Writers of Kern

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Guest Speakers

16 May 2020 | Featured Speaker Annis Cassells | “Journaling For Life”

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Writers of Kern virtual meeting will begin at 9:15 am and will include WOK Honors, an annual recognition celebrating members for their accomplishments in the past year. Workshop will follow.

“Journaling For Life”

Do you wish you kept a journal but never seem to get around to it? Have you ever started a poem or story in your head but forgot it before you wrote it down? If so, this workshop is for you!

Please join us for a FREE Online workshop “Journaling for Life” with guest presenter, Annis Cassells on Saturday, May 16, 2020.

In her workshop, Annis be discussing the benefits of journaling, types of journals, and formulating a journaling practice. She will show participants how to write using several different forms which can be used as models and inspiration or generate topic ideas.

Participants will see the value of journaling, and how it can be fun and illuminating.
They will learn the benefits of journaling and how to set up their writing practice.

Click HERE to register for this virtual meeting.

Registration ends at 11:30 PM on May 15th, 2020 – so don’t delay! Register now so you don’t miss out!

The workshop handout is available for you to download and print by clicking here.  “For your convenience and use during the session, we suggest you print pages 2 & 3.”

Annis Cassells is a poet, writer, life coach and teacher. She is a long-time member of Writers of Kern. Her creative nonfiction has been published in professional journals, hobbyist magazines, and local publications. She’s had stories and poems published in online and print journals and magazines.

Annis facilitates writing workshops and conducts memoir writing classes in California and Oregon. In 2019 she published her first poetry collection, You Can’t Have It All, and is currently working on her second book.

Follow Annis on social media:

Facebook: Annis Cassells, Writer
Twitter: @AnnisHeyannis
Instagram: heyannisc

18 April 2020 | Featured Speaker Cyn Bermudez | “Surviving the Slush Pile”

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You’ve written the manuscript. It’s gone through the editing process and several rewrites. Now you plan to submit it to an agent.

But wait! Before you hit the submit button, you need to know:

  • How a story goes from slush reader to editor
  • Why a story is chosen for publication
  • How to avoid common mistakes that get your manuscript rejected

Guest speaker Cyn Bermudez was a slush reader for Clarksworld, one of the top short story magazines in science fantasy. During her presentation she will share how to avoid common mistakes and keep your manuscript from being rejected. As an editor-in-chief for Riding Light, a lit journal, she will share her insights and expertise on how to make your story stand out amongst the other manuscripts.

Cyn Bermudez

Bermudez is a cross-format and hybrid author, poet, and artist from Bakersfield, California. She attended college in Santa Barbara, California, where she studied physics, film, and creative writing. She is the author of Brothers (West 44 Books). Her short stories and poetry can be found in the anthologies such as Building Red: Mission Mars, The Best of Vine Leaves Literary Journal (2014), and others. Her fiction and poetry can also be found in Middle Planet, Perihelion SF, Strangelet, Mirror Dance, 805 Literary and Art Journal.

To register for this free virtual event, click here go to EVENTBRITE.com.

Please Note: After you’ve registered you will receive a confirmation through Eventbrite. Then two days before the event, you’ll get a reminder email. And on the day before the event, you will get the link and phone information for the event in email. If you have not used the Zoom Conference web application before, you’ll need to download a small file prior to attending the video conference. You can do that by clicking the conference link, and following the instructions.  If you have attended a Zoom meeting before, you should be good to go with the link. 

We look forward to your attendance!

28 March | WOK Spring Conference | Speakers Spotlight

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Adam Richardson

Workshop Topic: Interviewing for Writers

Adam will teach the audience police interviewing skills, including question phrasing for obtaining detailed answers, the basics of deception detection, and how to hack rapport building. Whether you’re a crime-fiction author looking to make your police characters more streetwise or a writer doing research for your next bestseller, Adam will help bring your interviewing skills to the next level.

More about Adam:

Adam has been in law enforcement for 23 years and he spent 17 of those years as a detective, having conducted a countless number of interviews and interrogations.
As a veteran police detective in California, Adam has helped authors (including #1 New York Times Bestsellers), screenwriters, and television writers of shows for Showtime, CBS, Netflix, and Amazon Video with the “cop-stuff” since 2015.

Every week, Adam answers fiction-writers’ questions about police work and criminal investigation as the host of the Writer’s Detective Bureau podcast.

Connect with Adam on his website and listen to his latest podcast: http://writersdetective.com/

You can also find him on Twitter: Click HERE.

His Facebook group dedicated to help fiction writers
with their “cop stuff” questions: Click HERE.

Dennis Palumbo

Workshop Topic: Writing From The Inside Out

In Dennis’s informative, entertaining workshop, attendees will learn how to address the most common issues that writers face: blocks, procrastination, fear of rejection, etc. Using a combination of lecture, anecdote and in-class exercises, attendees will discover how to challenge the psychological impediments underlying these issues, freeing themselves to be the best writer they can be.

More about Dennis:

Formerly a Hollywood screenwriter (My Favorite Year; Welcome Back, Kotter, etc.), Dennis Palumbo is a licensed psychotherapist and author. His mystery fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, The Strand and elsewhere, and is collected in From Crime to Crime. His series of mystery thrillers (the latest of which, Head Wounds, was named a “Best of 2018” by SUSPENSE MAGAZINE) features Daniel Rinaldi, a psychologist and trauma expert who consults with the Pittsburgh Police.

For a sneak preview of Dennis,
check out this interview he did on the show “Between the Lines.”

Connect with Dennis on his website: http://www.dennispalumbo.com/

Jerry Mathes

Workshop Topic: Writing Life

Jerry’s presentation will feature a short lecture and discussion with participants about the art and craft of writing their experiences into compelling narratives. He believes it’s not enough to have a good story, but writers must have the tools to bring the reader into that world and take them on their journey of discovery.

Jerry wants writers to learn how to select the key moments of an experience to create scenes and learn how to write them in a compelling way. To escape the “and then, and then, and then” trap writers fall into sometimes when recounting an experience. He also wants writers to learn to reflect on the underlying story and why it is important to be told. Questions to the writer include: Is it only sensationalist or is there something revelatory about it? Why are you telling this story?

More about Jerry:

Jerry D. Mathes II is an award winning author, photographer, book critic, and librettist. Two of his novels are Shipwrecks and Other Stories, and a memoir, Ahead of the Flaming Front: A Life on Fire, about his experiences fighting wildfire throughout the American West, including four years on an elite helicopter rappel crew and ten years as a crew boss and an incident commander. He gave it up to be a single-dad to two girls, taking a job in an oilfield north of Bakersfield.

To connect with Jerry, find him on his website and social media sites:
http://www.jdmathes.com/
Instagram: @jdmathes
Twitter: @jdmathes
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerry-mathes-967481b/
Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/JerryMathesII/

Keith Silvas

Workshop Topic: Social Media Marketing for Authors
(How to leverage social media to help authors
build their audience and find new readers.)

During his workshop, Keith will share what he’s learned about establishing a presence as an author on social media focusing on “The Big 3” social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter). Attendees will learn how to find and engage with their community, marketing themselves and their books, gaining followers, and more.

More about Keith:

A self-published author who loves to write science fiction and fantasy, his journey of learning to market himself as a writer has given him a good understanding of social media and how to utilize its power to help individuals and businesses effectively promote themselves online.

Keith has spent countless hours on research ranging from reading blogs and listening to podcasts, to actually testing the strategies himself on the different platforms. His business provides social media management services as well as web content writing (blogs, etc.) for clients.

To connect with Keith, find him on his social media sites:

Instagram @keith.silvas
Twitter @keith_silvas
Facebook.com/keithsilvasauthor

Cyn Bermudez

Cyn Bermudez a writer and artist living in Bakersfield. She is the author of the Brothers series and the forthcoming And the Moon Follows. She has a variety of short story and poetry publications in journals and anthologies. Her first collection of short stories and poetry is available on Amazon. Visit her website at cynbermudez.com.


Donnée Patrese Harris

Donnée Patrese Harris is a reporter turned novelist. She is co-owner of First Draft Publishing and writes erotic romance and romantic suspense. The author of six books including the entire “Prohibited” series, she is currently working on her seventh book due out in March. 

Jenny Estes

Jenny Estes joined Writers of Kern in 2015. Her first book, The Anglican Rosary: Going Deeper with God, was released in June 2019. Jenny’s work has also been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Power of Gratitude; The California Writers Club Literary Review; and Res Ipsa (Kern County Bar Association).


15 February 2020 | Featured Speaker Jamie Hoang | 30-Day Publishing Planner

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30 DAY PUBLISHING PLANNER

If you are looking for a better way to tackle getting your book published, then this event is for you!

Award winning author Jamie Hoang will be the special guest presenter at the February 2020 Writers of Kern Monthly Meeting.  Jamie’s book titled, Blue Sun, Yellow Sky has earned 7 awards including a silver medal from the Independent Publisher’s Awards and was listed as one of the best books of 2015 by Kirkus Reviews.  Jamie has given talks at Writers Blok in Los Angeles and at UCLA and has over 60,000 Twitter followers.

During her presentation titled, 30 Day Publishing Planner, Jamie will focus on the first 30 days after completion of a manuscript.  Her program is flexible, enabling writers to adapt it to their own unique circumstances and time limitations.  Topics to be addressed include:

  • Query letters
  • Synopsis
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Book bloggers
  • Friends and family
  • Reviews
  • Perfecting your pitch

Ms. Hoang will also discuss the differences between traditional and self-publishing.  If you want to take some of the stress out of getting your book published, join us for breakfast at Hodel’s on Saturday February 15th.  Jamie promises to, “… help get your book on its merry-published-way!”

Jamie Hoang

Hope to see you there! You can purchase your ticket(s) here.

18 January 2020 | Featured Speaker Brent Gill | “How to Market Your Book Without Using Social Media”

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How to Market Your Book Without Using Social Media

Whew!  You’ve finally published your book!  But now you face the daunting task of marketing your work.

These days, it seems that advertising is all about using social media.  However, author Brett Gill has other ideas about book promotion.  Lots of them!  Brett will the guest speaker at the Writers of Kern monthly meeting on January 18, 2020.

Brett knows what he’s talking about.  He has published and successfully marketed two middle school novels, Fire on Black Mountain, and Snow on Black Mountain.  (He also writes a weekly column for the Porterville Recorder). In his presentation, Brett will reveal some effective strategies he uses to both publicize and sell his books.

 Writers attending this event will learn how to:

  • Schedule book signings at various locations, other than bookstores or libraries
  • Schedule book signings around high traffic events or celebrations
  • Get invitations to speak to Service Clubs, and other community organizations and groups
  • Write an introduction letter that creates excitement and makes them want you

You will come away from this presentation with fresh ideas about sales, marketing, and promotion.   You will also be better equipped to recognize unique opportunities for sharing your own work both within and outside your community.

Hope to see you there! You can purchase your ticket(s) here.