Do you love TED talks as much as I do? If so, I hope you’ll meet me at TEDxBirminghamWomen on Friday, May 29 from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. While this event doesn’t feature live, local speakers, it is a live simulcast of two sessions from this year’s TEDWomen event and I can’t wait to see it! If you’d like to join me, you can purchase tickets here and then e-mail me so we can make plans to sit together! (Tickets sales end tomorrow so act fast.)
But I hope I get to see you before then! I hope to see you Tuesday at the next See Jane Write event.
Your Blog Is Your Business will be held 5:30 to 7 p.m., Tuesday, May 19 at DISCO. Wade Kwon, director of the Y’all Connect blogging and social media conference will be discussing ways you can turn your blog into a business without relying on ads. I’ll be on hand to discuss how the methods I used to grow See Jane Write can also be used to help you transition from lady blogger to boss lady! Get tickets and more information here.
You’ll learn more about Y’all Connect at Tuesday’s See Jane Write event, but if you’re eager to buy your tickets beforehand be sure to use the code SJW011 to get a $30 discount on tickets. One of this year’s keynote speakers is Stacey Ferguson, founder of Blogalicious — an annual blogging conference for women of color. You don’t want to miss this!
Finally, don’t forget that I’m still accepting appointments for 15-minute strategy sessions for those who are interested in learning more about the See Jane Write Mastermind program. Click here to schedule your appointment.
Most people love setting goals and resolutions in January and I’m certainly in that number. At the start of a new year I always commit to pursuing lofty aspirations. But for years these goals would often be abandoned by April! Finally, I figured out what I was doing wrong. Chances are, you’re making many of the same mistakes.
On Wednesday, January 6, I hosted a goal-setting workshop for members of See Jane Write. I walked the women in attendance through my own goal-setting process and shared anecdotes about some of the mistakes I’ve made when goal-setting in the past.
Here are five mistakes you may be making when setting goals:
1. You’re setting too many goals. When I was a teenager every December I would make a list of 99 things I wanted to do the following year — 99 things! Obviously, I never accomplished all of these. In fact, by spring I’d completely forgotten about most of the things on my list! I recommend setting about 3 to 5 major goals for the year. If you need help culling your list, remember that your goals should always be a reflection of your values. Don’t take on a goal just because someone told you it would be a good idea. Do what’s best for you and the life you want to create.
2. Your goals aren’t big and bold enough. Yes, your goals should be realistic. If your aspirations are too outlandish you might feel defeated from the start. But this doesn’t mean your goals should be small. They should ruffle feathers and raise eyebrows. Challenge yourself! Otherwise, you won’t be very motivated.
3. Your goals aren’t measurable and specific. Don’t simply say you want to be a more successful blogger or get in shape. What do these things look like? Do you want to earn a certain amount of money from your blog? Do you want to run a half marathon? Specificity will give you the direction you need.
4. You’re only setting long-term goals. One reason I didn’t accomplish many of goals of the past was simply because I got bored with them. If you know me well, you know I get bored with things VERY easily. But I realized that by breaking my 3 to 5 one-year goals into several 90-day goals I stayed excited about my pursuits. At the end of each quarter I could set new 90-day goals so I felt like I was taking on a shiny new project, but I was actually still working on the same one-year goals I set on January 1. These 90-day goals will also keep you from feeling overwhelmed.
5. You’re not sweating the small stuff. While 90-day goals are great, you need to break down things even further. You need what I like to call momentum moves. These are things you do on a monthly, weekly, and daily basis to help you accomplish the 90-day goals. So if you want to earn more money from your blog you’ll probably need to blog more. Your momentum move could be to take devote four hours each Sunday to writing three blog posts for the week.
If you need more help with goal-setting this year, consider enrolling in my new time management e-course How to Write and Have a Life. In this course, I will walk you through my goal-setting process and show you how setting goals in such a way will save you time and make you more productive.
Here are two events a Jane about town shouldn’t miss this weekend:
Birmingham’s Best Bites
Food Network Star Martie Duncan and several popular Birmingham area chefs will be at the Birmingham Public Library on Saturday, Dec. 13 to sign copies of the new book, “Birmingham’s Best Bites: Favorite Recipes from Restaurants, Bars, & Food Trucks Around the Magic City’’ from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The book, which features more than 80 recipes from more than 60 area restaurants, is $25. Proceeds will benefit the library. Some of people’s favorite recipes are in the book like Hot and Hot’s Tomato Salad, Ashley Mac’s Mac and Cheese, Dreamcakes Brown Sugar Pound Cake with Bourbon Caramel Glaze and many others. Chefs such as The Fish Market’s George Sarris, Little Savannah’s Maureen Holt, The Gardens Café by Kathy G, Primeaux Cheese & Vino’s Ric Trent and Chris Vizinna will sign books on Saturday. Refreshments will be served.
Black Nativity
The Aldridge Repertory Theatre will present a dinner theater production of Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity at 6:30 p.m. on December 13 and 2:30 p.m. on December 14. Black Nativity is a retelling of the classic Nativity story with an entirely black cast and gospel music. The show was first performed Off-Broadway in 1961. Dinner at this weekend’s performances will include grilled chicken, caesar salad, grilled mixed vegetables, rice pilaf, rolls, tea, and dessert. Tickets are $35. For more information and to reserve your seat call 205-538-1828 or visit http://www.aldridgerepertorytheatre.org.
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.
This year I skipped Black Friday shopping and it certainly felt good to sleep in this morning.
This year instead of standing in long lines in 30-degree weather I’m going to do more to support small businesses this holiday season.
Tomorrow I’m going to head to Fleet Feet Sports Birmingham, to get some new running gear for 2015. Discounts include 10 percent off shoes, 25 percent off winter apparel, and 40 percent off shorts. Located at 3120 Heights Village Road in Vestavia, Fleet Feet Birmingham will be open today 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
But first I’ll be paying a visit to Church Street Coffee & Books at 10 a.m. for The Localist book launch. The Localist by Carrie Rollwagen is all about Rollwagen’s year of only buying local — why she did it, what she learned, and what she hopes others can glean from her experience.
Next month Rollwagen, co-owner of Church Street Coffee and Books, is going to make it even easier for you to shop small this season by hosting The Localist Wish List: Holiday Fair and Book Party December 3 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at The Nest in Avondale. At this event you can not only celebrate The Localist book with free beer from Avondale Brewery but you’ll also have a chance to stock up on gifts from these local vendors: Piper & Leaf tea, We Three Beeks honey, Magic City Macarons, Great Bear Wax candles, Spindle Photography lettering, Stalcup Stitchery stuffed animals, Hide + True leather goods and Sara Cannon Art.
Another great place to get gifts for the art lovers in your life is Naked Art Gallery’s Kitschmas sale, which features gift-sized artwork and ornaments made with recycled materials by over 60 artists. Kitschmas is going on now through Visit nakedartusa.com for more information.
Feel free to share holiday deals from your favorite small business in the comments.
