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.

A week ago, I saw a plastic bag of dog poop sitting beside the curb in front of my home. Well, whoever left it there probably had an emergency to take care of (maybe the dog ran off to chase a squirrel and so the human had to run after the dog). No doubt, the following day when human and dog come by on their walk, the human would see the abandoned bag and say to himself/herself: “Oh, look. I’ll dispose of this today.”

Another two days go by.  The bag is now flattened (probably by a neighbor’s tire) and some of the poop has oozed out.
What is it with dog poop in my path?

Last year, dog excrement (sans bag) was sitting on the sidewalk at the corner. I almost stepped on it when I was approaching the trunk of my car to get my walking shoes. After my walk around the neighborhood, I called my Constructive Living Instructor Patricia Ryan Madson. “Patricia,” I asked, “Am I supposed to pick it up?”
Patricia didn’t have to answer. I just wanted to hear the logic:  In practicing Constructive Living, I could stay annoyed (in this case–a neighbor has not picked up after his/her pet) or I could “take care of what’s in front of me.”  My friend Marie Elena Gaspari (also a writing coach) speaks the same wisdom.

Today, I told my hubby about what’s lying on the street.  He offered to dispose of the mess.  I knew “who” needed to clean the mess.
It’s late afternoon now.   I know that when I go outside again, I will see a clean street because I took care of what was in front of me.

As a writing coach, I remind myself that in a story the protagonist has to be the one who takes action or suffer the consequences of being a “passive character.”

How can dog poop help your writing?  Don’t let your protagonist be passive.

The book – Constructive Living: Outgrow Shyness, Depression, Fear, Stress, Grief, Chronic Pain by David K. Reynolds.  Achieve the goal of Constructive Living – to do everything well. Western world Dr. Reynolds had combined two of the most popular forms of therapy in Japan.

Cheers from

22-Day Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan

http://writingcoachTeresa.com

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.

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