In
2009 — after living in Berkeley, California; Seattle, Washington; and
Louisville, Kentucky — I returned to my hometown of Birmingham, Alabama to
teach. Despite the fact that I’d left a job as a newspaper reporter to start a
career in education, I knew I wanted to continue to write.
This
would be my first time in Birmingham as a working, writing adult. I knew how to
be a teenager in Birmingham writing angst-ridden poetry and prose in my
journal, sitting in my bedroom with The Cranberries or Mariah Carey playing on
the radio.
I knew how to be a writer on the West Coast and in the Midwest. But I had to learn how to be a writer in Birmingham.
This is a question I asked myself as I was deciding whether or not I would sign up for SPARK, a five-day writing conference set to be held August 5 – 9 at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).
One of the best things we writers can do to improve our craft (other than just writing) is reading the works of others. “Good writers read good writing”, I always say. And now See Jane Write is going to help you do just that with our new book club — See Jane Read!
While some people dream of being six-figure earning Instagram influencers others are wishing the word “influencer” could be banned.
Tom Godwin, the head of innovation for ZenithMedia, told AdWeek at the end of 2018 that he hopes influencer marketing will die out in 2019. Though he acknowledges it’s a good tactic for some industries, Godwin says influencer marketing has quickly descended into “hot people holding things.”
To be honest, this is how I had come to define the word influencer, too. So when I was invited last month to attend a luncheon for local influencers I wasn’t quite sure what to think. First of all, I don’t have a gazillion Instagram followers, which I often feel is a requirement to bear that title. And secondly, if you scroll through my feed you’ll see that “hot people holding things” is hardly my theme.
But the title of this event caught my attention — #UnSelfie2019 Influencer Luncheon. Presented by United Way of Central Alabama and hosted by social media and public relations pro Maree Jones, this event was all about how to use your social media influence for good, for positive change in your community and beyond. So my BBF marketing guru Jacqui Jones of One Degree MMM and I headed to the event.
