Dear Readers,

I wish you total wellness.

Yesterday – after receiving treatment from Stephanie Wilger, NC and two days after receiving treatment from Dr. Jae Reed, DC (treatments that get to the source of illness) -  I refreshed the banner of my blog to read:

“Story Consultant Teresa Jade LeYung’s Blog -  on Wellness, Themes, Archetypes”

I celebrate the Wellness Journey!

I celebrate dear friend / colleague Mary E. Knippel (“MEK”)!

Yesterday, a blog post written by MEK touched me deeply.

In Mary E. Knippel’s blog post of October 9, 2023 “An Unlikely Gift” Mary says: “… That’s how breast cancer is the gift that keeps on giving for me. I’ve learned to seize the day and reach for my dreams.”

https://www.maryeknippel.com/b/an-unlikely-gift

lovely_Mary_E_Knippel_with_her_beautiful_book_photo_by_Teresa_Jade_LeYung

I wish Mary (“MEK”) total wellness and abundant happiness!

Author / Writing Mentor / Speaker / Wise Woman Mary E. Knippel says:

“My clients come to me when they are overwhelmed about where to begin, what to say and how to make sense of the life-changing message they know they are here to deliver. I believe passionately everyone has a soul story of hope that the world needs to hear. I help my clients polish their words until their message sparkles and shines as a beacon of hope for those in search of a solution contained in my clients’ messages.”
https://www.maryeknippel.com/

When is Mary’s next Wise Woman Wisdom Retreat?  https://www.maryeknippel.com/retreat

Mary’s first book - The Secret Artist – Give Yourself Permission to Let Your Creativity Shine

Mary’s newest book – Written in Her Own Words: Wise Woman Wisdom

written by Mary E. Knippel, Dr. Amba Tobin, Clare D’Agostino, Eme McAnam, Ingrid Dick, Laura Ann Garris, Rebekah Lara, Rita Aguilar, Stacy G. Fisher, Tina Palmgren

Wishing dear MEK and You dear Reader total wellness and abundant happiness!

Sincerely,

photo of Teresa by MEK

Thank you, writer and poet Michelle Wing, for inviting me to the “My Writing Process” blog tour. Hearty congratulations to you and your collection of poetry, Body on the Wall, debuted just yesterday on May 15, 2014!  Everyone, please check out Michelle’s blog www.thepoemwhisperer.com  (about finding the words!), and http://michellewing.com/ . And, here’s her post http://thepoemwhisperer.com/my-writing-process-blog-tour/

Michelle Wing

Author & 22-Day Writing Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan says: "Work on your craft and build your name at the same time, with ease."--photo by author Lynn Scott

I am delighted to be on this blog tour. My turn to answer the 4 questions about my writing process.

1)      “What are you working on?” 

Teresa LeYung-Ryan:   I’m smiling as I answer this question.  I am working on two projects.  A prescriptive nonfiction project – Build Your Writing Life In 22 Days (the second workbook in my 22-Day series); and a narrative nonfiction project – I’m actually writing my first memoir.  No more hiding behind the protagonist in my first novel Love Made of Heart: a Mother’s Mental Illness Forges Forgiveness in Daughter Ruby.  By the way . . . the working title of my memoir is Moon Crone Driving Without a Steering Wheel: How this Writer Journeyed Through Early Menopause, Depression, and Love.

Looking at my own blog posts, I see that the muse for my memoir first appeared in October 2012:

http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/coach-teresa-says-please-do-not-give-up-on-yourself-and-your-writing/

http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/authorwriting-coach-teresa-leyung-ryan-says-talking-about-depression-and-mental-illness-does-not-scare-me-anymore/

http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/author-teresa-leyung-ryan-says-transforming-depression-into-my-writers-muse/

http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/helpful-websites-resources-for-mental-health-mental-illness-depression/

2)      How does your work differ from others of its genre? 

Teresa LeYung-Ryan:   There must be other authors who have written/are writing about being a writer, surviving menopause, and living with depression. Probably my work carries a distinctive voice because I am a female Chinese-American immigrant from Hong Kong with these experiences  – lived with a beautiful mother who suffered mental illness and the cruel stigmas; escaped from violence when I was a young woman; worked in a government agency, a public agency, as well as in the private sector; blessed with a caring community of extended family members, colleagues and friends; use all my literary works (fiction and nonfiction) to inspire adult-children of mentally-ill parents to speak openly about the stigmas and find resources for their loved ones AND to speak out against injustice and violent behavior.

3)      Why do you write the subject matters you write about? 

Teresa LeYung-Ryan:   How can I not write about mental illness, stigmas, rejection, joys and sorrows, the immigrant experience, poverty, and saying NO to everyday meanness, injustice, and violence?  The act of writing is the way I express my memories, observations and intentions.  An artist might employ paint, canvas, wood, and metal to do her/his work. I am a writer; therefore I employ words (choice and placement of words) to do mine.

4) What is your writing process? 

Teresa LeYung-Ryan:   As I tell my friends . . . I am pregnant with a memoir.  I write every day.  At bus stops, on public transportation, in waiting rooms (including jury assembly room). I journal to track authentic details, sometimes at the beginning of the day, sometimes at the end.  With the help of Martha Alderson and her Blockbuster Plots and Plot Whisperer books, I am replotting my story. I’ve begun writing scenes and rereading memoirs (including Woven of Water by Luisa Adams)  [ A note to self and all memoirists:  when writing nonfiction, we cannot change the sequence of events for dramatic effect; we cannot embellish or diminish the details; if we do not follow these rules, then we cannot label our work nonfiction. ]

Also, I write editorial memos for manuscript clients and coaching notes for my fanbase-building clients.  I blog as the 22-Day Writing and Platform and Fanbase-Building Coach Teresa. http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/  I love the act of composing/rewriting/restructuring/more rewriting –  these practices help me to really “reach out, not stress out.”  http://writingcoachTeresa.com

And, I rewrite/update my presentations.  For example, on June 10, 2014, 4:00-5:00om I’ll be in California at the San Mateo County Fair’s Literary Arts Stage  as a feature guest on “3 Short Plays with 3 Playwrights hosted by Darlene Frank” with the other two feature guests Ollie Mae Trost Welch and David Hirzel. I’ll be performing “What Am I Going to Do Now?” which is a new monologue for my “Talking to My Dead Mom” series.

Then on Saturday, June 21, 2014  I morph into Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan when I present “Build/Fortify Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase” at California Writers Club – Tri-Valley Branch in Pleasanton, California.

Soon, I shall be working on presentations for the San Francisco Writers Conference!

Please click here for more info about my events. Please click here for resources for writers – including links to California Writers Club and Women’s National Book Association.

My darling friends/colleagues give me writing retreats – I get so much done when I’m with dear hearts, especially the past two years with Elisa Sasa Southard, Margie Yee Webb, Vicki Weiland, Mary E. Knippel, and Lynn Scott. Thank you writing-sisters!

Also, in June, I’ll be with California Writers’ Club colleagues/mentors including Winifred McCaffrey, Margaret Davis, Diane Warner, Darlene Frank, Bardi Rosman Koodrin, Laurel Anne Hill, Christopher Wachlin (president of SF Peninsula Branch), Mary E. Knippel, and thirty other talented writers. Click here for schedule of literary events with CWC members at the San Mateo County Fair.

Click here for a list of my appearances/workshops (including June 10, 2014 at San Mateo County Fair’s Literary Arts Stage;  June 21, 2014 at California Writers’ Club Tri-Valley Branch in Pleasanton, CA)

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Now I pass the torch to two fabulous colleagues – Mary E. Knippel and Yolande Barial – who will be on the “My Writing Process” blog tour, so, please visit them at their blogs on and after Friday, May 23, 2014.

Yolande Barial

Yolande Barial is the proud mother of three remarkable children. She is known as the sensually spiritual poet/writer/blogger and columnist, and, has performed spoken word in venues (including Starbucks) throughout the SF-Oakland Bay Area from 2003 to present. Yolande is a contributing author in 3 anthologies – If Women Ruled the World; Oakland’s Neighborhoods; More of Life’s Spices: Seasoned Sistahs Keepin’ It Real.  Also, she is playwright and director of “Images of the King: A Child’s Dream” (a children’s play), a Red Room author, and contributor to the “Stockton Motherhood” column for Examiner.com. Yolande’s column “Mothers Corner” appears monthly in the Tracy Press newspaper. Visit Yolande Barial’s blog http://just-a-mom.us/

*********************************

Mary E. Knippel

Mary E. Knippel, author, speaker and writing mentor, is fiercely committed to guiding aspiring authors and entrepreneurs to polish their words so that they sparkle and shine; her clients come to her to get help when they feel paralyzed about where to begin, what to say, and how to make sense of the life-changing messages. A journal writer since the age of eleven, Mary knows the enormous power of the written word. As a two-time breast cancer survivor, she herself relied on writing in her own recovery. Her upcoming book, The Secret Artist: Give Yourself Permission to Let Your Creativity Shine, chronicles the healing results. Check out her online writing classes, writing tips, workshops, upcoming book, and blog http://yourwritingmentor.com

Sincerely,

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan is the author of Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW. Click here for print edition. Click here for Kindle edition. “Reach out, not stress out.”

Teresa’s novel Love Made of Heart: a Mother’s Mental Illness Forges Forgiveness in Daughter Ruby is used in college courses and archived at the San Francisco History Center.

Subscribe to  “Coach Teresa’s blog” Click here to start.

Tool #1   Grounding Reader with the four Ws (Who? When? Where? What?) “What does Protagonist want?” (in prescriptive nonfiction “What does Reader need?”)

Tool #2   Hooking Reader from first page to last with core themes. 

Tool #3     In Fiction & Narrative Nonfiction (both genres are forms of  “story-telling”) — Who are your protagonist, antagonist(s), and other archetypes?

Fiction:

The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler

Lost In Yonkers – a play by Neil Simon

Wordsworth! Stop the Bulldozer! children’s picture book by Frances Kawugawa

Love Made of Heart – mother-daughter novel by Teresa LeYung-Ryan

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Charlotte’s Web – a children’s classic by E. B. White

Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts

Husbands May Come and Go but Friends are Forever by Judith Marshall

Narrative Nonfiction:

Woven of Water by Luisa Adams

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

The Secret Artist – Give Yourself Permission to Let Your Creativity Shine! by Mary E. Knippel

The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston

Wisdom Has a Voice: Every Daughter’s Memories of Mother – anthology edited by Kate Farrell

If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit by Brenda Ueland

A Joyful Encounter: My Mother, My Alzheimer Clients, and Me by Lynn Scott

A Dreamer’s Guide to Cities and Streams (poetry) by Joan Gelfand

Prescriptive Nonfiction:

Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn

Cat Mulan’s Mindful Musings: Insight and Inspiration for a Wonderful Life – photo/gift book by Margie Yee Webb

Break Through the Noise: 9 Tools to Propel Your Marketing Message by Elisa Sasa Southard

My Dreams: A Simple Guide to Dream Interpretation by Angie Choi

Help Me Live: 20 Things People with Cancer Want You to Know by Lori Hope

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

The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master by Martha Alderson

TellTale Souls Writing the Mother Memoir: How To Tap Memory and Write Your Story Capturing Character & Spirit by Lynn Cook Henriksen

Correct Me If I’m Wrong: Getting Your Grammar, Punctuation, and Word Usage Right!  by Arlene Miller

Social Media Just for Writers: The Best Online Marketing Tips for Selling Your Books by Frances Caballo

The Book Reviewer Yellow Pages: A Book Promotion Reference Guide for Authors and Small Press Publishers  by Christine Pinheiro  e-book published by http://www.stepbystepselfpublishing.net

How to Write a Book Proposal by Michael Larsen

The Power of Memoir by Linda Joy Myers

Marriage Meeting Starter Kit  by Marcia Naomi Berger

Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach

The Secret Artist – Give Yourself Permission to Let Your Creativity Shine! by Mary E. Knippel

Also, please refer to the SFWC list of presenters

Mary E. Knippel & Teresa LeYung-Ryan teach 'Be Your Own Editor' at SFWC - photo by Margie Yee Webb

Free Webinars –   register with https://www.authorlearningcenter.com

3 Top Tools for Editing Your Manuscript After You’ve Written Your First Draft  with Coach Teresa

·         April 10, 2013  at 10:30am Pacific Time / 1:30pm Eastern Time

·         April 25, 2013  at 4:30pm Pacific Time /  7:30pm Eastern Time

Writing Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan cares about helping fiction and nonfiction writers build their platforms and work on their craft simultaneously with ease.  She says: “Wear the dual hats as promoter and writer and be happily published. Reach out, not stress out, to materialize your dearest dreams.”

http://writingcoachTeresa.com

Writing Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan here . . .  honored to be invited to present at the San Francisco Writers Conference again.   I will get to work with talented colleagues and friends, ten years in a row!

Friday Feb. 15, 2013  9:00-9:45am

“GETTING TO FIRST BASE BY BUILDING YOUR FANBASE”

presented by:  Writing Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan, Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase in 22 Days  and  Advisory Board Member Elisa “Sasa” Southard, Break Through the Noise: 9 Tools to Propel Your Marketing Message (free balloons in this interactive session)

Sunday Feb. 17, 2013  10:00-10:45am

“BE YOUR OWN EDITOR:  Ensuring Agents and Editors Love Your Work”

presented by:  Writing Coach/Manuscript Consultant Teresa LeYung-Ryan, Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase in 22 Days;  Love Made of Heart  and Your-Writing-Mentor Mary E. Knippel, The Secret Artist: Give Yourself Permission to Let Your Creativity Shine!

Also, I will be one of the independent editors, giving one-on-one consultation, on:

Friday  11:00am — 11:50am; Friday   2:00pm  –  3:30 or 3:40pm

Saturday  11:00am — 11:50am

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  The 10th Anniversary SFWC February 14-17 (Thursday through Sunday), 2013 !

Goosebumps author R.L. Stine offers a free talk for his young fans

on February 16^th at the 2013 San Francisco Writers Conference

While he is in town as a keynoter for the 2013 San Francisco Writers Conference, the shadowy R.L. Stine will offer a frightfully delightful session for his young fans. We promise there is nothing to fear from the master of horror. It all begins promptly at 10 a.m. on February 16^th at the Mark Hopkins Hotel. His talk is free, but rules must be followed! (See below.)

            Mr. Stine is best known as the author of the popular Goosebumps series of books for young readers. He has sold over 350 million books, making him one of the best-selling children’s authors in history. In fact, he was named the #1 best-selling author in America by USA Today for three straight years outselling John Grisham, Stephen King and Tom Clancy.

The FREE session for students during the SFWC is made possible by the San Francisco Writers Conference which is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, the InterContinental Mark Hopkins and the many companies and individuals who are sponsors of the 2013 San Francisco Writers Conference.

RULES for the R.L. STINE session during the 2013 San Francisco Writers Conference:

The event starts PROMPTLY at 10 a.m. at the Mark Hopkins Hotel on Saturday, February 16^th, 2013. The session is open to students in 3rd to 8th grade and is limited to the first 200 confirmed RSVPs.

You MUST RSVP following these rules or something bad may happen (perhaps you won’t get in!)   Go to www.SFWriters.org.  Click on ‘Register Here for R.L. Stine’ option on the right side of the homepage.  Fill out the form.  List all the students who will be attending in the box provided. Submit the form.  A thank you page will appear.  We suggest you bring a copy of the thank you page with you.

Mandatory:  If you are bringing a group, there must be 1 adult per 10 children.

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Who else will be helping writers at the 2013 San Francisco Writers Conference?

Published authors and publishing experts who generously volunteer their time! Click here to see who they are!

Members from Women’s National Book Association!

Members from California Writers Club!

Sincerely,

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan

“Reach out, not stress out, to materialize your dearest dreams.”   http://writingcoachteresa.com

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan on CBS Bay Sunday with Host Frank Mallicoat
Writers’ Platform & Fanbase-Building Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryansays:

Click here to read the interview with Coach Teresa for StepByStepPublishing

As coach and 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; available at public libraries; recommended by the CA School Library Association and the CA Reading Association; and archived at the San Francisco History Center. Love Made of Heart and her short play Answer Me Now carry the themes closest to her heart:  mother-daughter relationship; Chinese-American immigrant experience; helping adult-children (of mentally-ill parents) speak openly about the stigmas and find resources for their loved ones.

• Please visit Coach Teresa’s Events Page

• http://WritingCoachTeresa.com  Click on “Coach Teresa’s Blog”
• http://www.facebook.com/Teresa.LeYung.Ryan
• http://www.youtube.com/teresaleyung