Birmingham

Jane About Town: Things To Do In Birmingham In October

See Jane Write won’t be hosting any events in October, but there’s still plenty for women writers and bloggers to do in Birmingham this month.

Swoozie’s Birmingham TOAST to TEN

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Join Swoozie’s at The Summit as they TOAST to TEN years of business in Birmingham on Wednesday, October 7 from 5pm to 7pm. An over the top soiree benefitting The Exceptional Foundation will feature local artists and designers. Local companies to be showcased at the event include artists such as Bradford Billingsley, Carrie Pittman, Dixie Creative, State Traditions, Inspirations by Janie, D-Zines & Letters and many more! Special discounts for the day include 10% off your entire purchase all day and 20% off your purchase between 5pm and 7pm. The first 25 guests to RSVP to swoocrew@swoozies.com will receive a free swag bag. Swoozie’s will be giving away prizes throughout the evening valued at $100 each. To learn more, visit http://www.swoozies.com.

BPL’s Eat Drink Read Write Festival

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The Birmingham Public Library’s Eat Drink Read Write Festival is in full swing. A major highlight of the week will be the Thursday, Oct. 8 presentation from Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito of Baked NYC, a New York bakery that has been featured on various national media outlets. The bakery’s brownie has been listed as one of “Oprah’s Favorite Things.” (Lewis is a graduate of the University of Alabama.) They are former ad men, turned bakery owners and cookbook authors. They will discuss their bakery, dole out samples from their restaurant and more. Their 2010 book,Baked Explorations, is a tribute to American treats and baked goods that range from regional gems to family secrets. EDRW will end on Friday, Oct. 9 with Bards & Brews poetry and beer sampling event at the Central Library. Get more details on all  EDRW events at the Birmingham Public Library website. 

An Evening of Empowerment

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I’m excited to be one of the “Women Who Inspire” set to be honored at the upcoming Evening of Empowerment sponsored by Girls on the Run Birmingham.  The event will be held at 5:30 p.m. on October 8 at Clubhouse on the Highlands. The evening will include wine, appetizers, and a meet and greet and Q&A with the “Women Who Inspire,” including Molly Baker, the founder of Girls on the Run International. There will also be a screening of The Empowerment Project, a one-hour documentary that celebrates positive female role models. If you’d like to attend An Evening of Empowerment, you can purchase tickets here. Use the code GOJAVACIA for $10 off your ticket.

Southern Women’s Show

The 31st annual Southern Women’s Show is Oct. 8-11 at the BJCC. Local food blogger Katrina Adams of In the Kitchen with K. Marie will be featured on the cooking stage at the event. Go out and support your fellow Jane! Get tickets to the show and more information here.

PinkLux Meetup Presented by Sephora

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Christina Renteria of the blog PinkLux is hosting a meetup Sunday, Oct. 11 at the Sephora located in Riverchase Galleria. There be a makeup application demonstration, gift bag giveaways, and refreshments. Learn more and RSVP via Facebook.

Fall Birmingham Boutique Blowout

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Birmingham Boutique Blowout is hosting its fall event 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. October 17 – 18 at the Pelham Civic Center. This is your chance to shop the best local boutiques and vendors all in on spot. This event is sure to offer much inspiration to fashion bloggers! Register as a VIP shopper at http://www.BirminghamBoutiqueBlowout.com.

Mastering Makeup with PinkLux

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Christina Renteria of PinkLux is hosting another event later this month for those determined to master their makeup skills. Mastering Makeup with PinkLux is set for 2 to 4 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 18 at the Vestavia Hills Public Library. Beauty bloggers definitely shouldn’t miss this event. Christina is a proud member of See Jane Write and is offering the Janes a $5 discount on the event. Just use the code SJWBHM. Visit the official EventBrite page for more information and tickets.

Smart Party 4.0

Tickets are on sale now for the Women’s Fund of Greater Birmingham’s Smart Party, set for 5:30 to 8 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 29 at Iron City. This annual event helps raise money for the Women’s Fund of Greater Birmingham, which is dedicated to helping women move beyond poverty. Each year the Smart Party recognizes 10 local women who are innovators in their fields and who are helping make Birmingham a better place. I was honored to be in the first class of Smart award recipients in 2012. Learn more here.

Do You Like TED Talks?

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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.

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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.

See you Tuesday at the next See Jane Write event!

5 Mistakes You’re Making When Setting Goals

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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.

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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.

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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.

 

*Cross-posted at WriteousBabe.com

 

Jane About Town: Black Nativity & Birmingham’s Best Bites

Here are two events a Jane about town shouldn’t miss this weekend:

Birmingham’s Best Bites

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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

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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.

 

What blogging & writing conferences should I attend in 2015?

BlogHer
Image by Dave Winer via Flickr/Creative Commons

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.

What conferences do you plan to attend next year?