Birmingham

What FoodBlogSouth is cooking up for 2013

Guest post by Shaun Chavis 
When Jason Horn and I started FoodBlogSouth three years ago: 

I thought it would be a one-day workshop with about 50 to 75 people. 

I didn’t think we’d have a sell-out crowd the first year. 

And I had no clue how many great friendships and opportunities it would create… not just for me and Jason, but for the bloggers, speakers, and sponsors who have been a part. 

High Road Ice Cream of Atlanta served ice cream samples at the last FoodBlogSouth Conference
and they’ll be back in 2013!



Jason and I started FBS for two reasons: Reason #1, most of the food blogging conferences were either in New York or somewhere on the West Coast. If you’re in the South, you can easily spend $1000 or more to attend a 2-day conference in either of those spots. We wanted something we, and our other food blogging friends in the South, could attend without breaking the bank. We also felt like Southern food bloggers in general have something unique to contribute to the entire food blogging world, and we wanted a conference that could support and call attention to that. And we realized Birmingham had a lot of great resources to be able to do it. The talent here alone is a hidden incredible gem.

Reason #2: We wanted to support a local non-profit children’s writing project that was just starting up, Desert Island Supply Company (DISCO).

So here we are, just a few months from our third event! For FoodBlogSouth 2013, we’ve got three tracks. A half-day beginning track, a full day creative track, and a full day tech & business of blogging track. If you attend, you don’t have to stick to one track, you can hop back and forth. 

The Pecans Project from Greensboro, which helps high school dropouts learn business skills,
served spiced nut samples and pecan butter samples at FoodBlogSouth 2012. 

Ready for the highlights? 
  • Our keynote speaker is J. Kenji-Alt Lopez, of Serious Eats. His Food Lab posts are great, and he’s got a Food Lab 2-volume book coming out in 2013. 
  • Bloggers told us they wanted more about how to be unique and creative, and I don’t think any blogger does that better than Adam Roberts of The Amateur Gourmet (any food blog fan who’s been around a while remembers his Janet Jackson Cupcake post after the infamous Superbowl halftime wardrobe malfunction —that post got him a few minutes on CNN).  He’ll talk about writing. 
  • We’ve got two photography sessions: #1, a camera phone session with Beau Gustafson, a local freelance photographer who’s done a lot of work at Southern Progress Corporation. (If you’ve ever tried to take a picture of a restaurant dinner with nothing but a candle on the table for light, this is the session to attend!) #2, an advanced photography session, led by two previous FBS attendees—Helene Dujardin (Tartlette)  who is a professional photographer, awesome blogger, and author of Plate to Pixel: Digital Food Photography and Styling. She’s working with Tami Hardeman of Running with Tweezers, who is a professional food stylist. 
  • We’ve got a fun twist on recipe writing this year, and it’s starting with a game for bloggers that’s already starting (wanna play)? The game is called Recipe Telephone, based on the game Telephone (remember that game as a kid)? Bloggers are taking turns changing a Roast Chicken recipe one at a time, and passing it on to the next blogger. No telling what it’ll turn into! Cookbook author Cynthia Graubert will use the recipes from the game in her recipe writing session. (And, the recipes will be published in a chapbook.) 
  • Martie Duncan, of Martie Knows Parties, and a contestant on Food Network’s “The Next Food Network Star,” is doing a session about How to Cook on Camera. 

Goo Goo Cluster was a proud sponsor of FoodBlogSouth 2012.
Can you think of a more iconic Southern candy?

We’ve also got sessions on how to brand yourself as a blogger, how to write your own cookbook, a session where experienced bloggers share how they juggle blogging and the rest of everyday life, SEO and tools for bloggers, and more. Plus there’s going to be some good food: Look for some delicious cheeses for breakfast, and we’ve got a crew of chefs from Baton Rouge coming to cook for our after-party. 


FoodBlogSouth has always had another mission, too: Proceeds support the Desert Island Supply Company (DISCO), a non-profit children’s writing center in Birmingham. FBS 2012 raised $13,000 for DISCO, which just had its grand opening the weekend before Thanksgiving. I’m on the board of DISCO, and anyone who knows me knows I have personal reasons for supporting DISCO. My paternal grandfather was illiterate—as an adult, he couldn’t write his own name. No one should grow up without knowing how to read and write. Knowing how to write and communicate ideas on paper is power. And, my other reason is that reading and writing has always meant so much to me. I grew up an Army brat, which meant moving around a lot and losing friends. (No email, Facebook, Skype, or FaceTime back in those days!) Books and writing were the companions that I’d never lose, no matter where we moved.

I hope you’ll join us for FBS 2013… for the sessions, for the chance to meet other bloggers and make new friends, and to support a place that gives kids opportunities to write. We’ve had great support from bloggers all over the South, from the City of Birmingham, from colleagues at Southern Progress / Time Inc., and from Alabama businesses. All of our speakers have been great, too. 

If you plan to sign up, use the code “SeeJane” to get 10% off your registration. 

You Need an Elevator Pitch

Elevator
Image by robinsonsmay via Flickr/Creative Commons

Yesterday after stuffing myself with turkey, dressing, macaroni & cheese, greens, and yams, I somehow resisted slipping into a food coma and started chatting with my dad about my future. During our talk I announced that I had plans to start my own business, sort of. I saw his face light up. My father, who’s always been my biggest cheerleader, was eager to know more. So I started to tell him a bit about See Jane Write and how I had plans to transform my little networking group into a non-profit organization. “OK, tell me what it will do,” my pops asked.

I had an answer, a very looong and detailed answer. As I was explaining what See Jane Write has done in the past and what I hope the group will do in the future I felt I was rambling. My father listened intently, hanging on my every word, and showed how confident he was in my future success, but that’s because he’s my daddy. If I were pitching my idea to a potential sponsor or to a woman I hoped would be part of See Jane Write I would have been tuned out after my first few sentences, I thought.

Immediately after this conversation I decided I needed to draft an elevator speech for See Jane Write. Chances are you need to draft one for one of your project as well, whether it’s a business you hope to start, a blog you recently launched, or a book you’d like to publish.

An elevator pitch, as I’m sure you know, is a brief speech that you can use to spark interest in your organization, project, or idea. Obviously, it should last no longer than a short elevator ride of about 30 seconds — hence the name.

An elevator pitch should answer three important questions — WHO, WHAT, and WHY — and should state a goal. Who are you? What do you do and what problem do you seek to solve? Why is your organization/project/idea unique? Explain your short term goals.

Here’s what I’ve come up with:

See Jane Write is an organization for women writers of Birmingham. 
It offers free programs, such as workshops and panel discussions, to help fiction and non-fiction writers sharpen their skills and to help women writers learn how to promote themselves and their work. 
This group also strives to build community among women writers through social media and networking events. 
My hope is to register See Jane Write as a non-profit organization within the next year so that we can be eligible for grants that will allow the group to do even more for local women writers and launch a program for teenage girls interested in writing careers. 

Clocking in at 39.1 seconds, it’s a bit long, but I think it will do the job for now. Feel free to leave tips for improvement in the comments.

What’s your elevator pitch? 

Cross posted at The Writeous Babe Project.

“I do it for the joy it brings”

 

In a post about why she blogs, Birmingham-based blogger and editor Erin Street quoted my favorite Ani DiFranco song, “Joyful Girl,” and inspired my blog post for today.


For years I’ve thought that this song, particularly the first verse, describes perfectly my love for writing. It explains why I’ve wanted to be a writer since the age of 7 even though it’s a rather thankless and low-paying occupation that most people regard as a hobby. 

But last week as I was listening to the song (on repeat) in my car I realized the first verse also explains why I’m so determined to build up See Jane Write. I’ve been asked plenty of times why I bother organizing events for local women writers even though I’m not making money off my efforts. In fact, I usually spend money to make these events happen. And yes, the time I spend on these programs I could be using to work on my own writing. But the joy, the downright giddiness, that I feel when working on See Jane Write activities is invaluable. 

I do it for the joy it brings

Because I’m a joyful girl 

Because the world owes me nothing

And we owe each other the world. 

I do it because it’s the least I can do 

I do it because I learned it from you

I do it just because I want to

Because I want to

— Ani DiFranco, “Joyful Girl” 

Crossposted at The Writeous Babe Project.

How To Blog Every Day For a Year



This month I am striving to publish a meaningful blog post every day for 30 days over at The Writeous Babe Project. I’ve never been able to pull this off in the past so I must admit that I’m a bit nervous, especially since I’m leading this #bloglikecrazy challenge.
But then I look at bloggers like Jen West of The Jen West Quest and I’m reminded that anything is possible.
Jen West blogged every day not just for a month and not just for a season, but for nearly two years!
She started her blog simply as an accountability tool to lose weight.  “I was in desperate need to find motivation and excitement in the process of such a mundane task,” West said.
But in the process of losing weight, West gained an intense love for blogging, which she discussed with me recently and offered great advice for those of us ready to #bloglikecrazy. 


Jen West
Photo by Angela Karen
You blogged every day for over a year. Was this something you set out to do or did it just happen?
When I first started my blog, I committed 100% to blogging every single day until I lost every pound that I wanted to lose.  Four and a half months later when I achieved my goal of losing 47 pounds, I decided that I still loved to write on a daily basis.  I continued on to blog every day for almost 650 days.


How did you manage to do this? How did you find time to blog daily? Did you have a certain time of day in which you would write?


I found that with a daily commitment, writing in the mornings made it much easier to knock out.  My brain is at its best when I first wake up.  Plus, it’s a great feeling to know that you’ve finished it as you go on throughout your day instead of rushing through it later on.  I also gave myself an hour a day to write, edit and post.  Having a time cap made me concentrate better.




Did you ever face writer’s block?

Yes, I faced writer’s block often.  I would have really “on” weeks where I could write with ease, then others I would really struggle with content.  I found that the days I struggled, though, were the days

I had the best posts.  I forced myself to dig deep, because it wasn’t an option to skip.  When I get stuck I ask myself questions like, how am I feeling right now and why? What are my current goals and dreams?

What are my plans?  Where am I in life and what’s in the future? What do I love?  You can always find things to write about when you have passion and are in touch with yourself.


I remember when you decided to stop posting daily you mentioned on your blog that it was actually difficult for you not to post as often. Why was that?

When I stopped writing every day it felt like a big chapter of my life was closing.  I actually still wonder what it would be like if I had continued on.  But here’s the thing: I can always start it back up again.  I will never stop writing in my blog. The daily part was just an exercise in discipline more than anything else.  I write for myself, and I should do it as much as I want to.  I’m at a similar place with exercise in my life, it is no longer about a schedule, but for an experience.

And at the end of our interview West reminded me of something that we can not only apply to blogging but anything meaningful and healthy that we do for ourselves: “You will never regret it once it’s done.  It might be a challenge in the beginning, in the middle and in the end, but damn if you won’t feel good once you’re done. Blogging is a confidence booster, and most importantly a reminder that you are worth the time and effort!”

Build Your Tribe (and Your Resume) With Twitter

Twitter escultura de arena
Photo by Rosaura Ochoa
Image via Flickr/Creative Commons

Believe it or not, there are still people who don’t understand the purpose of social media. Some people still think social networking sites are just a high-tech form of teenage gossip and a colossal waste of time. These people couldn’t be more wrong.

For writers, social media could be the key to landing your next freelance gig. For example, the editor for one of the websites I write for found me through LinkedIn. And last year I had the opportunity to write a few articles for my one of my favorite online magazines because of Twitter. I began following one of the site’s editors on Twitter and whenever she would post articles and encouraging words that really resonated with me I would let her know by replying to her tweets and she graciously responded. Then one day I decided to ask her, through Twitter, about writing for her publication. She sent me her email address (which I’d tried finding in the past to no avail) and I sent her a few story pitches. A week later my byline was on the site. 

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Through Twitter you can not only find writing gigs, but also other writing gals! I have met so many ambitious, creative, and forward-thinking women writers in Birmingham thanks to social media. I was inspired to write this post because of a coffee date I had last week with a new friend who goes by the Twitter handle @see_clair_write. 

We met a few weeks ago at a panel discussion on the future of journalism, but we truly have Twitter to thank for our connection. This event was thrown by people who actually do understand social media, and the organizers encouraged attendees to tweet questions and comments during the talk. Those tweets were projected onto a screen at the front of the room and used to help guide the conversation. Not only did @see_clair_write catch my eye because of her awesome Twitter handle, but I was intrigued by and agreed with her insightful tweets. So I retweeted a few of her posts. Then I saw she retweeted a few of mine. 

When the panel discussion ended I leapt from my chair on a mission: I had to find this @see_clair_write. Evidently, she had the same idea and we walked straight to each other. (This is why you need a photo on your Twitter account, people. If you still have that stupid egg as your avatar please fix that right now. Go on. I’ll wait…)

Clair and I exchanged information and last week sat in Urban Standard coffee house for hours talking about writing and so much more. 

This is surely the beginning of a beautiful friendship and we owe it all to you, Twitter! 


Crossposted at The Writeous Babe Project.