By Yolande Barial, a mom of 3, contributor in the anthologies If Women Ruled the World and Oakland’s Neighborhoods :

http://yolandebarial.wordpress.com/2011/04/19/www-examiner-com/

http://www.redroom.com/blog/yolandebarial/happy-mothers-day

http://www.redroom.com/blog/yolandebarial/thanks-mom

http://www.redroom.com/blog/yolandebarial/like-daughterlike-mother

http://www.examiner.com/motherhood-in-stockton/yolande-barial

http://www.tracypress.com/view/full_story/12489710/article-Her-Voice–To-helmet-or-not-to-helment?instance=home_opinion_lead_story

Joan Gelfand’s article “Mother’s Day Without Mom” for the Huffington Post

And, here are authors whose books are about relationships with mothers or mother-figures:

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

Deborah Grossman - Goldie and Me

Luisa Adams - Woven of Water

Lynn Henriksen – Telltale Souls

Linda Joy Myers - Don’t Call Me Mother

Matilda Butler - Rosie’s Daughters

Kate Farrell - Wisdom Has a Voice: Daughters Remember Mothers

(me) Teresa LeYung Ryan - Love Made of Heart

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

Coach Teresa, what did you do on Mother’s Day this year?

Thank you for asking.  The day before Mother’s Day, I had helped dear colleague Mary E. Knippel create multiple videos about her fun Coaxing Creativity workshops:

http://www.youtube.com/maryeknippel#p/a/u/0/xZ2GgqEE3Q4

http://www.youtube.com/maryeknippel#p/a/u/1/JsaPHrUvVfo

Her events are all inspiring. “Simple” and “abundant” best describe what I get from Mary Knippel’s workshops.

The next Day (Mother’s Day) I met artist Chandra Garsson on Hayes Street.

Lunch at La Boulange Cafe & Bakery was delightful, sitting in the corner, with view of the entire cafe and looking out onto Hayes Street. My mom would have liked this place. People eating tasty-looking salads, sandwiches, soups, baked goods; you can see the baked goods and pre-made sandwiches in the counters, all appealing. People reading newspapers and drinking beverages.  High ceiling; a European-feel about the place.

Then Chandra treated me to San Francisco Ballet’s hypnotically beautiful production of The Little Mermaid. The story (tragedy) was written by Hans Christian Andersen.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150573069220430&oid=27923251292&comments
Principal dancer Yuan Yuan Tan says: “on stage … I am dancing without thinking.”

Thank you, Chandra, for giving me a day of bittersweet beauty.

I come home and there’s a Happy Mother’s Day e-card in my inbox from publicity expert Lin Lacombe. The animated card shows a wishing well. I make my wish for my mom–wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, I wish you lots and lots of joy and love.

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung Ryan

author of Love Made of  Heart

Love Made of Heart - get this book for your mom or sister

author of Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days

*******

Join us for a Special Poetry Event Friday evening June 3rd, 2011 ! The Pleasanton Teen Poets Laureate Present:

Graduation Poetry Blitz!  Friday, June 3, 2011 6:30—9:00pm Century House, 2401 Santa Rita Road, Pleasanton, CA

Teen poetry presentation and Open Mic for teens, young adults and EVERYONE!!!

Celebrate the end of the school year and start of the summer with The Teen Poets Laureate—Noelle Malindzak, Mitch Grimes, and Vivian Tsai—will kick off the evening with a reading of their poems. During intermission, Karl Wente and “The Front Porch” will play music while free refreshments are served. Open Mic follows for teens, young adults and EVERYONE!!! You are welcome to read one of your original poems, two pages or less. Free soft drinks and snacks.

Admission is free for students with ID! Adults, $5.

Please share this note with your friends!

Best,
Deborah Grossman

Poet Laureate
City of Pleasanton, California
www.facebook.com/PleasantonPoetry
http://www.firehousearts.org/programs/literary-arts
* * * * * * * *

Deborah is friend/colleague who inspires me with her work / poetry in the community.  I hope to see more of her this year or next at Women’s National Book Association.

Cheers to all the poets!

Sincerely,

Coach Teresa LeYung Ryan

Thank you, Poet Laureate Deborah Grossman, for telling me about this:

The Las Positas College Anthology is an excellent place to publish! Richard Dry at the college sends this info:

The Las Positas College Anthology is still accepting prose and poetry submissions through March 1st, 2011.
Submissions should be sent to LPCAnthololgy@yahoo.com

Also, artwork and photography can be submitted at http://www.laspositascollege.edu/eng/anthology.php

There will be a publication and awards ceremony on Saturday, May 14th, 2011 at 2 p.m. All submissions are automatically considered for the awards.

Info at: http://www.laspositascollege.edu/eng/anthology.php
rdry@laspositascollege.edu

~~~
Poet Laureate
City of Pleasanton, Calif.
www.facebook.com/PleasantonPoetry

http://www.firehousearts.org/programs/literary-arts

Save the Dates:

Pleasanton Poetry, Prose & the Arts Festival

March 26th and 27th, 2011 at the Firehouse Arts Center

Poetry and Prose Contests *** Workshops on poetry, prose & screenwriting *** Linked Art and Poetry exhibit   *** Literary Row*** Youth and teen programs  *** *** Fine Art Exhibit http://pleasantonarts.org/ppa_overview.html

A Special Poetry Evening with Connie Post and Katherine Hastings Tues. Mar. 29th, 2011 6:30-7:00 pm Social hour & free refreshments; Reading, 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. Towne Center Books, 555 Main St. Free event.

A “Poets Braided Reading” where Connie and Katherine will take turns and integrate poems from both of these chapbooks and more! Connie is Poet Laureate Emerita of Livermore and leader of the Valona Second Sunday Poetry Series in Crockett; Katherine is founder of the WordTemple Poetry Series in Sebastopol.

Coach Teresa here to remind all writers to consider entering your work to reputable contests and contributing your work to anthologies.

To see my website for all my books, go to:  http://writingcoachteresa.com

Reach out, not stress out!

Sincerely,

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

Did you know that the new edition of Teresa's workbook is available through Amazon?

What Is a Talking Tagline for Writers of Fiction and Nonfiction?

Every year at the exciting San Francisco Writers Conference, Talking-Tagline Teacher Elisa Southard and Platform-Building Coach Teresa LeYung Ryan (yours truly) show writers of all genres how to hook attention–in person, in emails & voicemail, on their websites, blogs, facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and other social-media forums.  Hook attention with your talking-tagline!

When someone asks: “Elisa, what do you do?”  Elisa responds with: “Through my book Break Through the Noise, I help professionals power up their marketing messages.” (she doesn’t say “I’m a writer” because… what if the other person doesn’t ask her more questions. )

When someone asks: “Teresa, what do you do?” Teresa responds with: “Through my book, I help writers build their platforms and fanbase in 22 days.”

As a novelist and memoirist, Teresa says: “Through my book Love Made of Heart, I inspire adult-children of mentally-ill parents to speak openly about the stigmas.” (When I was newbie, my playwright friend Kim McMillon would invite me to parties.  Someone would come up to me and ask “So, Teresa, what do you do?”  I would answer “I write novels.” Then the other person would ask “Are you published?” and I would shyly say “Not yet.” Where did that conversation take me? Nowhere.  Many times, the other person would corner me and tell me what he/she writes (a monologue).

Here are other examples of  how to engage with the talking-tagline:

As a travel writer, Elisa says: “I help people turn curiosity into confidence when they travel.”

As a guest speaker to schools, Teresa uses: “Through my book, I help survivors of family violence find their own voices.”

Elisa Southard says: "Break through the noise" and Teresa LeYung Ryan says: "Build your writer's platform & fanbase in 22 days."

*** This year our interactive presentation at SFWC was publicized as: Get a Grip: Be Your Own Best Promoter ***

Writers who:

• were in our session
• received one-on-one coaching from us
• bought the CD or MP3 of our session http://www.vwtapes.com
• learned Talking-Tagline from us at other conferences or workshops . . .

… here’s your chance to tell tens of thousands of my fans what your Talking-Tagline is. Click on the title bar of this post, fill in the boxes and press “submit.”

Also, Elisa and I are both on facebook.  Request

to be “Friends” and remind us where you met us.

Elisa loves Twitter, so, connect with her that way too.

More resources to help you and your writer-friends gain a competitive edge in the publishing industry:

http://breakthroughthenoise.com Watch Elisa’s interview on television–how to deliver your talking-tagline for any profession. Helping you create your talking-tagline is Elisa Southard’s unique talent. Get Elisa’s book Break Through the Noise, 9 Tools to Propel Your Marketing Message

http://writingcoachteresa.com You will giggle when you see how fun it is to build your platform and attract more fans while you’re writing your project. Order my workbook from Amazon  Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW . Why 22 days? When you stick to a program, you develop new habits. Look at the reviews from writers who have used the program.

I say:  Reach out, not stress out!  Help your fans find you!

Let’s hear your talking-tagline.  Click on the blue title bar of this post to get the comment box, fill in all the boxes and press “submit.”

To read other posts in my blog (about writing contests, publishing opportunities, more tips on platform-building), click on [ Home ] and scroll down  OR key in words in the search box to find specific posts. Example: if you key in the words: poetry anthology 2011 into my blog’s search box and click [search], you will see my post containing info about the  Las Positas College Anthology and other contests for other genres (Thank you, Poet Laureate Deborah Grossman!) To read the entire version of a post, click on the title bar of that post.

To see my website for all my books, go to:  http://writingcoachteresa.com

http://sfwriters.org — future San Francisco Writers Conference, San Francisco Writers University, contests, scholarships, recordings of past conferences.

http://www.sfwritingforchange.org – for authors of non-fiction – Writing for Change Conference.

Saturday March 26, 2011 in San Francisco  “Meet the Agents & Acquisition Editors!”
Teresa LeYung Ryan, Mary E. Knippel and Tanya Egan Gibson will coach writers before they pitch at this event. http://www.wnba-sfchapter.org/

Reach out, not stress out!

Sincerely,

Build-Your-Writer’s-Platform Coach Teresa

What's Teresa's talking tagline for her novel Love Made of Heart?

What to do before hiring an editor for your manuscript?

My advice for narrative non-fiction writers is the same for fiction writers.

“Look at Your Manuscript with an Editor’s Lens”

by Teresa LeYung Ryan–Developmental Editor/Manuscript Consultant/Writing Career Coach

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 us, 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.

Does your manuscript pass these tests?

• Planting hook(s) or story-question(s);
• Grounding the reader with the three Ws and the big C (Who?  When?  Where? Circumstances);
• 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 and the big C:

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” and the “circumstances” as to why she had left her love affair with water, 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?”

In Eat, Pray, Love, Elisabeth Gilbert says: I wish Giovanni would kiss me.

In Love Made of Heart, my protagonist Ruby Lin prays: Please don’t end up like Grandmother (while witnessing police officers escorting her own mother out of her apartment).

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.)

In Bastard Out of Carolina, Dorothy Allison’s protagonist Bone is a girl.  Bone’s voice is convincing in dialogue and in internal monologue. Brilliant use of dialect.

Sentences Deserve Your Attention:

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 sentences?  See the misplaced modifiers?

• He likes to fish near the Farallon Islands, they jump when they’re hungry at dawn or dusk. (the islands jump?)
• She insists on knowing when I come home and leave, not to be nosy, but for safety reasons. (who is not nosy?)
• Being cautious as not to step on the dog’s tail, the children tip-toed away from him while sleeping. (who’s sleeping?)

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 the stories I referenced above, 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 the 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 you 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 to the next scene.  A helpful website for memoir writers: 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. Perhaps what he/she wants is also what we want.
• Story-telling is a skill learned, practiced, and mastered. May you practice with joy.

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!

To read other posts in my blog (about writing contests, publishing opportunities, more tips on platform-building), click on [ Home ] and scroll down  OR key in words in the search box to find specific posts. Example: if you key in the words: poetry anthology 2011 into my blog’s search box and click [search], you will see my post containing info about the  Las Positas College Anthology and other contests for other genres (Thank you, Poet Laureate Deborah Grossman!) To read the entire version of a post, click on the title bar of that post.

To see my website for all my books, go to:  http://writingcoachteresa.com

Reach out, not stress out!

Sincerely,

Build-Your-Writer’s-Platform Coach Teresa

Teresa LeYung Ryan–Developmental Editor/Manuscript Consultant, Writing Career Coach, Author, Publisher

Teresa specializes in editing fiction and narrative non-fiction with themes on the human condition.

She likes spunky protagonists in thrillers, women’s novels, memoirs, and children’s literature.

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

Teresa says: “The more you read, the more your own writing will flow.”  
Please click here for my blog’s home page  http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/

My fun workbook is now available through Amazon!

BUILD YOUR WRITER’S PLATFORM & FANBASE IN 22 DAYS: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW

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

http://lovemadeofheart.com/BUILD-YOUR-WRITER%27S-PLATFORM-&-FANBASE-IN-22-DAYS.html

Here are poets I pay attention to.  They all wear many brilliant hats.

• Martha Clark Scala.   This YouTube video shows Martha the poet on April 2, 2010 at Escape from New York Pizza, San Francisco   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5e7v716WQ0 To see what other hats Martha wears, please visit  www.mcscala.com

• Joan Gelfand.  A powerful speaker.  http://joangelfand.com/listen http://joangelfand.com/main/ has the link to the video of Joan with Kim McMillon with Janice Edwards on Bay Area Vista.

• Deborah Grossman, City of Pleasanton Poet Laureate!   Delightful.  You can meet Deborah at events this summer, autumn and winter: http://www.ci.pleasanton.ca.us/community/arts/civic-arts-literary.html http://www.deborahgrossman.com/

• Yolande Barial, founder of Your Words Project.  You just have to meet Yolande and hear her poetry, her spoken word.  Please add audio to your blog.  http://yolandebarial.wordpress.com/

• Maxine Hong Kingston.  Her book The Woman Warrior had inspired me to write my stories which turned into Love Made of Heart the novel.    Lunch Poems: Maxine Hong Kingston.  She is SO funny!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeaOmyZk4U0 And mesmerizing.  Zen circles; Chinese 4 word poems.

My hat off to you, Martha, Joan, Deborah, Yolande, Maxine!

Sincerely,

Teresa

Writing Career Coach Teresa LeYung Ryan says: “Build your name, beat the game, be happily published.”  http://WritingCoachTeresa.com