Posts Tagged ‘readers’

What’s Writing Career Coach Teresa’s Mantra for Herself in 2011?

More work.  Real Simple.  Life made easier. Live my best life.  Instant inspiration.

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

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

Writing Career Coach Teresa LeYung Ryan happy with her 2011 vision board collage--photo by Creativity Mentor Mary E. Knippel

The day after I created my vision board/collage at Mary’s workshop, I started developing my next workbook for writers!

Thank you so much, Creativity Mentor Mary E. Knippel!

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung Ryan  on facebook!
Author / Writing Career Coach / Manuscript Consultant / Publisher

http://writingcoachteresa.com

Please click on the title bar of this post to see the comment box so that you can tell me, all my fans and your fans about the websites that showcase your favorite celebrity and his/her messages and how those messages relate to you.

Day 17 of 22 – Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days

Cheers from Coach Teresa LeYung Ryan

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

http://writingcoachteresa.com

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

Please click on the title bar of this post to see the comment box so that you can tell me, all my fans and your fans  3 or more book titles with authors’ names in your bibliography (whether you write fiction or non-fiction).

Day 11 of 22 – Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days

Cheers from Coach Teresa LeYung Ryan

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

http://writingcoachteresa.com

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

Please click on the title bar of this post to see the comment box so that you can tell me, all my fans and your fans what “tags” you came up with for yourself and your literary works.

Day 5 of 22 – Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days

What tags (keywords and phrases) would help your fans find you and your writings?

Cheers from Coach Teresa LeYung Ryan

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

http://writingcoachteresa.com

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

Writing Conference and Workshops for Writers in California in February 2011

San Francisco Writers Conference February 18-20, 2011

http://sfwriters.org/

I, Teresa LeYung Ryan, will be presenting with Elisa Southard at this exciting conference. On Friday, February 18, 2011, 9:00am we’ll kick off the conference with our signature session (interactive too) “Get a Grip: Be Your Own Best Promoter”

Talking Tagline Coach Elisa Southard & Writing Career Coach Teresa LeYung Ryan

Also, I will be offering one-on-one consultation as a manuscript consultant / book doctor and writing career coach.

See you there!

Teresa LeYung Ryan uses her workbook BUILD YOUR WRITER’S PLATFORM & FANBASE IN 22 DAYS: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW to help writers gain a competitive edge.  She uses her novelLOVE MADE OF HEART to inspire adult-children of mentally-ill parents to speak openly about the stigmas that their parents suffer. Also, Teresa is a manuscript consultant; she likes quirky and feisty protagonists. Resources at her website & blog http://writingcoachteresa.com

February 17 and 21, 2011 Check out the pre-conference and post-conference workshops too!  http://sfwriters.org/

Another Magical Week for Writing Career Coach Teresa

Today is Tuesday, February 1, 2011

I received the proof of my workbook BUILD YOUR WRITER’S PLATFORM & FANBASE IN 22 DAYS: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW from CreateSpace and it looks beautiful!  As soon as I review the proof closely, I will authorize CreateSpace to start distributions of the physical book and make the ebook available through Kindle, iPad, iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Mac, and PC. Thank you, CreateSpace staff and CreateSpace “Community” !  Thank you, graphic designer Gail Cao Mazhari, for making the front cover, back cover, and spine so beautiful !!!!

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After attending Mary E. Knippel‘s remarkably motivating workshop (creating my 2011 vision board/collage) on Sunday and spending time with the other women (learning something from each one of them), I started mapping out my next workbook BUILD YOUR WRITING LIFE IN 22 DAYS:  For Fiction & Narrative Non-Fiction Writers. Thank you so much, Creativity Coach Mary!

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My dear friend Chandra Garsson, the exquisite artist/filmmaker, has been announcing on facebook:

Jan. 31, 2011, 2:22pm  “Less is definitely more. It takes hours to whittle down a minute to a few seconds toward a three minute film about my friend Teresa LeYung Ryan. I am now at 6 minutes, 39 seconds and I’m thinking maaaaaybe 4-5 minutes.”

Jan. 31, 2011, 6:06pm  “I’ve got the film down to 5 minutes, 17 seconds, and because I have a tendency yo love any creative work I do, I’m SO tempted not to edit any more. But I know it should be shorter.”

Feb. 1, 2011, am  “4 minutes 56 seconds, and well worth the watch. Long on time, but very lively. It had to be both, it’s Teresa, she’s worth it. Soon in a theater near you— well— in your computer anyway.”

Feb. 1, 2011, pm  “Film is just under five minutes, I’m happy. I can’t imagine what Teresa will think, seeing herself presented through my eyes.”

Here’s my response:

Dear Chandra, I thought I was going to be “water boy” schlepping stuff while you film people in The City. Your wanting to make me the subject of one of your films is already the best gift. Everything else is icing on the cake. You add “magic” to all you do. You had painted my Love Made of Heart bookcase . . . and now a film about goofy me–I can’t wait to see it. I thank you. Humbly, Teresa

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Teresa LeYung Ryan uses her workbook BUILD YOUR WRITER’S PLATFORM & FANBASE IN 22 DAYS: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW to help writers gain a competitive edge.  She uses her novel LOVE MADE OF HEART to inspire adult-children of mentally-ill parents to speak openly about the stigmas that their parents suffer. Also, Teresa is a manuscript consultant; she likes quirky and feisty protagonists. Resources at her website & blog http://writingcoachteresa.com

When & Where Is Pen Oakland Josephine Miles 2010 Literary Awards?
Thanks to Bookman Beattie's blog, here's the answer:

The 20th Annual PEN Oakland-Josephine Miles National Literary Awards will take place on Saturday, December 11, 2010, at the Oakland Public Library, Rockridge Branch, 5366 College Avenue–from 2 to 5 p.m.

I, Teresa LeYung Ryan (manuscript consultant & writing career coach), will be there with my pal Kim McMillon (playwright and radio show producer).

The ceremony, which will be followed by a reception and book signings, is free and open to the public. Former state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata will be the keynote speaker.

PEN Oakland, founded in 1989, is a chapter of PEN International, founded in 1921.
Dubbed “the blue collar PEN” by the New York Times, PEN Oakland annually sponsors the PEN Oakland-Josephine Miles Book Awards, named for the late poet and faculty member of U.C. Berkeley’s English Department. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the awards.
Each year PEN Oakland presents an award to outstanding book titles published in the previous year.

For names and book titles of the 2010 PEN Oakland-Josephine Miles Literary Award winners:

http://beattiesbookblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/pen-oakland-20th-annual-2010-literary.html

See you there!

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung Ryan

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.”  

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/