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August 18, 2018 | Self-Publishing Made Simple

July 26, 2018 By Guest

Self-Publishing Workshop in Bakersfield

Marcus & Donnée Harris of First Draft Publishing Ready to self-publish your book but don’t know where to start?

Join Writers of Kern and First Draft Publishing executive duo, Marcus and Donnée Harris, to find out how to create and market a self-published book that readers will love to buy.

Marcus and Donnée will cover tools for publishing and selling a manuscript, how to use easy social media resources you probably already have to find new readers, and how to make the most of self-publishing platform, Amazon.

Donnée, journalist turned self-published novelist and busy mom of three, wrote six novels that sold thousands of copies—all while staying home with her girls. Marcus created and marketed seven books while working full-time as an engineer. Both prove that writers can successfully self-publish and sell their books even when they don’t have a lot of time.

Workshop Details

When: 18 August 2018, 8:45-11:30am
Where: Hodel’s Country Dining, 5917 Knudsen Drive in Bakersfield
Tickets: $10 for members, $15 for guests, include a buffet breakfast and can be paid at the door or online.

July 21st, 2018 | Crafting the Perfect Pitch with Clarissa Kae

July 5, 2018 By Natalia Corres

Monthly Meeting July 21, 2018

The publication journey is filled with obstacles. Among them is “the pitch.” At the July 21st Writers of Kern meeting, Clarissa Kae will present a workshop that will demystify the art of a pitch. Writers will discover what a pitch is and what it isn’t–and why we authors need one.

We’ll learn the basics (what, where and how) of a pitch and then work together to reconstruct a more polished pitch. At the end of the workshop, we’ll have a Good Pitch, Bad Pitch contest, where each participant can win a prize for their Perfect Pitch.

“A Perfect Pitch is the very soul of the novel—and the crowning moment in the author’s craft,” says Kae, longtime board member and this year’s WOK president. She has worked with publishing editors and the online presence for Writers Digest and others and garnered clients for traditional and self-publishing clients before breaking out on her own.

Join us on Saturday, July 21, for this exciting topic. Register to attend here.

(You can also pay at the door.)

PEACE…

May 2, 2018 By Guest

begins in one’s dream,
is fed by one’s heart;
it reaches one’s mind
and passes outward
through one’s hands,
eyes,
words,
and deeds
to be shared with mankind.

Must peace remain but a dream?

Unless nourished with love
and given in truth,
peace will remain but a word
upon lips of the dumb

—Shelley Evans

Shelley Evans has been writing poetry most of her life. It was destiny, as she was named after the poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley. Many of her poems are inspired by the beach and are often written with her feet in the sand at Pismo. One of Shelley’s favorite activities is rhyming her way through life. Shelley has two poems published in the 2018 anthology, Writing Flora, Writing Fauna, A Collection of Poems from the Southern San Joaquin Valley.

Haiku

May 1, 2018 By Guest

Red summer sunsets
A large yellow star rages
against the darkness

—Cyn Bermudez

Cyn Bermudez is a writer, nerd, and coffee addict. She is the author of the forthcoming middle-grade fiction novel, Taken Away. October 1, 2018, Book 1 of the Brothers series. She attended college in Santa Barbara, California, where she studied physics, film, and creative writing. Her work can be found in the anthologies such as Building Red: Mission Mars, The Best of Vine Leaves Literary Journal (2014), and more. Her fiction and poetry can also found in Middle Planet, Perihelion SF, Strangelet, Mirror Dance, 805 Literary and Art Journal, among others. For more information about Cyn, visit her website at cynbermudez.com.

Epiphany at Open Mic

April 30, 2018 By Guest

Still, quiet, pensive,
Through two hours of our
reflections and readings
he sat.

Leaning forward, knees and hands together as if in prayer
Then tentatively pages came out of pockets.
Unfolded, a furtive glance, refolded
precious bits of self taken out for examination
and judgment.

A pause,
an invitation
And then with great apologies
for the unfinished nature of his poem,
he read.

The heavens
shuddered and sighed
as one more brave soul
opened and shared
his authentic, imperfect voice
in the chorus of life.
Alleluia! Amen!

—Rose Lester

Rose Lester is a Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice. As a true renaissance woman, she aspires to all things creative and is at home in a variety of creative mediums from song writing and singing, to playing her violin and guitar, to painting and sculpting, or writing poems about life and transformation. Her poems have been published in several anthologies and online websites. She volunteers for the Art for Healing program at Mercy Hospital and helps lead the Threshold Choir that sings at the bedside of those in need of comfort and peace.