Teresa LeYung-Ryan

Posts Tagged ‘Writing Coach Teresa’

I was visiting my Cyberspace Coach Linda Lee’s website http://askmepc-webdesign.com/ and came across photos of her at WordCamp 2009 San Francisco with buddy Rebecca Martin of Dear Jane http://www.dearjane.info/ and Matthew Mullenweg who is the founding developer of WordPress. On the “About Matthew Mullenweg” page http://ma.tt/about/ Matt says: “WordPress, the blogging software that runs much of this site and millions of other sites around the world. The website says WordPress is ‘a state-of-the-art semantic personal publishing platform’ but more importantly WordPress is a part of who I am. Like eating, breathing, music, I can’t not work on WordPress. The project touches a lot of people, something I’ve recently begun to appreciate. I consider myself very lucky to be able to work on something I love so much.”
Today is his birthday. Happy Birthday, Matt! Thanks for developing such a useful program http://wordpress.com–especially for my clients, my colleagues, and me–writers who need a place to build our platforms (our names/fan base) while we write our books.

Back to Linda Lee http://askmepc-webdesign.com/. Special cheers to Linda Lee who “prodded” me to blog over 2 years ago. It wasn’t until November 2008 when her advice finally sunk in; I guess yours truly needed to hear something 7 times over a year. That same month Martha Alderson asked me to comment https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31672110&postID=6520769433476476003 and share my expertise about building a platform/promoting novels; then Nina Amir  http://writenonfictioninnovember.wordpress.com/2008/11/16/how-to-make-your-manuscript-compelling/ asked me to be a guest-blogger on “How to Make Your Manuscript Compelling” and so I wrote “How to Look at Your Manuscript with an Editor’s Lens”

Nowadays, I look forward to blogging–sharing my observations with writers who want to build their names and have fun doing it.  Thanks, Coach Linda!

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung Ryan

http://WritingCoachTeresa.com

This post is dedicated to the writers who have completed the work in the guide Build Your Name, Beat the Game: Be Happily Published.  My heart feels light and joy for you. I celebrate you.  I invite you to sign in the “Build Your Name Hall of Fame” with your acceptance speech [ click on the title of this post and scroll down to get the comment boxes ] by:

1. Introducing yourself with your new mission statement.
2. Telling us the top 3 exercises from the guide that were most useful to you.
3. Giving us a glimpse into your hopes and dreams for your illustrious writing career.

After you sign in the Hall of Fame, do your writer-friends a favor; tell them about the guide and how they can build their names too.  You’re on your way to other endeavors, and, because you’ve developed a new wonderful habit, every project you touch will benefit from your new energy.

I am available for individual coaching and group coaching. To E-mail me, key in WritingcoachTeresa then @, then Gmail.com In the subject line–show your full name and purpose of your e-mail.

May your work be read by many and preserved in libraries!

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung Ryan

“Make your name synonymous with the themes/subject matters/issues you write about.”

I’ve been hearing about Smart Cookies on the radio, so, I Googled “Smart Cookies”

http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/money/debt/slideshow1_ss_showus

Oprah.com webpage says: [Last year, 24-year-old Katie Dunsworth decided it was time for her and her friends to stop spending, start saving and get richer. Katie saw Oprah's Debt Diet show and decided to take action. The show motivated Katie and four friends to start a money group and get smart about their spending, saving and investing. They call themselves the Smart Cookies. As a team, the women set up weekly meetings, confess their debt, make a plan to "pay it down" and start investing. "Really the one thing that came across is we need to be held accountable," Katie says.]

In my professional life, I belong to a smart group too. Smart woman Linda Lee and I, Writing-Career Coach Teresa LeYung Ryan, invited 5 colleagues and formed a master-mind group.  Each woman had specific goals, different interests, but we had one thing in common–we were all writers. At our first meeting on March 29, 2008, we set up rules, goals and commitments, and pledged to support each member of the group as well as the group as a whole. 7 women.  7 colleagues.  We called ourselves the Savvy Seven and met once a month.

Linda Lee, founder of Smart Women Stupid Computers http://smartwomenstupidcomputers.com/ and AskMePc  http://askmepc.com/

Teresa LeYung Ryan, Writing-Career Coach Teresa http://writingcoachteresa.com http://writingcoachteresawordpress.com http://www.LoveMadeOfHeart.com/

Mary E. Knippel, Creativity Mentor http://openuptoyourcreativity.com/

Martha Alderson, International Plot Consultant  http://blockbusterplots.com/

Luisa Adams, award-winning writer, author of Woven of Water http://www.rp-author.com/Adams/

Lori Noack, founder of Lori Noack Arts Management. She’d be a super executive director for any organization.

Rebecca Martin, founder of Dear Jane, a Career Advisement Company http://www.dearjane.info/

Each member of Savvy Seven has accomplished her goals & commitments; each one is pursuing new dreams.  March 2010 will be our second anniversary.

Motoko Rich’s article in The New York Times got me running to my bookshelves to look for my copy of The Portable Jung that was edited by Joseph Campbell. Jung’s text was translated by R.F.C. Hull.

On the same shelf is The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler–this book (about archetypes and stages of the hero’s journey) is one of the secret tools in my Writer’s Tool Box.

When I edit a manuscript, I always look for ways to help my client identify the archetypes in his/her story.  Memorable characters make for a good read.

Rich says that The Red Book is considered the Holy Grail by many Jungians. Speaking of the Holy Grail, I saw Angela Berquist, Ph.D. and her husband Michael Betts at the California Writers Club party in San Mateo this month.  Angela is the author of The Grail Reclaimed: A New View of An Old Symbol.

Motoko Rich’s article in The New York Times “Dreamy Sales of Jung Book Stir Analysis”
Published: December 24, 2009

Excerpts from Motoko Rich's article "Dreamy Sales of Jung Book Stir Analysis" in The New York Times

Excerpts from the article:
As online and big-box retailers hustle to outdo themselves in discounts, “The Red Book” by Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology, has surprised booksellers and its publisher, W. W. Norton & Company, by bucking the economy and becoming difficult, and in some cases impossible, to find in bookstores around the country.

“We were absolutely amazed,” said Elaine Petrocelli, an owner of Book Passage, an independent company with bookstores in San Francisco and suburban Corte Madera, Calif. “Here you have a $195 book in what’s supposed to be a bad time, and we have many, many orders for it. I think we have over 20 orders for it.”

The book is considered the Holy Grail by many Jungians, who for years had only heard rumors of its existence. For decades Jung’s descendants kept the original, leather-bound volume, which Jung worked on between 1912 and 1928, locked in a bank vault.

Full article on:  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/25/books/25jung.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=cm_dly_lnk

New Year’s approaching, new year to give your writing project a new look.

Ask me, Writing Coach Teresa, to edit 22 pages at a time.
Gain tools from my coaching with each installment of your manuscript. Affordable too.

Learn how to use  archetypes, themes/universal messages, metaphors, hooks, foreshadows, pivotal plot points, seamless transitions, and poignancy to make your story a page-turner.
I like to edit fiction and narrative non-fiction with strong and quirky protagonists, memoirs, young adult fiction, and short stories.

Visit http://WritingCoachTeresa.com home page to find out what it means when an agent or editor tells a writer that his/her story is episodic.

Writing Coach & Manuscript Consultant Teresa LeYung Ryan who helps writers 22 pages at a time.

California Writers’ Club–SF Peninsula Branch Presents
“Build Your Name While You Write”
with Writing-Career Coach Teresa LeYung Ryan

January 16, 2010, 10am to noon
Belmont Library, 1110 Alameda De Las Pulgas, Belmont, CA
Cost: $15  CWC members;  $18 non-members

Reservations are advised:
Call 650-615-8331 to leave a message or email Chris Wachlin at <reservations@sfpeninsulawriters.com> with your name and the meeting date.

More info & PayPal available on:  http://cwc-peninsula.org

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.

Optional exercises before January 16:  http://cwc-peninsula.org/

On January 16, 2010 Teresa will debut her guide Build Your Name, Beat the Game: Be Happily Published

Teresa LeYung Ryan’s bio:  http://WritingCoachTeresa.com