Yes, through Amazon. I am so pleased with the reviews writers have been sending me. Please write your reviews on Amazon.

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

available through Amazon.com

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Teresa LeYung Ryan  on facebook!

Author / Writing Career Coach / Manuscript Consultant / Publisher

http://writingcoachteresa.com

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How important is dialogue in a memoir or novel? Re-read your favorite story and study the author’s techniques.

When I’m not editing for my wonderful clients, I study dialogue in movies.
Since a script usually doesn’t offer narrative or internal monologue to supplement “words” the way a book does, dialogue (and how the lines are delivered) is an essential component in story-telling.  I love smart dialogue.

In the movie Woman Chases Man (1937), protagonist Virginia Travis, a starving architect (Miriam Hopkins) sees three portraits in the living room of B.J. Nolan (Charles Winninger).

Virginia:  (She sees a portrait of a little boy holding  Pilgram’s Progress)  “Who’s that?”

BJ:  “My son Kenneth.”

Virginia:  (She’s looking at the second portrait–a teenage boy holding the same book) “ Another son?”

BJ:  “Same one. Age sixteen.”

Virginia:  “Must be a slow reader.”

Virginia:   (She looks at third portrait–a young man in his cap and gown, holding diploma)  “I see he finished the book.”

BJ:  “Yeah, he has the checkbook now.”

Virginia:  “I had a checkbook once.”

The story is launched, with B. J. and Virginia scheming to get  Kenneth (Joel McCrae) to sign a check.  By the way, young Broderick Crawford’s portrayal of Hunk (friend of Virginia, disguising as B.J.’s butler) is hilarious.

Screen play by Joseph Anthony, Mannie Seff and David Hertz

Original story by Lynn Root and Frank Fenton

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In Cold Comfort Farm (1995) screenplay by Malcolm Bradbury, from the novel by Stella Gibbons (1930s), protagonist Flora Poste (recently orphaned) moves to the country to live with her relatives so that she can live on her modest 100 pounds a year and be a novelist.  Flora’s relations are odd in deed.  The mysterious matriarch, Flora’s Great Aunt Ada, doesn’t leave her room because she suffers from a terrifying memory of an event. As a girl, Ada had seen “something nasty in the wood shed” and now decades later she still has recurring nightmares.  Flora is the first person to ask Aunt Ada questions, which serves as the turning point in the story.  As it turns out, Aunt Ada doesn’t remember what she saw. But she won’t let go of her suffering (or let her family leave the farm either).

Toward the end of the story when a movie Czar Mr. Neck comes to the farm to take her grandson Seth to Hollywood . . . Great Aunt Ada comes running out of the house . . .
Great Aunt Ada : “I saw something nasty in the wood shed.”

Mr. Neck:  “Sure you did, but did they see you Baby?”

Coach Teresa here.  I emailed my friend Margaret Davis (author of Straight Down the Middle) to ask her if she has seen the movie and Margaret replied:
“My mother had a selection of novels in our house when I was growing up.  I was an avid reader, and I read, and reread, many of them over and over.  I knew Cold Comfort Farm by heart!  I also enjoyed Stella Gibbons’s book Nightingale Wood (also knew it by heart as a child!), and I know my own writing is definitely influenced by her.”

Happy New Year & New Writing Energy to Everyone!

Remember to employ dialogue that not only represents each character’s personality but also gives clues  in an entertaining way to move your story forward.

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung Ryan

Manuscript Consultant / Writing Career Coach / Author / Publisher

Teresa loves to edit thrillers, mysteries, women’s novels, memoirs, children’s and young adult fiction with quirky or feisty protagonists.

http://WritingCoachTeresa.com

For the writers who are building their names, click on the title-bar of this post to get the comment box.  Tell the world what your resolutions are for this month or year.

Copy what you have written, then paste that into your own blog and to my other blog post at  http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/my-writer%E2%80%99s-resolutions-for-this-month-or-year/

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung Ryan

Writing Career Coach Teresa says: “Reach out, not stress out, when building your writer’s name/platform.”

Build My Name, Beat the Game: 22 Days to Identify & Develop My Writer’s Platform to Attract Agents, Acquisition Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention

Hello, Writers & Readers!

Please go to http://WritingCoachTeresa.com or http://LoveMadeOfHeart.com and click on “Teresa’s Blog.”

To comment on any of my columns (=  posts) in any of my blogs, just click on the color title bar of the post, fill in the boxes and press “submit.”   Please click here for my primary blog  “Teresa’s Blog”

“You have the power to materialize your dearest dreams. Transform your personal experiences into potent stories.”

Author & community spirit Teresa LeYung Ryan wears two hats.

• As a novelist, she uses her book Love Made of Heart to inspire adult-children of mentally-ill parents to speak openly about the stigmas that their parents suffer.
• As a writing career coach and creator of Build Your Name, Beat the Game: Be Happily Published (the 22 day workbook), Teresa helps writers identify their mission statements to attract agents, publishers and fans.

Her website WritingCoachTeresa.com offers resources for writers and readers.

Teresa LeYung Ryan speaks out for public libraries, honors immigrant-stories, advocates compassion for mental illness, and helps survivors of violence find their own voices through writing.

Olga Malyj, my first healthy role model, orchestrated the lovely party  today.

A month ago, I had told Olga that I wanted a women’s networking, wish-making, potluck gathering. She made it happen; the women who showed up brought beautiful foods, their powerful spirits, and their wishes for the year. I will be adding to this post in the days to come.

Sincerely,
Writing Career Coach Teresa LeYung Ryan
“When you make your name synonymous with the themes / subject matters / issues in your writing, you are building your name / career / platform. Be happily published!”

Writers’ Sanctuary is sponsored by the Moe Green Poetry Hour

On Tuesday, March 16th 2010 , in celebration of Women’s History Month, Writers’ Sanctuary presents visionary author Mary Cox Garner; award-winning author Luisa Adams; author and writing career coach Teresa LeYung Ryan; and international plot consultant Martha Alderson. This program is aimed at people that have a love of words, a book in their head, and are seeking methods of putting their ideas on paper, and developing a story with the potential to become a publish book.

I had fun today!

Kim McMillon creates interesting programs for the literary community.  Her latest creation is “Writers’ Sanctuary” a blog talk radio show.  Today she interviewed:

Mary Cox Garner, author of The Hidden Souls of Words:  Keys to Transformation Through the Power of Words http://www.hiddensoulsofwords.com/ In 1995, Mary Cox Garner established a foundation, HOPE, INC., which continues to address both the material and spiritual needs of children and their care givers. She lives with her husband in Washington, D.C., and has three grown sons.

Luisa Adams, author of Woven of Water http://rp-author.com/Adams/ Luisa Adams is an award winning writer, educator, workshop leader, and Licensed Brain Gym® Consultant. She is the mother of five, grandmother of eight, and resides with her husband, Dave, in San Mateo, California when not living by the enchanted lake.

Teresa LeYung Ryan, author of Love Made of Heart http://LoveMadeOfHeart.com/ As  community spirit, Teresa LeYung Ryan uses her novel to shed light on stigmas suffered by women, men, and children who have mental illness/traumas to the mind.  She speaks out for those who cannot speak for themselves. [ On the show today, I focused on what I had learned from writing Love Made of Heart, why I need to speak openly about mental illness and the toxic stigmas, Glenn Close's mission and http://www.bringchange2mind.org/]

Martha Alderson, M.A. is an international plot consultant for writers. Her clients include best-selling authors, New York editors, and Hollywood movie directors. She can help you, too.  http://www.blockbusterplots.com http://plotwhisperer.blogspot.com/ Plot tools that Martha has created include: Blockbuster Plots – Pure and Simple;  The Seven Essential Elements of Scene;  Scene Tracker Kit; DVDs for many genres; and free monthly Plot Tips eZine: http://www.blockbusterplots.com/contact.html

To listen to “Writers’ Sanctuary” blog talk radio show hosted by Kim McMillon, click on: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onword/2010/03/16/writers-sanctuary-hosted-by-kim-mcmillon Mary Cox Garner, Luisa Adams, Teresa LeYung Ryan, Martha Alderson shared insights and posed questions; the show was aired on March 16, 2010 11:30am-1:30pm and is now archived.

Teresa LeYung Ryan is also known as Writing Career Coach Teresa. She is the creator of Build Your Name, Beat the Game: Be Happily Published (a 22 minutes for 22 days workbook for writers to build their platforms before and after publication). Coach Teresa says: “You are THE expert of your experiences. Whether you’re a fiction or non-fiction author, make your name synonymous with the themes / subject matters / issues in your writing.”  http://WritingCoachTeresa.com

Dear Ms. Close,

You and I speak the same powerful mission statement.

Your riveting article “Mental Illness: the Stigmas of Silence” for The Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/glenn-close/mental-illness-the-stigma_b_328591.html, especially revealing the truth about the original ending of Fatal Attraction, and your comment about how “certain words have power over us” in your Aha! Moment for Oprah http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Glenn-Closes-Aha-Moment touch me deeply.

Your delivery of Iris in The Natural has inspired me to be “a good woman.”  Picturing you as Iris (a calm tower of strength) and reading about your confronting mental illness in your family gave me the inspiration to present my book Love Made of Heart to you.

Since the publication of that story, I have spoken openly about how my mother suffered terribly as an immigrant woman with a mental illness.  As a young girl, I had learned from relatives to blame my own mother for “bringing on craziness upon herself” and “not being able to let go of grief like everyone else.”

I was 27 years old when my mother came to visit me and my sister (we were sharing an apartment).  She moved in without any discussions.  In our apartment, our mother plotted her way to end her misery.

Please accept my book as my expression of gratitude to you for speaking openly and unabashedly about the suffering that your loved ones and you endured.

I can see your face when I read the lines spoken by Dr. Gloria Thatcher, the compassionate psychologist in Love Made of Heart.

I’m dedicating this week to writing posts on my blog about you and your work with www.BringChange2Mind.org
The video of you and your sister is most inspiring.  “Words are powerful.”
Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung Ryan   www.LoveMadeOfHeart.com

As an author and a community spirit, I, Teresa LeYung Ryan, use my novel Love Made of Heart to shed light on stigmas suffered by women, men and children with mental illness/traumas to the mind. I speak out openly for those who cannot speak for themselves.

Other resources:

National Alliance on Mental Illness   www.nami.org

Stamp Out Stigma  www.stampoutstigma.org

www.BringChange2Mind.org 1 in 6 adults and almost 1 in 10 children suffer from a diagnosable mental illness.

You have spent months, perhaps years, writing and rewriting your project/work.  And, you’ve decided to pursue either an agent (who earns his/her commission when he/she sells a client’s work to a publishing house) or an acquisition editor (whose job is to buy authors’ works for the publishing house he/she works for). Let’s say you’ve done your homework and have compiled a list of agents or acquisition editors who specialize in the kind of project (commodity) you wish to sell.

An agent or acquisition editor receives hundreds of pitches/query letters each week.  What can you do to catch these folks’ attention?  Use the right bait.  Make every word count.

Whether you’re pitching in person, over the telephone, through an E-Mail, or by old-fashion mail, keep this in mind—the pitch (bait) has three components:
•    who needs your project
•    the unique qualities about your commodity
•    why you are the perfect author for this work

Here are 4 examples:

Genre: Self Help / Relationship / Marriage

The 50% and 60% divorce rates, for first and second marriages respectively, are a wake-up call for the United States 55.2 million married couples.

Through my book, I empower couples to get the marriage they’ve always wanted.

The Marriage Meeting Program: 45 Minutes a Week to Guarantee the Long Term Relationship You’ve Always Wanted shows how to conduct a weekly meeting that increases intimacy, romance, teamwork, and smoother conflict resolution.

A proactive, preventive approach is crucial. Regardless of how good a relationship is, there is always a need to keep it on track and room for it to grow. The Marriage Meeting Program’s step-by-step approach makes it easy to conduct the meetings. Follow-up studies show a 20 to 80 percent increase in marital happiness for couples who implement the program.

I am Marcia Naomi Berger, a psychotherapist, writer, speaker, workshop leader, and instructor of a class for therapists and counselors at the University of California Berkeley Extension. http://www.marriagemaven.com

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Genre: Memoir

There are more than 38-million boom-generation women in this country.  Through my book, I show middle-aged women how to cope with family and social pressures while dealing with their own mortality issues.

My memoir, Oldham Street, is about my journey from east coast to west bearing the pain of a son in prison, the long slow death of my father, the end of my counseling career and a ten-year relationship.  I knocked on a lemon-colored door on a short block in San Francisco.  In the next twelve years, the woman who opened that door, along with the other quirky characters in the neighborhood, inadvertently joined me in a process that brought me home to myself and into a comfortable role as the matriarch of my tribe.

I am Lynn Scott:

• author of A Joyful Encounter: My Mother, My Alzheimer Clients, and Me (a memoir about the abundance of spirit that I found among my Alzheimer clients).

• contributor to eight anthologies of fiction, memoir, and poetry.

• a guest on OPRAH and other talk shows trying to educate others about the mental disorder causing child molestation.

http://lynnscottbooks.com

http://lynnscott.wordpress.com

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Genre: Women’s Fiction

Recent survey data indicates that 22% of the 55,000,000+ married women admit to having an extramarital affair. STAYING AFLOAT is the story of one of these women –although she wouldn’t have admitted it if she hadn’t gotten caught.

Crystal Scott is a stable and stalwart, stay-at-home wife and mother, aiming only to run an efficient home, care for her children and avoid confrontation.  Whatever her private thoughts are, she keeps them to herself.  But when her husband loses his job and shows no signs of looking for another, fault lines in their marriage are exposed.  She’s forced to re-enter the workforce, and when her dazzling, dynamic boss takes a personal interest in her, she slips into territory that most women have fantasized about, even if they don’t want to admit it — she morphs into a sex-starved adulteress.

I am Judith Marshall, author of the award-winning novel, HUSBANDS MAY COME AND GO BUT FRIENDS ARE FOREVER. I’ve been writing for thirteen years and am a member of the California Writers Club and the Women’s National Book Association. In addition, I am the President of Human Resources Consulting Services and a member of the faculty of the Council on Education in Management, for whom I teach a number of public seminars on a variety of HR-relates topics. I’m currently working on my third novel, BITTER ACRES.
http://judithmarshall.net/

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Genre: Women’s Fiction / Humor

39%  of the 68 million women employed in the U.S. work in management, professional, and related occupations. Through my book Katie Carlisle, I show women how to hold onto their integrity, humor, and vision . . . in spite of having to fight sexism in the corporate world.

Katie Carlisle has been lucky enough to have a mentor (her boss) who has taken her to a point where her promotion is pretty well guaranteed.  Only then everything goes wrong.  Her beloved mentor leaves the company under a cloud; his successor is a man whom Katie hates and fears; and a downward spiral in her fortunes starts.  This is the story of a smart woman’s struggle to hold onto her integrity, humor and vision in spite of the tumult around her—and her eventual triumph.

I am Margaret Davis.  I have a doctorate from Stanford University in Sociology, with a specialization in the structure and behavior of formal organizations.  I have had two non-fiction books published in my field.  Katie Carlisle, a humorous spoof on everyday life in a large corporation, is a work of fiction.  Yet, as many of my readers have commented, “Everyone who has ever worked in a big company will relate to and love this book.”

I am also the author of Straight Down the Middle, a family drama involving a young mother’s efforts to do what is best for her child while trying to come to terms with her own sexuality.
http://margaretdavisbooks.com/

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Writing Career Coach Teresa will help you practice your pitch
at WNBA’s  “Meet the Agents, Editors, & Publishers”
on March 27, 2010   http://wnba-sfchapter.org

Teresa LeYung Ryan is:
*   Board member at WNBA-SF Chapter since 2004
*    Author with agent and NY publisher
*   Writing career coach
*    Past president of California Writers Club-SF Peninsula Branch
*    Library advocate

Writing Career Coach Teresa is the author of  Build Your Name, Beat the Game: Be Happily Published (a 22-day workbook for writers to build their names and attract attention and fans before and after publication).   http://WritingCoachTeresa.com

As a community spirit, Teresa LeYung Ryan uses her novel Love Made of Heart to:
• shed light on stigmas suffered by immigrant women, men, and children
• advocate understanding of mental illness/traumas to the mind
• help survivors of violence find their own voices through writing
www.LoveMadeOfHeart.com

Tuesday I went to my half-time day job and got all caught up with voicemail and email.
Wednesday I knew I had to stay home and not push myself.  So, this week I missed a memorial, a Chinese meal with my aunt & uncle to celebrate Lunar New Year, and the Women’s National Book Association event at Castro Valley Library.  However, I had a chance to “chat” with a pal in Australia on Yahoo; I’m not a speedy typist but that worked out fine.

It’s Sunday. Rain is lovely. Got up around 9:30am.  Prioritized my work for next week.

I’m drinking green tea, watching old  movies on YouTube and working as the writing-career-coach.

Colleagues and friends made my day:

Margaret Davis, author of Straight Down the Middle, with her email acknowledging receipt of the CD of photos (of her beautiful book launch) I created for her.

Mil Pribble emailed to tell me about Chinese in Mendocino County.  Mil said: “…a very well done mostly pictorial account, published last year by Arcadia Publishing,  (Available through The Temple of Quan Tai in Mendocino.)  It was assembled and written by Lorraine Hee-Chorley, a friend of mine who is the great grand-daughter of  John Song Lee, aka Joe Lee, who in the early 1850s organized a  flotilla of seven junks and attempted to cross the Pacific, intending to land at Monterey.”

Kate Farrell, author of Girl in the Mirror www.girlinthemirror.info and Workshop Leader www.wisdomhasavoice.com , says the Redwood Branch of California Writers Club http://www.calwriters.org/ has grown so big that they had to change meeting place to Flamingo Conference Resort & Spa in Santa Rosa, CA

Pal Olga offers her home to host a private party.

My hubby started a new job a month ago and he’s studying for a course, so, it’s not like I’m missing weekend outdoor fun.

So, I’m working (with Carole Lombard movies on YouTube as inspiration), pumping vitamin C, and resting.

Webpages getting my immediate attention:

http://www.americanshortfiction.org/

http://savingcinderella.ning.com/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/glenn-close/mental-illness-the-stigma_b_328591.html

It’s almost 4:00pm; time to rest a bit. Being under the weather is nothing to “sneeze” at.
Happy Writing!  Happy Name Building!

Writing Career Coach Teresa

Creator of  Build Your Name, Beat the Game: Be Happily Published (a
http://WritingCoachTeresa.com

As an author and a community member, I use my novel Love Made of Heart to:
• shed light on stigmas suffered by immigrant women, men, and children
• advocate understanding of mental illness/traumas to the mind
• help survivors of violence find their own voices through writing

http://lovemadeofheart.com/Love-Made-of-Heart-journey-of-an-adult-child-of-a-mentally-ill-parent.html

Talking Tagline Coach Elisa Southard & Writing Career Coach Teresa and audience having fun at SFWC

Talking Tagline Coach Elisa Southard & I presented on the first day at 9:00am. “Build Your Fan Base Before & After Publication” What fun we had!  We coached everyone to craft a purposeful talking-tagline to hook attention; this simple yet powerful tool helps writers communicate with agents, acquisition editors, booksellers, endorsers, media, prospective fans…with ease.

When the talking-tagline is used to link your name, I call this union the mission statement. So, when you comment on this post, be sure to show your full name, your website/blog address (the URL), and your mission statement.

Thank you, Michael Larsen & Elizabeth Pomada, a.k.a. publishing- community angels, for inviting Elisa and me to present at SFWC, seven straight years.   Every year, we get to catch up with colleagues and receive  inspiration from each other. High energy.  High professionalism. Graciousness.

What woke me this morning was a high-concept for a book that would be perfect for colleagues Elisa Southard, Deborah Grossman, Barbara Santos, me, and my agent Stacey Glick. Top secret for now.

I’ll be writing more posts about SFWC. For the time being . . .

Here are some websites I recommend to help further your writing career.

Elisa Southard, my marketing coach http://breakthroughthenoise.com/
Women’s National Book Association    http://wnba-books.org/ I’m a board member at the San Francisco Chapter http://wnba-sfchapter.org/
California Writers Club http://www.calwriters.org/ I’m a past-president at the SF Peninsula Branch http://cwc-peninsula.org/

If you didn’t get a chance to attend our session on Friday morning “Build Your Fan Base Before & After Publication” you get get the CD or MP3 from http://www.vwtapes.com/sfwriters2010.aspx
If you didn’t get a chance to go to the conference bookstore (Brenden from BookShop West Portal was there) to get Build Your Name, Beat the Game: Be Happily Published (my 22 minutes for 22 days workbook for writers to build their names before and after publication), please go to my website http://WritingCoachTeresa.com

Happy writing!  Happy name-building!

Writing Career Coach Teresa
http://WritingCoachTeresa.com