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3 Reasons You Should Join the See Jane Write Facebook Group



You’ve signed up for the See Jane Write mailing list and you’ve liked our Facebook page. And for that I am truly grateful. But, believe it or not, you may still be missing out on See Jane Write happenings. Here are three reasons why you need to join our Facebook group. 

Reason 1: You’ll learn about new events first!

Long before I announced the next See Jane Write panel discussion on this blog or via email, I announced it first on the See Jane Write Facebook group page. In case you missed it, the next See Jane Write event, Blogging and the Future of Community Journalism, is set for Thursday, Jan. 10. This panel discussion will feature editors from AL.com, Magic City Post, Southern Living, and The Terminal. This event is perfect for bloggers looking for a way to use their blogs to support and promote the communities they care about and for journalists wondering about the future of community journalism in the digital age. This event, like all See Jane Write programs, is free, but registration is required.  Click here for more details and to register. 

Reason 2: You’ll make new friends.

Last month I hosted a blogging challenge called #bloglikecrazy over on my blog WriteousBabe.com. The idea was to publish a new blog post every day for 30 days for the month of November. When some of the Janes found out about this they jumped on it, ran with it, and turned #bloglikecrazy into so much more than I could have ever imagined. These awesome women shared their #bloglikecrazy posts on the See Jane Write Facebook page and something beautiful happened. Not only were they reading each other’s blogs but they were having discussions on an array of topics and finding out they had much more in common than writing. For example, several of us discovered we had an interest in fitness. The result was See Jane Write’s first fitness event, See Jane Move, which was organized by Tanya Sylvan. If you missed it, you can learn more about that wonderful event here.  

For January I’m hosting another blogging challenge called 31 Days to a Better Blog. I hope you’ll join us!

Reason 3: You’ll find new readers. 

The Facebook group page is a great way to spread the word about your blog, but don’t think it’s for bloggers alone. You can also use it to promote other projects such as your latest published article or your new book. For example, check out Murder on the First Day of Christmas by Billie Thomas, a new book by See Jane Write member Stephanie Naman. I found out about this book via the See Jane Write Facebook group and bought it right away to show my support. I’ve enjoyed reading it so much that I was eager to interview Naman. You can find the Q&A on this blog and at WriteousBabe.com. 


And now that you are thoroughly convinced thta you need to join our awesome Facebook group, you can do so here: http://www.facebook.com/groups/seejanewritebham. 

Blogging Is About People, Not Pageviews

A few of the ladies of See Jane Write before our morning walk


I have a confession. 

When I came up with the idea for #bloglikecrazy several months ago I had an ulterior motive. While I, of course, wanted the challenge to get other women motivated to write and blog regularly, I also hoped the project would increase traffic to my blog. And I did see a small boost in traffic, but by the second week of the challenge I didn’t care about my stats. Something much more important and more exciting was happening. Thanks to the number of See Jane Write members participating, women bloggers in the Birmingham area started using #bloglikecrazy to build community. The ladies shared their posts on the See Jane Write Facebook group page and in the process discovered a host of common interests. One thing we quickly learned was that several of us were fitness fanatics. 

So Tanya Sylvan had the great idea of organizing See Jane Move. 

This morning I started my day with a gathering of a few of my favorite women who write at Railroad Park. The weather was absolutely perfect as we did laps around the park for about an hour and then sat down for a potluck brunch. We noshed on fruit, confetti rice and bean salad, and other healthy snacks and talked about nearly everything from personal branding to blog design to DIY manicures. 

Here we are before sitting down for our healthy potluck brunch


And as I sat there I saw a blogging lesson come to life: it’s all about people, not pageviews. No amount of web hits could have created the joy I felt this morning.  

I left the park feeling so inspired by the girl power in the air and very hopeful about the future of See Jane Write. 

See Jane Move was an excellent way to start a Saturday and a perfect way to end #bloglikecrazy. 


See Jane Move

Ironically, one of the best things that have come out of the #bloglikecrazy project has nothing to do with blogging.

Throughout the month members of See Jane Write who have participated in the challenge have been sharing links to their posts on See Jane Write Facebook group page. Through these posts we quickly realized that many, if not most, of us have a strong interest in fitness.

So Tanya Sylvan had the great idea of organizing See Jane Move — an event to both celebrate the completion of #bloglikecrazy and help us all in our quest to stay or get in shape.

On Saturday, Dec. 1 at 10 a.m. we will meet at Railroad Park, 1600 1st Ave. S., Birmingham, for a walk/run. Feel free to roller skate or dance or do whatever you please. Just keep moving.

Bring a healthy snack to share. After exercising we will sit down and enjoy a little picnic brunch.

I hope those of you in Birmingham this weekend will join us. You can RSVP here or leave a comment on this post letting me know you’ll be there.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: why should writers care about fitness? You can’t write a best seller or an award-winning blog if you’re dead!

Cross-posted at The Writeous Babe Project. 

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. 

Finding Your Blog’s Voice

What is “voice” in writing and how is it created? Why is it important to add voice to your writing? (Danny's Symbolic)
Image by Danny Getz via Flickr/Creative Commons 



A few months ago I discovered the virtual blogger meetup known as Blog Brunch.

Blog Brunch is “a collaborative network powered by bloggers wanting to share, dream and learn with other creatives in the blogging community.” Blog Brunch hosts Twitter chats on various blogging topics the first Saturday of each month. 

This month’s chat, held yesterday, was about finding your blog’s voice and couldn’t have come at a better time for me as I strive to do exactly that this month during the #bloglikecrazy challenge. 

Ironically, even though I participated in the chat because I have so many questions about the future of my blog, during the chat I realized I already had many of the answers I was seeking. 

For example, during the chat I began to think about and shared with others the importance of having a clear vision for your blog. This vision will help you stay focused, can help you develop an editorial calendar and regular features, can keep you from being preoccupied with traffic and page views, and can even help you when trying to select the right guest bloggers for your site. I’m going to work on drafting a mission statement this week. 

But even after you’ve figured out a focus for your blog, you may still have trouble finding your voice. Here are some great tips from other bloggers I picked up yesterday: 

Don’t be afraid to show your personality. Write as if your reader is a pal having coffee with you, one blogger suggested. 

One thing so many of us agreed on was the importance of blogging about your passion. If you’re just writing on a topic simply because it’s popular, it shows. 

If you want to know what’s working and what’s not, just ask. Several bloggers recommend doing reader surveys. And don’t rely simply on comments to gauge if your content is resonating with readers. Pay attention to what they share on Twitter, Facebook and other social media outlets as well. 

And speaking of readers, it’s important to truly engage them. “I make sure that I end every post with a question or two,” said @alliepal. “I don’t blog to hear myself talk — I’d rather hear from readers.” 

It’s important to engage other bloggers, too. Leave comments on the blogs that you read. Don’t be a “phantom reader” one blogger said. 

If you’re looking for ways to improve your content and writing skills remember good writers are also avid readers. Read other blogs, books, magazines, and more for inspiration. You may want to try free writing workshops too, @mspinkandblue suggests. 

Work on expanding your vocabulary. Not everything can be “AMAZING!” And remember that sites like Grammar Girl are your friends. 

While reading blogs and other online publications can be helpful, if you’ve fallen into a rut you may need to unplug.  “Nothing gets unique content rolling like being away from your computer and living in the real world,” @thecuisinerd said. 

Others agreed and talked about how writing about local events can really boost traffic. I can say that some of my best content and most popular posts were those written after attending inspiring events, such as the post I wrote after attending a panel discussion on the future of journalism. 

Other traffic tips included using titles that are similar to a Google search, which @stacyandcharlie recommended. And @mspinkandblue offered this great tip regarding post length and SEO: “Shoot for at least 250 words to get Google’s attention.”

That said, be sure not to get too focused on traffic. “Try not looking at your stats or ad sales for a month. See if that changes the way you blog,” said @passionfruitads. Obsessing over numbers, @passionfruitads said, is like “looking in the mirror all night and forgetting to go out and have fun!”

Crossposted at The Writeous Babe Project.