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4 Can’t-Miss Reasons to join the WOK Blog Challenge

September 8, 2014 By Guest

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Where do you get your ideas?

Writers hear this too often. Yet faced with blog challenges, ideas dry up faster than Justin Bieber’s fan base.

Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered.

First, here are a few reasons to join the Writers of Kern “A to Z” Blog Challenge.

Inspiration

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to read your challengers’ blogs. This isn’t competition. It’s inspiration. What your fellow WOKians write will inspire your posts.

So when Dan McGuire reminds you that 1950s America was no place for women, you can blog about that time you rigged your husband’s computer to autocorrect all instances of “feminism” to “men are superior” so that he cried when he printed his essay for feminism class because it looked like a misogynistic hate crime. (Sorry, honey. I’m not sorry.)

Or you can write about that time you were excited to make Jasmine Lowe’s kiwi avocado smoothie, and it exploded over the ceiling like a green frost firebomb because you forgot to secure the blender. (The smoothie turned out awesome, if she asks.)

Authority

Once upon a time, publishers were the gate keepers. They had the printers, the distributors, and the marketing connections. But that was when writing had to be on paper. And that era is dead.

Now, the only barrier between you and readers is a mouse click. On sites like WordPress, it’s even free.

This is the age of not needing permission, writer. No longer can gate keepers imprison your prose. Authority is yours.

Credibility

Writers write, right?

Your blog is your platform. It builds your credibility as a writer who writes. It’s a sneak peek into your perspective, your style, your skilled turn of phrase.

But most of all, it proves you’re a writer.

Networking

Get to know your fellow WOKians.

Who can help you improve characterization? You’ll know after the challenge. Who can edit grammar? You’ll know after the challenge. You’ll know each WOKian’s talents better because you joined the challenge.

Now, a Hundred Things to Write About

51 Types of Blog Posts by Regina Anaejionu
50 Can’t-Fail Techniques for Finding Great Blog Topics by Carol Tice

Are you part of the WOK Blog Challenge?

Mandy Wallace is a writing coach by day and blogger by night. See what she’s made of during the WOK Blog Challenge, where she’ll blog through literary terms. It’ll be cooler than it sounds. Probably.

Writers of Kern Fall Writing Contest

August 28, 2014 By Natalia Corres

Writers of Kern Members! You are eligible to enter the Fall Writing Contest and get your name engraved on the Fall Writing Contest plaque.

Jean Chapman, winner of the 2013 contest, dispelled the illusion that you must be “Robert” or “Rob” to win.

Annual dues may be paid online. To renew your current membership, please click here. New members, please click here. Annual membership dues must be paid by August 31, 2014.

Writers of Kern 2014 “A to Z” Blog Challenge

August 18, 2014 By Joan Raymond

The Writers of Kern 2014 “A-Z” Blog Challenge is coming!

The 2014 A to Z challenge will begin Wednesday, September 10th and end Saturday, December 6th. Thirteen weeks, 2 posts per week equals 26 posts. Writers may choose any theme; but, each post must feature one letter of the alphabet in alphabetical order.

There are two parts to the challenge:

Part 1 – Publish two blog posts a week, for thirteen weeks. Posting Wednesday and Saturday are suggested, but not required.
Part 2 – Visit at least five other participants’ blogs each week, leaving thoughtful comments and encouraging words.

If you don’t have a blog, now is the time to start one. Check WordPress and Blogger for free blogging options. If you have a blog and you’re not a seat-of-the-pants writer, you have a few weeks to jump start your challenge plan.

Winners will be recognized at the WOK Winter Dinner, Saturday, December 13, 2014.

NOTE: If you choose to participate in the WOK Blog Challenge, please email your blog site to events@writersofkern.com by Friday, September 5, 2014. Blog Challenge participants will receive an email listing blog sites of all who have accepted the challenge.

Jean Chapman Recommends…

May 17, 2014 By Natalia Corres

Sue Monk Kidd’s latest novel, The Invention of Wings, is the compelling fictional story of real-life American heroine, Sarah Grimké. Raised in Charleston in the antebellum south, Sarah abhors slavery. Her family owns slaves and the pervading southern culture embraces the “right” to own slaves as a way of life. Sarah is given a little black girl, Handful, as a hand-maid on her eleventh birthday. The two become friends and the novel traces their life journeys over the next three decades. Sarah becomes the first American female to write positional papers on not just abolition, but on the need to give women the same legal rights as men in American society. This fictional novel will educate the reader about not just historical events in the American landscape but it will prod the conscience and current consciousness about racial tensions that still exist in our society. Highly recommend this book!

Malcolm Gladwell’s latest work of non-fiction, David and Goliath, challenges the perception of what constitutes “giants” in our lives. Perhaps, just perhaps what seems like a formidable foe rising up against us is actually at a disadvantage because of its size. Consider the childhood Sunday school version of the story of David and Goliath from the Old Testament of the Bible. The giant warrior representing the Philistine army facing off against King Saul and the Israelite army in the Valley of Elah issues a daily challenge to the opposing soldiers. Not one of the Israelite warriors, dressed in full armor with weapons, dares to go against the nine-foot giant. A slight teen-ager, however, visiting his brothers on the battlefield, hears and answers the challenge.

David and Goliath is a powerful little book about confronting the “giants” in one’s life. Is dyslexia the giant? A weaker,smaller high school girls’ basketball team? How about the challenge of getting into an Ivy League university? Challenge the odds. Perhaps, in fact, very likely, the underdog has the advantage in unique situations. Gladwell encourages the individual to face the “fear of being afraid.” Once we face a particular fear, we might very well be on the way to victory in our lives. I highly recommend this book for inspirational and encouraging true-life stories that defy traditional thought.

Writers of Kern Spring Writing Conference, March 15

March 3, 2014 By Natalia Corres

$20 members — $30 non-members
Clarion Hotel
3540 Rosedale Hwy. (Hwy. 58)
Bakersfield, CA 93308

8:00 – 8:30 Meet & Greet with continental breakfast

8:30 – 9:00 Welcome, Writers of Kern President, Dana Martin

Book sales provided by Book Hounds, hourly door prizes, Q&A with speakers

9:00 – 9:45 – CAROL SANDERS

A Writer’s Journey: In this session, Sanders will discuss the requirements of the first chapter of a novel, then proceed with a verbal tour of her journey as a creative writer. Highlights of this tour include a peek into a writer’s birthing chamber, a place of both pain and delight. Discussion will include the traits necessary for a creative writer, the helps and hindrances for writing, and the roller coaster of publishing.

Carol Sanders is a retired high school English teacher. After 30 years in the classroom, Sanders moved to Oregon and wrote Spy on Clinton Street, published in 2013 by dMon Publishing, Dallas, Texas, which followed her first book, the already-published novel Selene, retitled One Last Kiss, published by Zebra Press.

10:00 – 10:45 – ESTER SHIFREN

How to Self-Publish Successfully: Attendees will learn how to build a platform prior to self-publishing and the importance of social media as it relates to building your platform on the road to publication. Shifren will explain how to develop a theme to get speaking engagements and how to get noticed by subscribing to, and regularly commenting on, excellent blogging sites. She will also break down publishing using Createspace and Kindle (KDP) and other self-publishing engines.

Ester Shifren is a published author, artist, musician, and dynamic international speaker. In 2005, in England, she was featured in the BBC1 program “We’ll Meet Again,” and was a guest lecturer for several days at the Imperial War Museum. Ester’s book Hiding in a Cave of Trunks details all facets of Shanghai’s colorful multi-ethnic population and relates the saga of her family’s century-long existence in China.

11:00 – 11:45 – NINA AMIR

How to Blog a Book: Rather than just blogging and repurposing your posts into a book, or booking your blog, learn how to write, publish, and promote a book on the Internet using blog technology. Blogging a book is the easiest and quickest—and most efficient—way to write a book and promote it at the same time. If you can write, you can blog. That means you can blog your way to creating a successful book—one that attracts readers and publishers.

Nina Amir has 35 years of experience in the publishing field, earned a BA in magazine journalism from Syracuse University, and has edited or written for more than 46 publications on a full-time or freelance basis. She is the author of How to Blog a Book and The Author Training Manual, is a successful book editor, and speaks widely to inspire people to create books that positively impact others.

11:45 – 12:30 Q&A, discussion, book signings, books sales, closing