Collage Consignment was one of our lovely sponsors for this summer’s Bloganista Mini-Con
January will be a busy month for See Jane Write, which means it will be a great time to partner with us. In January we will be hosting a special members-only goal setting workshop and a From Blog to Book — a special event with local author, blogger and bookseller Carrie Rollwagen at which Rollwagen will discuss how to transition your blog idea into a book idea, how to successfully self-publish and how to rock your Kickstarter campaign.
January sponsors will receive the following: one sponsored blog post, the opportunity to speak directly to attendees at one of two events scheduled for January, and promotion via the See Jane Write Facebook page, Facebook group, Twitter account, and weekly newsletter. Also your logo will be added to our blog’s side bar for the month of January.
If you are looking to promote your product, service, book, blog, or business to creative and ambitious women in Birmingham, See Jane Write is the perfect way to do just that. But don’t take my word for it.
Emerging graphic designer Aly Hathcock partnered with See Jane Write this summer after attending our Bloganista Mini-Conference. Here’s what she had to say:
See Jane Write proved to be a game-changer in my media career. I initially attended the SJW conference as a regular attendee, hoping to learn a couple tips of the trade for blogging (something I had tried and failed at many times) and meet some cool people. What I got out of the conference was so much more. I learned so much about blogging, met some incredible women, and (after offering discounted services to SJW participants) received multiple freelance jobs from connections I made. The amount of work I received from SJW participants allowed me to invest in new equipment, further expanding my business. I’m so thankful for the opportunity to attend the SJW conference, and I look forward to being able to continue this partnership with SJW members.
There are 4 January sponsorships available at only $100. January sponsorships will be offered through December.
Click here for more information on partnering with See Jane Write.
If you are interested in partnering with See Jane Write for January contact me, Javacia Harris Bowser, at javacia@seejanewritebham.com.
Even though I LOVE food, I am not a food blogger and never well be. You see, when I say I love food I mean I love to eat it, I love to socialize and celebrate over it, and I even like to use it as a reward for making it through a hard day. But I HATE cooking. Don’t get me wrong, I do cook. After all, hubster and I have to eat something and neither my wallet nor my waistline could handle us eating out every night. But every moment in the kitchen I’m thinking of all the other places I’d rather be.
Nonetheless, I admire food bloggers. I admire their creativity and passion and, of course, I admire their gorgeous photography.
Today, I attended the Birmingham Bloggers Instagram Workshop Brunch. The event featured a 4-course brunch and food photography tips from Rachel Johnson, who is currently serving as a fellow at Cooking Light magazine.
While some bloggers at the workshop, which was held at The Nest, had fancy DSLR cameras hanging around their necks, Rachel assured us that with the right light and styling you can take beautiful pictures even on an iPhone 4.
1. Let your light shine. Obviously, good lighting it key, so be sure that nothing’s blocking the natural light that you could be using to illuminate your subject. If you find that the light is creating a a harsh shadow on one side of your subject, use a white book or sheet of paper to reflect the light.
2. The bird’s the word. A bird’s eye view or overhead shot is best for food, Rachel said. Get right over your food when shooting it.
3. Pile it on. If you’re shooting a bowl of granola, really pile on that granola. When photographing food in a bowl, fill up the bowl for a more interesting shot.
4. Keep it simple. Don’t photograph your food against a busy surface. Also, don’t get carried away with filters. If you do use filters adjust their intensity remembering that sometimes less is more.
5. Hash it out. To help your food photos get more exposure on Instagram, Rachel recommended using popular hashtags like #f52grams and #eeeeeeats. A good time to post photos to Instagram is early in the morning or around 7 p.m.
Many of these tips, Rachel said, apply not just to photographing food, but can be used when photographing fashion, too.
After the tips session, Rachel had us style and photograph the first course of our brunch — yogurt parfait. It was quite entertaining and I appreciated the hands-on activity. Rachel was very sweet and said my photos looked great, but I thought they were pitiful compared to the pictures produced by most food bloggers. And obviously, I had the most fun eating the food — which was delicious!
For bad food photography and more, follow me on Instagram @writeousbabe.
As you might have guessed from the title, Jennifer’s blog is about fashion and fitness but is also about so much more. Jennifer says she wants her blog to motivate her readers to “become stellar people.” Whether you’re trying to become more physically fit or learn how to dress in a way that truly expresses your personality, Stellar Fashion & Fitness needs to be in your blog roll.
Irene Latham is a poet and novelist whose blog Live Your Poem encourages readers to do just that. How can you live your poem? “Cultivate a secret life,” Irene urges. “Take the road not taken,” Irene challenges. And “when the time comes, let it go, let it go,” she says. For musings on books, writing, and living a life worth writing about, you need to read Live Your Poem.
For some people books may just be words on a page. But to Leslie Golden books are magic and that’s what her blog is all about. Leslie’s blog is about books “that follow you home,” books whose stories and characters become a part of you. Leslie blogs about all types of books — fiction or non-fiction, classic, modern or indifferent, genre specific or fusion — “as long as they’re good. Good enough to be thought about, good enough to be re-read, good enough to be shared.” If you love good books, Leslie’s website will become the blog that follows you home.
I also want to give a shout out to Edward T. Bowser of Soul In Stereo. Since he’s my better half, Edd is basically an honorary member of See Jane Write. Every year the hubster blogs like crazy with me and my Janes on his music blog Soul In Stereo. Edd has an encyclopedic knowledge of pop culture and one of the reason his blog has become so popular through the years is the fact that he never pulls any punches. If you want honest rants and reviews of hip-hop, R&B and even current events, you need to check out Soul In Stereo.
Thank you all for blogging like crazy with me this year!
I finally believe this popular Kate Spade quote applies to me!
Today marks the end of #bloglikecrazy — See Jane Write’s annual challenge to post a new blog post every day for 30 days in the month in November.
Usually I survive #bloglikecrazy by planning ahead. I usually spend October brainstorming ideas for dozens of posts and will even start drafting some of them. That wasn’t the case this year. Because my fall has been so busy, I was often developing the idea for and writing a post the same day I published it. But I’m glad things turned out that way because this year’s #bloglikecrazy taught me something valuable: When it comes to writing and blogging, I actually do know what the hell I’m doing!
I suffer from major impostor syndrome, that feeling we women often have that tells us that we’re not good enough and that we don’t deserve the position or power that we have. I often feel this way about writing and blogging. Because of the popularity of See Jane Write, people in Birmingham regard me as a blogging and writing expert, a title I often shirk because I don’t have a New York Times best seller on my resume and because I don’t seek to make money from my blog through advertisements or sponsored posts.
But when See Jane Write members emailed me questions about blogging (questions I had promised to answer in the form of blog posts this month) I could answer their questions thoroughly and easily. I didn’t have to consult any “expert.” The answer was already beneath my curly coif! And on days when I didn’t have a question to answer I was able to easily come up with a blog post idea and write it quickly and concisely while still making it an interesting, inspiring, or informative narrative.
Who knew that, of all things, this year’s #bloglikecrazy challenge would help me overcome my impostor syndrome!
I’ve realized that I may not know everything, but I know a lot, and I’m smart and resourceful enough to figure out and learn the things that I don’t.
What did you learn from this year’s #bloglikecrazy challenge?
Believe it or not, 2015 is just around the corner. Now is a good time to figure out which conferences you will attend next year. Here are ten writing or blogging conferences to consider.
Food Media South: The popular food blogging conference FoodBlogSouth (originally organized by Shaun Chavis and Jason Horn) is now being hosted by the Southern Foodways Alliance and has been renamed Food Media South. Set for February 27-28 in Birmingham, Alabama, FMS will explore storytelling in the digital era. Speakers include Dorothy Kalins, founding editor of Saveur magazine, chair of the James Beard Journalism Awards committee, and producer of beautiful books; Chuck Reece, editor-in-chief of Bitter Southerner; Erika Council, proprietor of the blog Southern Souffle; Roscoe Hall II, proprietor of the site Punk as Food; and Bill Addison, restaurant editor of Eater National.
The Southern C Summit: Connect, collaborate and create in a niche environment with like-minded creatives at the Southern C Summit, an annual conference organized by The Southern Coterie. The spring 2015 summit is set for April 30 – May 1 and will be held in Charleston, South Carolina. The conference promises engaging educational sessions and panel discussions with branding, marketing and social media leaders. Evening events and gatherings offer the opportunity to continue networking all while engaging in meaningful conversations in a fun intimate setting.
Y’all Connect: Y’all Connect Presented by Alabama Power is an annual blogging/social media conference in Birmingham, Ala. The event offers practical takeaways in corporate storytelling from the nation’s digital marketing experts. Next year’s conference will be held in June.
The Bloganista Mini-Con: Back in July See Jane Write hosted its first conference and it was a huge success! In 2015 we hope to make the Bloganista Mini-Con bigger and better offering inspiration and information for fashion, fitness, lifestyle and business bloggers. More details coming soon!
BlogHer ’15: In 2015 the BlogHer Annual Conference will be held July 16-18 in New York City. BlogHer is one of the biggest blogging conferences on the planet. Last year’s speakers included Jenny Lawson a.k.a. The Bloggess, media mogul Arianna Huffington and actor/activist Kerry Washington.
WordCamp Birmingham: WordCamps are informal, community-organized events that are put together by WordPress users. Everyone from casual users to core developers participate, share ideas, and get to know each other. WordCamp Birmingham typically takes place in late summer.
Blogalicious: Be Blogalicious is a network with three major goals: 1) to be THE go-to destination and resource for influential multicultural women social media enthusiasts from all over the world to collaborate, connect and uplift one another; 2) to showcase the value of the demographic in today’s marketplace to marketers; and 3) to serve as a think tank and mouthpiece for causes, policies and issues affecting the multicultural digital space. The annual Blogalicious Weekend conference is usually held in the fall and is one of the best conferences I’ve ever attended!
Alabama Writer’s Conclave: The Alabama Writers’ Conclave was organized in 1923 and has been in continuing existence since. The Conclave is responsible for nominating, for the governor’s appointment, Alabama’s Poet Laureate. Members include fiction and non-fiction writers, novelists and short story writers, poets, writers of business and scientific works, freelance journalists, romance writers, publishers, patrons, and teachers.Through the years, the Conclave has moved its conferences around the state to provide writers everywhere better access to its resources.
Blogging While Brown: Blogging While Brown is a conference and a community for emerging leaders in digital media and social change. Since its launch in 2008, Blogging While Brown has grown to become the premier blogging conference dedicated to education, collaboration, and innovation among bloggers of color. The conference brings Black social media experts, speakers, and independent content creators together to expand their influence in social media and technology. The conference offers an opportunity to learn tools and strategies to build engaging and dynamic online platforms, leverage online engagement for offline results, and create sustainable business and activism models. The 2015 is set for June 19 and 20 and will be held in Austin, Texas.
Romance Writers of America: If you are a career-focused romance writer, then this conference is for you. This annual event gives you the chance to get down to the business of being an author. Expect education and information, networking with fellow writers, and interaction with editors, agents, publishers, booksellers, and other romance publishing industry professionals.
