Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan here. My being a writing and platform-building coach is a dream job.  One email or one conversation (resource) flows into another resource and into another resource. Helpful experts lead us to other helpful experts.  I just received an email from Michele Caprario, colleague through Women’s National Book Association.

RE:IMAGE Film Festival 3 Delivers Inspiring Stories in Splash Magazine

by M. D. Caprario

The 3^rd Annual RE:IMAGE Film Festival took place at the historic Algonquin Arts Theatre in Manasquan, New Jersey this year. The event featured some 20 original film shorts vying for titles in three experience levels, and included film maker panels, guest speakers, and a special presentation of the inspiring Emilio Estevez / Martin Sheen collaboration “The Way.” The mission of RE:IMAGE is to support and encourage the next generation of visual storytellers to explore the glory of God and His creation, to persevere for justice and truth, and to uphold and defend the dignity of the human person.  Read more . . .

M. D. Caprario is a journalist, editor, and author, covering for the media books, film, television and the stage- and good people and things that make our World a better place. Reach her at   aol.com  Her User I.D. is APen2Paper

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Receiving the email from Michele Caprario and reading her article about RE:IMAGE‘s mission [ to uphold and defend the dignity of the human person] made me think of Winifred McCaffrey, author of Gule Wamkulu-The Big Dance.

The Title, Gule Wamkulu is taken from the name of a traditional dance–as a way of gaining favor with the spirit world–of the Chewa Tribe, located in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi.

Critics comments…

An intoxicating insight into the minds of the gifted and the culture of the Zambian people, Gule Wamkulu-The Big Dance is an influential piece of creative non-fiction written in a fresh, alluring style.

The author explores Zambia with Zambians…wanders Lusaka to feel and tell their story and that of their host Country with warmth and sensitivity.

A romantic, creative memoir, it reads like a novel.

Gule Wamkulu-The Big Dance is available through Author House.com, Amazon.com or by e-mailing your request to the author. Reach her at   aol.com  Her User I.D. is oonawin

http://winifredmccaffrey.com

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Thinking about Winifred, reading her blog and the mission [to persevere for justice and truth] got me thinking about the remarkable story I’m reading.

Maya Roads: One Woman’s Journey Among the People of the Rainforest by Mary Jo McConahay

Mary Jo McConahay’s GlobeWatch

http://mcconahayglobewatch.blogspot.com

http://www.mayaroads.com

My being a writing and platform-building coach is a dream job.  One email or one conversation (resource) flows into another resource and into another resource. Helpful experts lead us to other helpful experts.

This week we lost a generous and helpful expert.  She helped folks in the literary world connect with each other and have fun at the same time — that’s what Kathi Kamen Goldmark did. This post is dedicated to her.

Sincerely,

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan

Editor, Story Consultant, Platform-Building Coach

http://writingcoachteresa.com

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan has helped over 1,000 writers.

“Reach out, not stress out, to materialize your dearest dreams.”

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan here, wishing all writers new vitality to write and promote your work.

On the evening of May 2nd, 2012, I received my sister’s text-message “Nayati is home!” (kidnapped boy had been released, thank God!) I text’ed back “Get some rest” because I knew she must be  exhausted (joining forces and taking action to help find Nayati, conducting class, and comforting her own students).

That evening I got onto facebook to broadcast the news of Nayati’s safe return, called friends who don’t use facebook, and updated my webpage and blog posts. Thank you, Everyone, for your powerful prayers.

The next day (after a long sleep), I went about my day with a lighter heart.

So, I wrote cards (created by Rosemary C.) to Elaine M. (retired teacher), Luisa Adams (author of Woven of Water), Vicki Weiland (developmental editor of nonfiction books) and Lori Hope (author of Help Me Live)

I sent Bardi Rosman Koodrin scoring sheets for the “Immigrant Experience Writing Contest” which I created and sponsored. I understand that winners from all the writing contests through the San Mateo County Fair Literary Arts Division will be published in Carry the Light San Mateo County Fair Literary Anthology 2012.

And, I continue to read Mary Jo McConahay‘s mesmerizing memoir Maya Roads: One Woman’s Journey Among the People of the Rainforest.

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Linda Joy Myers made it possible for me (Teresa LeYung-Ryan) to attend Lynn Cook Henriksen's book launch at Joyce Turley's, and, when we arrived, I was tickled to see Patricia Morin and my dear friend Lynn Scott (right)!

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Another dear friend to me and my sister!  Jonathan was able to go to Norway Day Festival to cheer for my client Carla Danziger too.

Jonathan and Teresa LeYung-Ryan at Fort Mason Center for Norway Day in San Francisco. Cheers to Carla Danziger!

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authors Irene Berman and Carla Danziger talk to fans at Norway Day Festival--photo by Coach Teresa

Carla Danziger, Julie K. Rose, Astrid Karlsen Scott, Norman Ronneberg at Norway Day Festival

Karin Stahl with Carla Danziger author of Hidden Falls

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Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan with featured author Carla Danziger and journalist Cindy Warner at Norway Day Festival

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Jonathan and Teresa LeYung-Ryan cheer for authors Irene Levin Berman and Carla Danziger at Norway Day

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Italian French Baking Company in North Beach, San Francisco

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Teresa LeYung-Ryan and pal Michelle enjoy dining at North Beach San Francisco

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   I emailed my publicity sheet to colleague Laurel Anne Hill who is helping Bardi Rosman Koodrin.  “Teresa LeYung-Ryan and California Writers Club colleagues will be at Author Day June 16, 2012 at the San Mateo County Fair“

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My pal Elisa Sasa Southard (travel writer and certified tour director) called to schedule our next work session. Our conversation reminded me to post these links:

http://valerieleeworks.wordpress.com Valerie Lee is the author of The Jade Rubies. Here’s a book review by Robert A. Garfinkle of Valerie Lee’s book The Jade Rubies.

Jonathan Fung‘s film Hark is a powerful story that will raise awareness of human trafficking and change lives.

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking/index.html Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery. Victims of human trafficking are subjected to force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of commercial sex or forced labor. They are young children, teenagers, men and women. Trafficking in persons occurs throughout the world, including in the United States.

http://www.polarisproject.org   Polaris Project’s client services department has been providing survivors of human trafficking with the support necessary to rebuild lives and regain hope for the future.

NPR’s Talk of the Nation

Polaris Project’s Executive Director Bradley Myles discusses human trafficking in the United States, the NHTRC and what you can do if you suspect some one is being trafficked.

Here’s my webpage with links to The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, National Alliance on Mental Illness, Stamp Out Stigma, and BringChange2Mind.org

Sincerely,

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan says:
“Reach out, not stress out, to materialize your dearest dreams.”
http://writingcoachteresa.com
Coach Teresa has helped over 1,000 writers.

As editor/story consultant, Teresa LeYung-Ryan identifies themes, universal archetypes, front-story & back-story in clients’ manuscripts.

• As author of Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW, she says: “Whether you are writing fiction or nonfiction, make your name synonymous with the issues you write about.”
  

• Teresa has built her own platform happily. Her first novel Love Made of Heart is used in college composition classes; recommended by the California School Library Association and the California Reading Association; and archived at the San Francisco History Center

• Teresa’s 10-minute play Answer Me Now has been selected to be part of the 2012 Redwood Writers Play Festival. Tickets to June 29, 30 and July 1 performances will be on sale as of May 1st through the 6th Street Playhouse in Santa Rosa, CA

Coach Teresa’s Blog is abundant resources for you.

A long long time ago (or fifteen years ago in the publishing industry in this country), a writer could get by with talent and perseverance once he/she gets that first break.

How are you doing?  Are you thinking What is this being a writer all about?

Remember that delightful song “Don’t Worry Be Happy” (written and performed by Bobby McFerrin)?  If we are lucky enough to have writing instruments and not having to worry about coercion or persecution from any source, then, let’s don our writers’ hats.

Writing is art-form / mode of expression / choice of work-form, and, its partner is reading.  I wear my multiple hats too; I am:

• writing the second edition of my workbook Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days

• reading entries from the writing contest which I am sponsoring (“Immigrant Experience Writing Contest”)

• May 2, 2012 Best News!  Nayati is HOME!  http://www.mkis.edu.my/  has updates  

• April 29, 2012 (with heavy heart) writing emails, updating my website, blogging, posting on facebook—to broadcast call-for-help related to abduction of 12-year-old boy Nayati Shamelin Moodliar on April 27, 2012. Everyone, please go to Mont’Kiara International School’s website http://www.mkis.edu.my/ to get updates and their contact info, and, use your worldwide social media to help.  http://www.malaysiandigest.com/news/43429-international-school-student-abducted-this-morning.html   has YouTube video of Nayati Shamelin Moodliar’s parents’ plea to help find their son.  The horrifying truth is that it could take only a short time to transport a person out of a country. Please use your mighty circles on cyberspace–to circulate NAYATI MOODLIAR’s photo & URL http://www.mkis.edu.my/. Please use your mighty “facebook” voices & mouse clicks to help 12-year-old boy NAYATI MOODLIAR return safely to his parents.
  

  HELP find 12-year-old Nayati Shamelin Moodliar

  KIDNAPPED on 27 April 2012 on his way to school.
  NAYATI MOODLIAR
  from Mont’Kiara, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  12 years old, 1.5 m height, dark brown hair and eyes,
  mixed origin of Indian and Caucasian. http://www.mkis.edu.my/ Thank you!

• reading Mary Jo McConahay’s riveting memoir Maya Roads: One Woman’s Journey Among the People of the Rainforest

• writing to writers who attended my sessions or received coaching from me at 2012 San Francisco Writers Conference to let them know that I’m here to help them polish their manuscripts and build their writers’ platforms and fanbases.

• reading clients’ manuscripts and helping them identify their themes, universal archetypes, front-story and back-story. 

• writing coaching notes for platform-building clients.

Sincerely,

Coach Teresa

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan here to encourage you to wear your many hats as a writer — work on the craft and your platform at the same time.  Pursue more and more resources . . . by visiting my website and this blog on a regular basis.  If you are not in the vicinity of the events I blog about . . . please look at the names of the people who are referenced in my posts, go to their websites by clicking on the links I provide or your keying their names in a search engine.  The people  I blog about will lead you to their colleagues, and so on.  More ways to build your platform?  See the exercises in Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days.  I can help you polish your manuscript (identify themes, universal archetypes, front-story & back-story) AND coach you on platform-building – click here.

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Tues. Oct. 11, 2011 Please tell job-seeker friends Mary E. Knippel presents at SF Professional Career Network. Meet 9:00am at 390 Valencia St., SF. Presentation 9:30-11:00am.  I’ll be there to film Mentor Mary as she guides job-seekers on how to “Create Your Success Story”:

• Learn simple, creative ways to get noticed in a crowd
• Design your vision-board to achieve your dreams
• Convert your passions into valuable connections

If you can’t attend this Meet-Up, visit Mary’s site: http://yourwritingmentor.com/

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October 7 – 15, 2011

San Francisco’s Litquake Literary Festival

WNBA-SF Chapter Members Janine Kovac and Patricia V. Davis are on the Executive Committee! Who else from WNBA is involved?

LitCrawl San Francisco is October 15, 2011

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October 14, 2011, 7:00pm Mary Jo McConahay at Avid Reader, Davis, CA

October 16, 2011,  2:00pm Mary Jo McConahay at the Avid Reader at the Tower,  Sacramento, CA

Maya Roads: One Woman’s Journey Among the People of the Rainforest

http://www.mayaroads.com/mayaroads.com

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October 15, 2011 Ann Foster reminds us that Brooke Warner will be at California Writers Club–SF Peninsula Branch

Author Mary Jo McConahay says:

“I wrote Maya Roads after thirty years of traveling in the rainforest region of southern Mexico and northern Guatemala, not only as a journalist but also because I am deeply taken by all culture Maya, ancient and modern. I don’t avoid the violence that has ripped that part of the world with revolution and civil war, describing what I have seen; but I travel too in order to find the sacred Maya sites, and to wonder at the ancient cities that speak even in ruins.”

Maya Roads: One Woman’s Journey Among the People of the Rainforest

http://www.mayaroads.com
For book clubs write:   mayaroads@gmail.com

Saturday August 20, 2011 Mary Jo McConahay will be featured at Left Coast Writers at Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera, CA 94925

Talking about Maya Roads Aug. 27, 2011 on Peter Greenberg Worldwide  Tune in!  http://www.petergreenberg.com/

For a complete list of author’s appearances:

Sept. 7, 2011 7:30pm The BookSmith, 1644 Haight St, San Francisco, CA

Taos, NM – Sept. 10, 2011

Los Alamos, NM – Sept. 13, 2011

Albuquerque, NM – Sept. 15, 2011

Santa Fe, NM – Sept. 17, 2011

Washington D.C., DC 20009 – Sept. 27, 2011

Davis, CA 95616 – Oct. 14, 2011

Sacramento, CA 95818 – Oct. 16, 2011

Bates College, Lewiston, ME 04240 – Oct. date to be announced

Harvard University, Cambridge, MA – Oct. 26, 2011

University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ – Nov. 16, 2011

Harvard Club, Tucson, AZ – Nov. 17, 2011, 12:00 noon

Holy Trinity Church, Tucson, AZ – Nov. 17, 2011, 7:00pm

http://www.mayaroads.com/mayaroads.com/Author_Appearances.html

“Every once in a while I stumble upon a book that is so beautifully written and infused with so much intelligence and heart that it leaves an indelible mark on me. Mary Jo McConahay’s Maya Roads is such a book. In its hungry passion and wide-eyed wonder, it’s an extraordinary literary journey and a moving testament to a region and a life.” —Don George, National Geographic Traveler, Trip Lit blog

“From the moment she steps into the deep Mexican jungle, you will follow her anywhere.”

Mary Jo McConahay emailed me and Mary E. Knippel, telling us that she cannot attend the Women’s National Book Association-San Francisco Chapter Meet-Up at the main library on Thursday, August 4, 2011, 6:00-7:30pm because she  will be launching her book Maya Roads: One Woman’s Journey Among the People of the Rainforest at the World Affairs Council that day, at exactly the same time!   I will miss you, Mary Jo, but, I am so happy for you and Maya Roads. I’ll be at your event on August 20 for Left Coast Writers at Book Passage in Corte Madera, CA.

22-Day Platform-Building Coach Teresa LeYung Ryan helps authors with their pitches at "Speed Dating with Agents & Acquisition Editors" at WNBA's signature event

Andria Wagner
Barbara Brunetti
Belinda “Bee” Hylinski
Brittany Pettibone
Nicole Pettibone
Danny Garon
Diana Franco
Jennifer Hewitt
Joan Steidinger
Kimber Simpkins
Rasa Gustaitis
Ronnie Lovler

How to Pitch a Novel, Memoir, Narrative Nonfiction, or How-To Book to Agents and Acquisition Editors

Saturday March 26, 2011

This morning colleague Jane Glendinning and I had a chance to catch up since October last year when I met the delightful writers (and saw Sarah Clark!) at California Writers Club Berkeley Branch.

Jane and I had shared  an adventure when Oakland public libraries were in danger of severe budget cuts.  This morning 7:40am our walk from BART Embarcadero station to Sinbad’s Restaurant was another adventure in San Francisco.  Rain. Puddles.  We were on our way to help authors pitch their projects at the WNBA signature event “Meet the Agents & Acquisition Editors”

The reward was working with fellow members at Women’s National Book Association. Jane Glendinning and Birgit Soyka helped Meet-the-Agents Event Chair Judith Marshall and  Chapter President Lynn Henriksen set up while Treasurer Christopher Payne and beloved Vicki Weiland greeted attendees at registration.  VP Kate Britton had worked miracles pulling online registration data.  Mary Jo McConahay took photos (We are so happy for Mary Jo. Two years ago at this same event, Mary Jo met agent Andy Ross.  Her book, Maya Roads, will be published on August 1, 2011.)

Tanya Egan Gibson, Mary E. Knippel and yours truly Teresa LeYung Ryan helped authors fine-tune their pitches.

Karen Folger Jacobs & Diane LeBow I always get a kick seeing you two power-women.

Talking Tagline Coach Elisa Southard couldn’t be there because she was at the Bay Area Travel Writing planning retreat. Diane LeBow also headed to that meeting after the pitch fest.

Mathilde Schmidt and Carla Danziger – great seeing you both.   I met new member Janine Kovac.  Welcome aboard!

Valerie Mihalache, it was wonderful seeing you.

The 11 agents/acquisition editors/publishers included WNBA members Elizabeth Pomada and Michael Larsen (who are co-founders of San Francisco Writers Conference and Writing for Change Conference), Laurie McLean, Jennifer Joseph, Amy Burkhardt, Andy Ross, Brooke Warner, Georgia Hughes, Gordon Warnock, Jeanette Perez, and Peter Beren!

Zoe Fitzgerald Carter, author of Imperfect Endings, gifted us with a candid talk about her publishing journal, the folks who helped her share her remarkable story with readers, and what she’s working on now.

Coach Teresa LeYung Ryan and Agent Laurie McLean

Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW is available through Amazon.  Read success stories (on Amazon) from writers who have finished the 22-day workbook I created to help fiction and nonfiction authors gain a competitive edge.  Whether you want to be your own publisher or sell rights to another publisher, attract readers and more readers now!  http://writingcoachteresa.com

http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/is-there-a-book-to-help-a-writer-build-platform-and-fanbase/