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November Featured Speaker
Crush Imposter Syndrome and Start Writing!
| You have a great story idea, create a few characters, a decent plot, but when you sit down to write, your negative voice kicks in: “I’m not a writer.” “No one will ever want to read this.” “I don’t know what you’re doing.” “Everyone else is better, younger, older, smarter, more talented…than me.” Imposter Syndrome. Otherwise known as the ultimate Dream Killer. If you’ve experienced these thoughts or lost your passion for writing, you won’t want to miss this workshop. In this workshop, we will look at past experiences and how they help and not hinder the writing process. We are more than prepared to be writers! We will also learn how to take negative thinking and reframe our thoughts into empowering statements as well re-ignite passion for writing. Register below! Breakfast is included. Hope to see you there. |
October Speaker Mike Apodaca
Some of the best stories have marvelous twists, where the reader/viewer thinks they know what is going on and then the world shifts beneath their feet. In this presentation we will look at some well-known twists, analyze different types of twists, and discuss how to put twists in our stories.
Writers will learn the elements of a great twist and how to add twists to their own stories.
We use tools we understand. Before we can add great twists to our stories, we need to understand the different types of twists, and how they are constructed. It is twists that make stories come to life, that thrill us. They also provide a significant psychological truth–that is, that life is full of shifting understandings. We need to be ready to reevaluate what we thought we knew at all times.
Raised in Southern California, Mike Apodaca managed the local Taco Bell at seventeen-years-old and became the senior pastor of a church at twenty-one. He has a master’s degree from Fuller Theological Seminary. He’s retired from public school teaching after 30 years. Writing for over 30 years, Mike has four books self-published in his Godsend series. He has four unpublished books. He has also published five short stories, two in The Literary Review. For the last three years he has served as vice president of the High Desert branch of the CWC.
September Speaker Carla Martin
This workshop will focus on using visual mediums as a source of inspiration.
In this workshop participants will:
- Examine the use of paintings
- Listen to the life stories of the artists and absorb their colors, shapes, and messages.
- Write using a visual prompt
- If you’d like to, share your work
Carla Joy Martin is a poet, pastel artist and piano instructor. After living in New York, Scotland and Pasadena, she found herself in Bakersfield and has been here for thirty years now. She obtained her MA in English Literature from Stanford and enjoys promoting the arts in Bakersfield. She hosts the Dukes Memorial Concerts as well as co-hosts the First Friday Open Mic Nights with Portia Choi. She published her first poetry chapbook, A Kaleidoscope of Love, in the middle of the pandemic. A member of Writers of Kern for many years, Carla is the current Critique Group Chair. She can’t thank WOK enough for all they have done to nurture her talents.
Hope to see you there!
$15 for members and $18 for nonmembers. Click here to register for the event.
August Speaker Cyn Bermudez
Workshop title: In Verse: Building Stores in Tiny Spaces
This workshop will focus on poetry as a narrative technique and method for storytelling. Topics include novels-in-verse, prose poetry, and the narrative poem. Participants will read and discuss the vignette. Participants will also read, write, and discuss narrative poetry.
In this workshop participants will:
Examine different examples of narrative poetry, including novels written in verse and the vignette.
Learn how to world and character build in this compact form.
Learn how to build sensory detail and create unforgettable characters.
Write a short narrative poem.
Cyn Bermudez is an author, poet, and artist living in California. She is the author of the Brothers series, And the Moon Follows, The Dragons Club, and more. She writes in various genres: general, science fiction, fantasy, weird, horror, and more. She has short stories, poetry, and art published in various literary journals, magazines, and anthologies: Perihelion SF, Middle Planet, Building Red: Mission Mars (Walrus Publishing), and more. Cyn is an active member of her local writing community. She enjoys other creative outlets like photography, sketching, digital art, and painting. Cyn loves spending time with her family and friends, baking, crafting, and do-it-yourself projects. Visit her website for more information. www.cynbermudez.com
Cyn has two novels written in verse: The Dragons Club (West 44) and Graffiti Heart. Her narrative poetry has been published in various magazines and lit journals: Strangelet, Moledro, Devolution Z, and more.
Social Media Stay Connected!
| artist and illustrator | @cynb.art | |
| author | Twitter, Facebook, & Instagram | @cyncbermudez |
| editor, lit journal | Twitter, Facebook, & Instagram | @planisphereq |
| book trailers, readings, tutorials | YouTube | Cyn B |