2022 October 1, California;  October 3, 22:22

I, Teresa Jade LeYung (formerly Teresa LeYung Ryan), celebrate the 20th anniversary of my mother-daughter novel LOVE MADE OF HEART.

This is just the first of a series of Thank You as I continue celebrating LOVE MADE OF HEART and the kindhearted souls (teachers, librarians, booksellers, media folks, community leaders, friends and colleagues, mentors, readers and more readers) who have helped me speak up about:

– honoring courageous immigrants 

– inspiring adult children of mentally ill parents to speak openly about the stigmas

– helping survivors of family violence find their own voices

– speaking from the heart

What does “love made of heart” mean?

In the Chinese written language … the word “heart” is inside the words “grace,” “forgiveness,” “perseverance,” “compassion.”

The word “heart” is inside the word “love”…   one of the themes in my mother-daughter novel.

I shall dedicate the entire month of October to thank everyone who has helped me delivered my first novel into the world and all the readers. Many people have helped me but have never broadcast their kindness; I don’t know who they are; I thank everyone from my heart.

then Teresa LeYung Ryan, co-presenter with Elisa Sasa Southard and Kathi Kamen Goldmark at San Francisco Writers Conference - photo by Cheri Eplin 2004

Love Made of Heart: a Daughter, a Mother, a Journey Through Mental Illness
http://www.lovemadeofheart.com/Love-Made-of-Heart-a-Daughter,-a-Mother,-a-Journey-Through-Mental-Illness.html

I begin my thanks to:

My mother and all family members, and, the characters (Ruby Lin, Vivien Lin, Mrs. Nussbaum, Dr. Thatcher) who inspired my story.

The teachers who taught the 10-week course “Writing Children’s Literature” where I met critique group members Evelyn Miche, Cat (before she moved to Maine), Theresa Stephenson, Olga Malyj (who joined us for a few months).

To Kim McMillon who believed in me … way back when, long before I started writing. Dr. Kim McMillon, poet, activist, with over twenty years of experience producing theatre, is now an author and Black Arts Movement historian.

Everyone who orchestrated the 1997 Jack London Writers’ Conference, members at the California Writers Club and the Women’s National Book Association.

Everyone at East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) where I had a full-time job at headquarters; to my boss at the time – Robert Doyle – who said “yes” to my request for a 6-week leave-of-absence to complete one last rewrite of my manuscript.

Susan Canale (at EBRPD), Luisa Adams (author), Martha Alderson (author) for reading my last rewrite and giving criticism and praise.

Everyone at Regional Parks Botanic Garden when I got a transfer to a part-time position, especially my boss Steve Edward, Ph.D.

To my then spouse Lyle Ryan for supporting my decision to take a part-time position.

To literary super agent Stacey Glick (now VP at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret LLC) who said that my manuscript LOVE MADE OF HEART was the gem she had rescued from the slush pile.

To acquisition editor/director John Scognamiglio, president Steven Zacharius, publisher Laurie Perkin, art director Louis Malcangi, and everyone at Kensington Publishing Corp. in New York

To artist Linda Christensen for giving me a lovely author-photo.

To my sister (author Maria Kawah Leung) and all my friends who gave me courage to NOT hide behind the book.

To everyone who has “pitched” me to folks at their favorite libraries, book stores, groups, clubs, organizations, radio, TV, online programs … so that I could deliver the messages the themes in my book Love Made of Heart.

Thank you, Maria, for making Love Made of Heart birdhouse wind-chime.

Thank you, Claire Lomax, for handcrafting bookmarks that had my book cover and book spine on them.

Thank you, artist Chandra Garsson, for painting your rendition of the book cover onto my bookcase – one of my most cherished treasures. (attention-grabbing book cover that Louis Malcangi at Kensington Publishing Corp in New York had created)

Thank you, dear California Writers Club fellow-member, for gifting me your gorgeous Chinese robe which I have worn to many book events.

Thank you to all California Writers’ Club members!

Thank you to all Women’s National Book Association members!

Thank you, Elisa Sasa Southard, for teaching me how to create talking-points and talking-taglines, attention-grabbing press releases, memorable bios, and, how to have fun in the crazy world of book promoting!

More thanks to Elisa Sasa Southard, Margie Yee Webb, Luisa Adams, Martha Alderson, Angie Choi, Linda Joy Myers, Mary E. Knippel, Lynn Scott, and all the other talented and kindhearted authors who have co-presented with me since 2000.

Thank you, everyone, for reading and also buying Love Made of Heart for your friends, and, inviting your friends to my events, and for going to my events more than once.

Thank you, everyone, for writing reviews.

Thank you to the teachers / educators, including Professors Victor Turks, Miriam Queen, Patricia Costello, Dan Haytin, Sheryl Fairchild and their delightful students.

Thank you to each reader!

Publisher’s description of LOVE MADE OF HEART

The Chinese word for ‘love’ is made up of many brush strokes. In the center of the word ‘love’ is the word ‘heart.’ Love is made of heart…” Twenty-seven-year-old Ruby Lin has what many women envy: a beautiful apartment in one of San Francisco’s best neighborhoods, a busy social life, and a coveted position as manager of special events for the tony St. Mark Hotel. But it’s Ruby’s personal life that’s become unmanageable ever since the day her mother’s emotional breakdown forced Ruby to hospitalize her, shaming the family. Now, Ruby is caught in the crossroads between two vastly different cultures–one in which she is the American girl, raised on kitschy television shows and black-and-white movies, and one in which she is known only as Daughter, the eldest, fulfiller of responsibilities. In putting together the pieces of her mother’s life, Ruby finds herself exploring the wounds of her own past. Starting with a forbidden locked tin box and the yellowing photograph inside, Ruby embarks on a startling journey of self-discovery that takes her through a family history rife with violence, betrayal and loss that reaches back through generations, from China to America, and finally to the secret pain of a mother’s sacrifice. Like the Chinese calligraphy that adorns her walls, Ruby comes to see that “life is not a straight road, ” but a language drawn with many brush strokes, where every misunderstanding must yield to the simple message of the heart. Filled with warmth and wisdom, this luminous debut novel heralds the arrival of an exciting new voice in fiction as it explores the complex bonds between mothers and daughters, the choices that divide us, and the love that brings us home.

The above is book jacket text written by author Libba Bray for Kensington Publishing Corp. New York for my novel LOVE MADE OF HEART

In my blog posts of October 1, 2013 and November 29, 2013, I said:

“Thank you to authors Frank Baldwin, Carol Schaefer, Lydia Kwa, and Gus Lee for writing lovely advance praise for my book cover. I am so grateful!”

“Special thanks to Martha Alderson, Luisa Adams, Susan Canale, Elisa Sasa Southard, Margie Yee Webb, Kim McMillon, Vicki Weiland !”

“I thank powerhouse Stacey Glick (VP at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management) who found insightful acquisition editor John Scognamiglio (at Kensington Publishing Corp. New York) who guided my mother-daughter novel Love Made of Heart to the Sales Team, good-energy publisher Laurie Perkin, president Steven Zacharius, Debbie Tobias was Sales Director, Lou Malcangi was art director, by the way . . . booksellers do judge a book by its cover, Libba Bray, who is now a New York Times bestselling author of young adult books, for book jacket copy, Jacquie Edwards for copy editing, marketing team, production team, Jessica in Sales, Michelle who was Webmaster,and EVERYONE at Kensington and their associates, especially Nancy Suib & Anne Shulenberger, and Kensington Publishing Corp.’s superstars Lydia Kwa, Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, Mary B. Morrison, Mary Monroe, Carl Weber . . .

If not for these people, I would not have had the opportunity to experience the publishing industry from the author’s perspective . . .  which then gave me the credentials to talk about “who” really is the most qualified person to build the author’s platform and fanbase.

Author’s Note to Reader on the last page of LOVE MADE OF HEART

Thank you for letting me share Ruby Lin’s story with you.  Many readers have asked me what the characters in the novel have done for me.  My answer is this: I’ve learned that behind every face is a compelling story.

Please remember me as a writer who says YES! to compassion for mental illness and NO! to domestic violence and child abuse.

Who is Mrs. Nussbaum?  She lives in all our hearts.  Just as we have the “child within,” we also have the “wise elder within.”  May you always embrace your compelling story and allow your Mrs. Nussbaum to embrace you.

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung Ryan (now Teresa Jade LeYung)

Happy 48th anniversary to Kensington Publishing Corp in New York!

https://www.kensingtonbooks.com/pages/about/ says:

“2022 marks Kensington Publishing Corp’s 48th year in business, and it is one of the last remaining independent U.S. publisher of hardcover, trade and mass market paperback books. From the time our very first book (Appointment in Dallas by Hugh McDonald), became a bestseller, Kensington has been known as an astute and determined David-vs.-Goliath publisher of titles in the full spectrum of categories, from fiction and romance to health and nonfiction. In addition to the close to 500 new books, the company releases through its diverse imprints per year, it has a backlist of more than 5,000 titles. Kensington is considered a leader and innovator in such areas of publishing as African-American, cozy mysteries, westerns, and of course, romance.”

Author and Writing Coach Teresa Jade LeYung--photo by author Lynn Scott

Love Made of Heart:

– a 2002 nominee of the Asian American Literary Awards

– recommended by the California School Library Association and the California Reading Association

– used in Women in Psychology, First-Year Composition college course, Advanced Composition English-as-a-Second-Language classes

– read by students at Stanford University, U.C. Berkeley, San Francisco State University, City College of San Francisco, City College of Sacramento, Lowell High School, and many other wonderful institutions

– archived at the San Francisco History Center

– available at public libraries

This is just the first of a series of Thank You as I continue celebrating LOVE MADE OF HEART and the kindhearted souls (teachers, librarians, booksellers, media folks, readers and more readers) who have helped me speak up about:

NO to domestic violence and child abuse!

YES to kindness and compassion with mental illness!

YES to speaking from the heart!

I wish everyone wellness, kindness, happiness!

Sincerely,

Teresa_Jade_LeYung__photo_by_Nan_and_MEK_2019

Teresa Jade LeYung

Story Theme Consultant / Photo Historian / Author / Public Library and Public School Advocate

http://www.OurBeautifulBrains.com goes to Teresa’s Blog

Writing Coach Teresa Jade LeYung says: “I love helping writers identify the themes in their manuscripts to hook readers, and, build and fortify their platforms before and after publication. Reach out, not stress out.”

Love Made Of Heart ®

“Beautiful Brain” Haiku poems

by Teresa Jade LeYung

November 2020

When Brain makes mistake

with endless loop pain signals

I reply with Sooth

Oh Beautiful Brain

Storing experiences

Of pleasure and pain

Brain changes itself

Through learning or ceasing tasks

Retrainable yes

2021 February 28

When Beautiful Brain

changes, for better, for worse

that’s plasticity

2021 March 2

I am THE expert

of my memories and thoughts

Can choose soothing ones

Because I had entered the Haiku poems written in November 2020 to the Jane Underwood Poetry Prize, I couldn’t published them on my blog at the time.  On February 26, 2021, The Writing Salon’s email says that they had received nearly 350 poems. Congratulations to everyone!

The announcement from The Writing Salon says:

The final judge, David Hernandez, has selected Kelly Grace Thomas’s “Nothing Roots or Infertility” as the winning poem. Next Wednesday, March 3, 2021 The Writing Salon will publish the poem at our website. The finalists are Tony Barnstone, Twila Newey, Emily Pulfer-Terino, and Lizabeth Yandel.

The Jane Underwood Poetry Prize was established to celebrate and memorialize Jane Underwood, the founder and long-time director of The Writing Salon who passed away in 2016. Jane was a gifted poet who made The Writing Salon a prominent and respected creative writing school in the San Francisco Bay Area. She was well known for her generous spirit and her direct and encouraging teaching style. A posthumous collection of her poems, entitled When My Heart Goes Dark, I Turn the Porch Light On, was published in 2017.

Thank you to all the folks at The Writing Salon for keeping the writing community strong!

Thank you, Frances Kakugawa (beloved author /poet / teacher / speaker) and your Wordsworth, for inspiring me to compose Haiku poems.

https://franceskakugawa.wordpress.com/category/caregiving-haiku/

https://franceskakugawa.wordpress.com/2020/02/16/a-lesson-in-haiku-writing/

https://franceskakugawa.wordpress.com/category/wordsworth-the-poet/

Artist Chandra Garsson's "Jade protected by BIG Angel Wings" To see more Chandra Garsson's works of art - https://www.facebook.com/butterflybonesandhummingbirdsongs

Thank you for reading this blog post – Author and Theme Consultant Teresa Jade LeYung says: “Beautiful Brain inspires Haiku poems”

For other posts related to our Beautiful Brains and Neuroplasticity  in my blog  https://lovemadeofheart.com/blog …  If you look at right side near top of screen, you’ll see the category “Beautiful Brains Neuroplasticity”.  Please click on that category to get all my blog posts pertaining to the topic.

I wish everyone and your Beautiful Brains easy access to BLISS via SOOTHING thoughts; images,; senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch); memories,; emotions,; movement; and beliefs.

A thousand thanks to Dr. Michael Moskowitz, Dr. Marla Golden, Dr. Norman Doidge, Dusky Pierce, Dr. Danielle Rosenman, Linda A. Harris, Dr. Amy Grace Lam, Cynthia Tom and her program A PLACE OF HER OWN, Professor Lorimer Moseley, and all the precious people in my life.

Thank you, MT et MYW, for masks; Starry Night mask by Dahlynn & Ken McKowen of WoodstockAndYarn

Love Made Of Heart ®

Teresa Jade LeYung, an American naturalized citizen of Chinese ancestry, is a story/theme consultant, author of LOVE MADE OF HEART (daughter-mother novel archived at the San Francisco History Center and used by college professors), BUILD YOUR WRITER’S PLATFORM & FANBASE IN 22 DAYS (a workbook), and TALKING TO MY DEAD MOM Monologues (the first monologue received an award from Redwood Writers Ten-Minute Play Festival), an alumna of artist Cynthia Tom’s A PLACE OF HER OWN, an advocate for public libraries and public schools, creator of http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/ , and, admirer of City of Light. Composing Haiku poems is a new love for LeYung.

Who inspires me this month?  In addition to dear friends, colleagues, mentors, relatives, neighbors, clients . . .

Artist Chandra Garsson  Photographer Chandra Garsson

Her photographs / arts inspire wellness for the heart.

https://www.facebook.com/butterflybonesandhummingbirdsongs/  and  https://www.facebook.com/chandra.garsson

artist Chandra Garsson with her "Fiddlehead Fern" photo by Teresa Jade LeYung

The members and volunteers at Western Service Workers Association

http://www.wswaba.org/

http://www.wswaba.org/

WSWA is a free and voluntary membership association built by and for our membership of low-income service, domestic, in-home care, part-time and temporary workers since 1975. WSWA is entirely volunteer run, without a dime of government or other “strings attached” funds. WSWA’s self-help 11-point membership benefit program – including emergency food, clothing, preventive medical care, non-emergency dental care, legal advice and “Know Your Law” sessions and more – helps meet immediate needs while we pursue solutions to the cause of low wages, lack of benefits and unsafe working conditions.

Thank you, Wisdom Teacher Marie Elena Gaspari https://www.linkedin.com/in/marieelenagaspari-94798747 , for introducing me to the folks at WSWA!

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Everyone at  California Clubhouse in San Mateo, CA

https://californiaclubhouse.org/

“Our Clubhouse offers hope, encouragement and opportunities to people who live with mental illness.”

https://californiaclubhouse.org/

Thank you, mentor Diane Warner, for introducing me to the folks at California Clubhouse!

Clubhouse International has succeeded in creating something that didn’t exist before a worldwide community that is changing the world of mental health. Through local Clubhouses around the world, we offer people living with mental  illness opportunities for friendships, employment, housing, education, and access to medical and psychiatric services in a single caring and safe environment- so they can recover and fully participate as valued and respected members of society.

Awarded the 2014 Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize for extraordinary contributions toward alleviating human suffering.

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Cynthia Tom, creator of A PLACE OF HER OWN

https://www.aplaceofherown.org/

https://www.aplaceofherown.org/

MISSION
A PLACE OF HER OWN (PLACE) is an art making-based healing organization dedicated to sparking and sustaining the well-being of women. The transformation series of workshops culminate in an art exhibition for women.

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Michael Larsen, author coach

https://larsenauthorcoaching.com/

Michael Larsen Author Coach

Mr. Larsen says: “My experience as an agent and the author of successful books on proposals, agents, and marketing  and co-founder of San Francisco Writers Conference and San Francisco Writing for Change Conference helps me provide you with the customized advice, encouragement, and mentorship you need to succeed.”

Look for Michael Larsen who will be at San Francisco Writers Conference 2020.

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Mary Tang  doing business as  SolutionsBAC

https://www.linkedin.com/in/solutionsbac

Ms. Tang consults for startup companies, privately-held corporations and sole proprietorships – helping them solve typical business problems as well as plan for sustained profitability and future growth. She’s assisted client companies with hiring technical, marketing, finance department staff; advised on headcount and HR-related matters. She also coaches individuals on career development, job search and interviewing techniques, managing workplace issues, life/work choices. She possesses degrees in Business and in Education.

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Mary E. Knippel, founder of Your Writing Mentor

http://yourwritingmentor.com/

Mary E. Knippel 2019 jamienease-com

Ms. Knippel says: “Let’s talk about where you are now…where you want to go…and how I may support you in the process.”

Look for Mary E. Knippel who will be orchestrating Independent Editors at San Francisco Writers Conference 2020.

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Victoria Sweet, M.D. and her book SLOW MEDICINE: The Way to Healing

https://www.victoriasweet.com/

Good medicine takes more than amazing technology; it takes time–time to respond to bodies as well as data, time to arrive at the right diagnosis and the right treatment.

Medicine, Dr. Victoria Sweet makes us see, is a craft and an art as well as a science. It is relational, personal, even spiritual. To do it well requires a hard-won wisdom that no algorithm can replace–that brings together “fast” and “slow” in a truly effective, efficient, sustainable, and humane way of healing.

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Frans de Waal and his book Mama’s Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us about Ourselves

https://www.ted.com/speakers/frans_de_waal

Frans de Waal studies primate social behavior — how they fight and reconcile, share and cooperate.

Dutch/American biologist, ethologist, primatologist Frans de Waal draws parallels between primate and human behavior, from peacemaking and morality to culture.

Thank you, mentor Diane Warner, for gifting me this eye-opening book!

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Francis Bellamy (1855-1931)

https://www.ushistory.org/documents/pledge.htm

“I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Story Theme Consultant Teresa Jade LeYung says: “I am inspired by big hearts and humor.”

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Brilliant and prolific writers, comedians, entertainers, sages:

George Carlin

https://georgecarlin.com

George Carlin on Our Similarities instead of our differences – things that make us the same.

Thank you, CappyNJ, for https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgps85scy1g

George Carlin on little things we share. From his 1992 special Jammin’ in New York.

I learned two words from Mr. Carlin  – entropy; discography. Thank you!

John Cleese

https://www.johncleese.com/

John Cleese on Creativity In Management  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb5oIIPO62g

Thank you, John Cleese training company  www.videoarts.com !

Wanda Sykes !

https://www.wandasykes.com/

Teresa Jade LeYung 2019 Paris, photo by Mary E. Knippel