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Blog

Write Now | August 2019 Entries

September 7, 2019 By Natalia Corres

The August “Write Now” contest was to submit: 50-word story about a “Back to school” memory. We had some very creative submissions! So here they all are for your reading pleasure:


The small high school orientation was quiet. Mom’s stomach growled loudly. I snickered. She chuckled. Chortles commenced until we couldn’t catch our breath. Tears. The other students and parents tried to ignore our uncontrollable laughter. Counselor, Mrs. Hagadorn, smiled uneasily, “Did I say something funny?” We could only mouth, “No.”

~ Pam Reeves


A physical education teacher on maternity leave, I returned after Christmas vacation, taking over a 3rd grade classroom. Thirty-three students greeted me, “Where’s Mrs. R?” I had no answers but called the roll and noticed the kid labeled “a runner” sidling toward the door. I beat her to it.

~ Annis Cassells


Reminiscing About College by Shelley Evans


After my marriage, I went back to school
Thinking a college degree would be cool.
English was a piece of cake, so to speak;
Art was my favorite – I was an art freak!
In drawing and painting I did fairly well,
But sculpting clay was the very best of all.


Frankly by Julie Bonderov

          It’s been 50 years since I wore my first pair of glasses. Walking into my fifth-grade classroom on the first day of school, I heard, “Look at the one in the glasses!” I still remember the boy’s name who said it. His name was Frank.


Back To School- Circa 1980  By Anita  Collins

 Aqua Net hairspray sales were through the roof. School ID cards and class schedules were mailed out weeks ago and tucked firmly in our Pee Chee folders. Don’t forget to memorize your new locker combination. See yah in home-room! Yeah, this is going to be our year!

Open Submissions of Poetry/Essays for the International Day of Peace

September 7, 2019 By Natalia Corres

Day of Peace

The International Day of Peace was started by the United Nations in 1981. Since then, the day “is observed around the world each year on September 21. The Peace Day provides a globally shared date for all humanity to commit to Peace above all differences and to contribute to building a Culture of Peace.”

The local planning committee invites you to write personal essays and/or poems addressing the issue of peace.

The chosen submissions will be entered into a collaborative notebook available on the Day of Peace, September 21, 2019 (10 am to 12 am in Central Park, Bakersfield). The collaboration will then be published online at https://kernpoetry.com

One poem will be selected to be read from the stage. The poem should last no longer than 3 minutes when read aloud. All pieces will be entered into the electronic book.

How to Submit

#1 Format you work

  • 12 pt Times New Roman font
  • 1″ margins, all sides
  • Document file in MS Word

#2  Email your submission

  • Enter “Submission for Day of Peace” in the subject line
  • Send as an attachment
  • Send it to  ahodenpijl@gmail.com

#3  All submissions should be received by September 18, 2019

Note: Email submissions only. All other submissions will be rejected.

Handouts from Catherine Hodges August 17th WOK Meeting

August 18, 2019 By Natalia Corres

Georgia (O’Keeffe) on my mind.

If you wanted the handouts from the August 17th WOK Meeting, you can download them from here. Click here to get the document.

And click here to get the Powerpoint presentation.

These will open in separate browser windows and you can save them to your computer from there.

Write NOW – reminder

August 18, 2019 By Natalia Corres

Show off your mental gymnastics and writing skills! Write NOW is a new feature for the The Write Way Newsletter – providing members with an opportunity to get published in the newsletter and on the WOK website. Each month’s assignment will be different. The deadline will always be the last day of the month, with publication happening in the next month’s newsletter. These opportunities are open to members and non-members of the Writers of Kern.

Deadline: August 31, 2019  –  50-word story about a “Back to school” memory

Submission guidelines: 
Send your 50-word story and your name as you wish it to appear, in an email with the subject “Back to School” to: Newsletter@writersofkern.com 

The best of the submissions will appear in the newsletter for September and all submissions will appear on the Writers of Kern Blog.  Stay tuned for next month’s Write NOW assignment and keep those pens and pencils ready!

Results of the July Meeting Survey

August 7, 2019 By Natalia Corres

If you attended the July meeting, you may remember completing a survey about the genres you write in (or are interested in writing in) and also the workshop topics that most interest you. Here are the results of the survey.

Genres

Workshop Interests

If you’d rather see these in a document, click here for the .pdf version of these graphs.

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