did the protest movement. Over 120,000 people throughout Los Angeles participated on Denim Day last year.

We are wearing jeans today, along with Community Violence Solutions and the City of Pittsburg, because we want to put a stop to the kind of thinking that says: ‘A victim can prevent rape if she really wants to, including knocking a gun out of the attacker’s hand.’”

Here are some chilling statistics.  I am quoting Cynthia Peterson, director for the Rape Crisis Center at Community Violence Solutions:

Approximately 1 in 4 women and 1 in 10 men are raped in adulthood………

Under the age of 18, 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys are victims of sexual assault.

We are here today to say NO to blaming victims.  NO to keeping silent.

We are here today to honor Sergeant Sandra Douglas and the community.

We are here today to WEAR DENIM!

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On a sunny day in November 2009 I was running errands in Berkeley when a newspaper headline stopped me.  “15-Year-Old Girl Gang-Raped”  The last two words made me dizzy and sick.  I stood there, staring into the newsstand. Then the anger rose and I wanted the strength of ten Hercules, to be an avenger for the teenager.  Since that day I’ve been asking my angels to show me compassionate ways to help my community.

Last month, my friend Elisa Southard called Kathy McCarty on my behalf when she heard that Kathy was directing The Vagina Monologues.  Thank you, Elisa, for being there for me in 2005, for being here now as I am reminded that our mission statements do take on larger and stronger ripples.

More about Community Violence Solutions:    Since 1974, CVS has served as the umbrella organization for Rape Crisis of Contra Costa and Marin Counties, while providing a wide range of services to child and adult victims of sexual violence, their families and the community.  http://www.cvsolutions.org/

V-Day Until the Violence Stops is a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. V-Day is a catalyst that promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations. V-Day generates broader attention for the fight to stop violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM) and sexual slavery.  www.vday.org

I had seen The Vagina Monologues 10 years ago when playwright and children’s book author Kim McMillon invited me. Marga Gomez, Rita Moreno and Vicki Lawrence delivered powerful performances in San Francisco. I remember seeing Patrise, owner of Gaia Books of Berkeley, and her friends, wearing red boas for V-Day.

As an author and a community spirit, I, Teresa LeYung Ryan, use my novel Love Made of Heart to:
• shed light on stigmas suffered by immigrant women, men, and children
• advocate understanding of mental illness/traumas to the mind and spread compassion
• help survivors of violence find their own voices through writing
www.LoveMadeOfHeart.com

Kim McMillon’s “Writers’ Sanctuary” Blog Talk Radio Show Helps Writers Everywhere

Writers’ Sanctuary is sponsored by the Moe Green Poetry Hour

On Tuesday, March 16th 2010 , in celebration of Women’s History Month, Writers’ Sanctuary presents visionary author Mary Cox Garner; award-winning author Luisa Adams; author and writing career coach Teresa LeYung Ryan; and international plot consultant Martha Alderson. This program is aimed at people that have a love of words, a book in their head, and are seeking methods of putting their ideas on paper, and developing a story with the potential to become a publish book.

I had fun today!

Kim McMillon creates interesting programs for the literary community.  Her latest creation is “Writers’ Sanctuary” a blog talk radio show. Today she interviewed:

Mary Cox Garner, author of The Hidden Souls of Words:  Keys to Transformation Through the Power of Words http://www.hiddensoulsofwords.com/ In 1995, Mary Cox Garner established a foundation, HOPE, INC., which continues to address both the material and spiritual needs of children and their care givers. She lives with her husband in Washington, D.C., and has three grown sons.

Luisa Adams, author of Woven of Water http://rp-author.com/Adams/ Luisa Adams is an award winning writer, educator, workshop leader, and Licensed Brain Gym® Consultant. She is the mother of five, grandmother of eight, and resides with her husband, Dave, in San Mateo, California when not living by the enchanted lake.

Teresa LeYung Ryan, author of Love Made of Heart http://LoveMadeOfHeart.com/ As  community spirit, Teresa LeYung Ryan uses her novel to shed light on stigmas suffered by women, men, and children who have mental illness/traumas to the mind.  She speaks out for those who cannot speak for themselves. [ On the show today, I focused on what I had learned from writing Love Made of Heart, why I need to speak openly about mental illness and the toxic stigmas, Glenn Close's mission and http://www.bringchange2mind.org/]

Martha Alderson, M.A. is an international plot consultant for writers. Her clients include best-selling authors, New York editors, and Hollywood movie directors. She can help you, too.  http://www.blockbusterplots.com http://plotwhisperer.blogspot.com/ Plot tools that Martha has created include: Blockbuster Plots – Pure and Simple;  The Seven Essential Elements of Scene;  Scene Tracker Kit; DVDs for many genres; and free monthly Plot Tips eZine: http://www.blockbusterplots.com/contact.html

To listen to “Writers’ Sanctuary” blog talk radio show hosted by Kim McMillon, click on: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onword/2010/03/16/writers-sanctuary-hosted-by-kim-mcmillon Mary Cox Garner, Luisa Adams, Teresa LeYung Ryan, Martha Alderson shared insights and posed questions; the show was aired on March 16, 2010 11:30am-1:30pm and is now archived.

Teresa LeYung Ryan is also known as Writing Career Coach Teresa. She is the creator of Build Your Name, Beat the Game: Be Happily Published (a 22 minutes for 22 days workbook for writers to build their platforms before and after publication). Coach Teresa says: “You are THE expert of your experiences. Whether you’re a fiction or non-fiction author, make your name synonymous with the themes / subject matters / issues in your writing.”  http://WritingCoachTeresa.com

March 26, 2009

This evening, two colleagues and I went to 4 by 4 Plays produced by extraordinarily gifted and hard-working Kim McMillon. Powerful plays:  “Under Burning White Sky” by Boadiba; “The Murder of Mother Mike” by Claire Ortalda; “Jack In Ghost-Town” by Gerald Nicosia; “Bathroom Graffiti Queen” by Opal Palmer Adisa.  Carla Blank directed three of the four plays; Hal Gelb directed ” Jack In Ghost-Town”

From the 4 plays, respectively,  I learned something about the people of Haiti; related to the simple question “How are you?”; appreciated Chuck Heinrichs’s portrayal as the aging Jack Kerouac; touched by the messages of a homeless woman.

I am so glad I went. The actors all did a fine job.  Great fun seeing Teasha Gable (related to author Alice Wilson-Fried) and Ayodele “Wordslanger” Nzinga in lead roles in “The Murder of Mother Mike” and “Bathroom Graffiti Queen”

www.penoakland.org

Catch a performance!

Support literacy and theatres.

http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/