Events

Write Like a Girl

I kicked off Thursday’s event with a recitation of
Maya Angelou’s “Phenomenal Woman.”

For the past few days I’ve been trying to write a post about last week’s Black History Month program Phenomenal Woman: See Jane Write presents the 2014 African American Read-In. But I haven’t been able to find the words to describe the energy and love that filled the room Thursday night. About two dozen women and a few fellows gathered at the Desert Island Supply Co. (DISCO) for the event.

Women read the works of literary legends like Maya Angelou, Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker and Gwendolyn Brooks and pieces by contemporary writers like Joan Morgan, asha bandele, and U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey.

Some readings evoked laughter, others reverent silence, and some the need to fight back tears.

The evening was perfect and the timing couldn’t have been better. The powerful prose and poetry read Thursday night reminded me of why I fell in love with writing in the first place. It wasn’t see my name in magazines or on the cover of books. It wasn’t for blog page views either. I wrote because I loved to do so.

I want to write like a girl again. I want to sit in my room for hours writing not because I need to meet a deadline but because I just can’t help myself.

I shared these thoughts Thursday night at the end of the program because I want the women of See Jane Write to reignite their love for words too.

Write on, sisters. Write on.

Carla Jean Whitley read from U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey’s book Thrall.
About two dozen women attended Thursday’s event. 

Jill Dill Vincent read Phillis Wheatley’s “An Hymn to the Evening”

Lynsey Weatherspoon read from asha bandele’s Something Like Beautiful: One Single Mother’s Story.

Celebrate Black History Month with See Jane Write

Please join See Jane Write as we honor Black History Month by participating in the National African American Read-In on Thursday, February 20 at the Desert Island Supply Co., or DISCO. Doors open at 6 p.m. Readings begin at 6:30 p.m.

With the African-American Read-In a group gathers to read a poem, a speech, an essay, or a selection from a book authored by an African American. The goal of the initiative is to make the celebration of African American literacy a traditional part of Black History Month activities.

The theme for our read-in is Phenomenal Woman (named for the famous Maya Angelou poem) and we ask that participants read works written by African American women, in keeping with See Jane Write’s mission of empowering female writers.

If you would like to volunteer to read, please email me at javacia@seejanewritebham.com.

If you’re too shy to take the stage, that’s OK. We’d love for you to come anyway to listen to great literature. You can RSVP here: https://sjwphenomenalwoman.eventbrite.com.

Please note that this is an event for all people — women, men, boys, and girls — of all races. Black history is American history.

Phenomenal Woman: See Jane Write presents the 2014 African American Read-In
6 p.m., Thursday, February 20
DISCO, 5500 First Avenue North in Woodlawn
RSVP: https://sjwphenomenalwoman.eventbrite.com

Join See Jane Write at the Birmingham Local Authors Expo

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Birmingham writers, mark your calendars for Saturday, Feb. 1. On this day the Birmingham Public Library will present its annual Local Authors Expo. This expo gives local authors an opportunity to sell their books, network with other writers, and attend free workshops. This year, See Jane Write will present a workshop on how authors can use social media to reach readers and promote their work.
The See Jane Write social media workshop, set for 1 p.m., will be led by yours truly and authors Stephanie Naman and Kathryn Lang. Naman, author of the novel Murder on the First Day of Christmas, has not only had great success with social media networks such as Twitter and Pinterest but she also blogs as the main character of her book at Chloe Gets a Clue. Naman will discuss best practices for blogging and using social media. Lang, who has published ten books, has a knack for helping people develop self-marketing plans that get to the heart of their writing goals. She will share her writing wisdom at the session, too.
I’m also quite excited about the morning workshop “How to Write While Having a Life.” This session is set for 10 a.m. and will be led by young adult author and full-time teacher Anne Riley. Riley will explain how to make writing a book a manageable task when you also have a job and a family.

See Jane Write Magazine contributor Chanda Temple had a chat with Riley and the prolific author shared that one of the best pieces of writing advice she’s ever received is “Write the book you want to read.” 

Saturday she’ll share tips on how to actually find time to do so. 

You can read Temple’s entire interview with Riley at See Jane Write Magazine. 

The Birmingham Public Library Local Authors Expo will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 1 at the Central branch of the Birmingham Public Library, located at 2100 Park Place in downtown Birmingham. Nearly 100 authors will be on site selling their books. This event is free and open to the public. For more information visit bplonline.org.

See Jane Speak (and Eat) at FoodBlogSouth



I’ve been thinking about food a lot lately and not just because I’m fasting meat, sweets, and dairy for my church’s annual 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. 

I have also (like every other middle class American) resolved to eat a more healthful diet this year. If you need some help with your own aspiration to eat right in 2014, check out the recipe for Brussels sprouts with fried egg and curried spiced yogurt salad by Christy Turnipseed that was featured last week on SeeJaneWriteMagazine.com. 

I’ve also been thinking a lot about food because on Saturday, January 25, I will be speaking at the annual food blogging conference FoodBlogSouth. Yes, I know I’m not a food blogger, but I’ll be speaking to attendees about generating blog post ideas. 

I’m usually a bit embarrassed when people ask me how I come up with ideas for my blogs because my process is really weird. Sure, I believe you should read a lot of books, blogs, magazines and newspapers to stay abreast of trends and current events related to your niche. But I believe you still need to do something to mold all that information into a solid idea and this is where my process gets screwy. I have this uncanny ability to stare at an object, contemplate how I could connect it to my niche and produce a blog post idea from this process. 
I especially enjoy using parts of the human body for inspiration. I could stare at my big toe and come up with five blog posts ideas. (Really, I can. I tried it once.) Weird as it is, I thought this process would come in handy when the organizers of FoodBlogSouth asked me to come speak about generating blog post ideas. My presentation is called America’s Next Top Blogger: How Tyra Banks Can Help You Generate Blog Post Ideas because Ms. Banks did, in a way, inspire this strange process of mine. On her show America’s Next Top Model,  Tyra always tells the young aspiring models who are contestants on the show to model head to toe or “H2T.” At FoodBlogSouth I’ll be giving a 15-minute crash course in what I call “Blogging H2T.” I’m going to show attendees how they can generate 30 food-related blog post ideas by contemplating different parts of the human body.
I hope you’ll join me at this event. There are many other great reasons to attend FoodBlogSouth besides my weird talk. The conference will feature sessions on photography and food styling, how to turn your blog into a career, multimedia storytelling, and much more. You can view the full agenda online.
FoodBlogSouth 2014 will be held Jan. 24-25 at Rosewood Hall, 2850 19th Street South in Homewood, Alabama. Registration is $175 but See Jane Write fans can receive a discount by following this link.
My fast also ends the morning of this conference, so you will most likely see me stuffing my face with cake and cheese before and after (and perhaps even during) my talk.