a website & community for women who write & blog
Allow me to be transparent.
I’m calling this a “gift guide” but here’s what happened: My husband asked me to make a list of things I wanted for Christmas, and I needed a blog post for today because the one I’d originally planned didn’t work out. So…today I’m sharing with you things from my holiday wish list that I think other women writers, lady bloggers and girl bosses would also enjoy.
Birmingham-based authors, learn how to be your own publicist at the next See Jane Write event.
On Tuesday, June 16 we’re partnering with Books-a-Million to bring you a FREE workshop on how to market your book. You’ll also learn more about BAM! Publishing and Books On-Demand — which could be just what you need if you’re looking to self publish your next book.
The event will feature talks by Chanda Temple, co-author of the Birmingham’s Best Bites cookbook and A.D. Lawrence, author of the book When the Lioness Roars.
Chanda Temple worked as a journalist for nearly 20 years before switching gears to public relations in 2012. This change meant that no longer would she cover buzz-worthy events but would now be responsible for building buzz and she’s going to help you build buzz for your book, too. For the past three years Temple has crafted numerous public relations campaigns that the public and media noticed.
Her latest success was coauthoring the Birmingham’s Best Bites cookbook. The self-published paperback book sold out three times in late 2014 and earned an international gold medal award in 2015. Also in 2015, her public relations campaign for the book and the Birmingham food festival it was connected to, won a first place state award in public relations.
Although, A. D. Lawrence is new to the official writing world, she is not new to the art. She has spent a lifetime putting pen-to-paper to express her deepest feelings and thoughts and to do research.
A.D. grew up in Tennessee at a time when children were to be seen and not heard. In 1989, she moved further south where she believed blacks were treated the same. During this major transition, she wrote. This era helped to hone her writing skills by giving her an outlet for unspeakable truths, while she dealt with social changes.
Lawrence is the author of When the Lioness Roars, When the Lioness Roars…Again, and When the Lioness Roars…Again and Again. She also has two works in progress. One is entitled Life Beyond the Shadows and the other is A Coloring of Hearts. The underlying theme in both deals with personal disappointment, struggle, growth, and survival. Unlike these two, the current book uses humor, anger, fact, prayer, rhyme and reason to produce a personal journal/textbook.
Join See Jane Write and Books-a-Million as these authors share the secrets to marketing their books. Zach Kendrick of Books-a-Million will also be on site to tell you all about the Espresso Book Machine and how you could use it to self-publish your next book.
This book is free and open to the public but seating is limited so arrive early.
DIY Marketing for Authors: How To Be Your Own Publicist
Hosted by Books-A-Million, Brookwood Village in Partnership with BAM! Publishing and See Jane Write
6 – 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 16 at the Brookwood Village Books-a-Million
I met Amy Bickers on March 24, 2011, the night of the very first See Jane Write Birmingham event. That night Amy told me about a book she wanted to publish — a memoir. “What’s it about?” I asked jovially. “Well,” she said, “my husband killed himself in front of me.”
I was speechless. I wanted to know how she could survive something like that. I wanted to know how she could ever be whole again. But I didn’t ask her because I knew these were questions only a memoir could answer.
Now four years later, Amy has written that book — The Geography of Me and You: A Memoir — and she’s raising money via Kickstarter to self-publish.
In this candid interview Amy talks about how she found the courage to finally share her story.
Do you dream of seeing your byline in your favorite publications?
Do you have an idea for a blog or business, but you’re not quite sure where to start?
Maybe you already have a blog or brand, but it’s not getting the attention you feel it deserves.
Or perhaps you’ve written a book but you just can’t seem to sell it.
If any of these sound familiar, I’d like to help you get unstuck and soar. Let’s take flight together!
As founder of See Jane Write, I used very simple but very powerful strategies to grow a small writing group into a network of hundreds of women. And this network has helped me start an award-winning business and land the paid writing opportunities I once only dreamed about. You can use these same strategies to build buzz for your blog, book, brand, or business.
I want to share these strategies with you and answer any other questions you may have about writing, blogging, or business
For the next seven days I will be taking appointments for 11 one-on-one coaching sessions.
I’m calling this my 7/11 special. No, you can’t come to me and fill a pot with your favorite flavor of Slurpee (I’m sure y’all have heard about this on the Internet), but I can fill your mind with what you need to take your next step.
If you would like to meet face-to-face for hands-on help, you can get a one-hour session for only $99 (usually $125). If meeting in person is a challenge, we can chat via Skype. This one-hour session will only cost $75 (usually $100).
This offer ends April 18. (We can meet anytime, you just need to purchase the session by April 18.)
Here’s what one of my clients had to say after we spent an hour chatting at her favorite Starbucks:
My one-on-one session with Javacia was more than I expected. She not only listened to my goals and aspirations, she provided me with practical next steps to help me accomplish each. She was friendly, yet very professional. I left with an ambitious to do list which is now my roadmap. She followed up, as promised, with websites, worksheets, and tons of information to help advance my dreams to write, get published, and speak professionally. I now consider her my writing mentor.
— TiJuana W.
You see, after we meet I’m not going to check your name off my to-do list and forget about you. I’m going to follow up with information and inspiration to keep moving your closer and closer to achieving your goals.
If you know you need guidance, but you’re not sure this is right for you, simply email me at javacia@seejanewritebham.com with any questions you may have.
If you’re ready to fly click here for a face-to-face session or here for a Skype chat and then email me at javacia@seejanewritebham.com for next steps.
Let’s do this!
Today marks the end of #bloglikecrazy — See Jane Write’s annual challenge to post a new blog post every day for 30 days in the month in November.
Usually I survive #bloglikecrazy by planning ahead. I usually spend October brainstorming ideas for dozens of posts and will even start drafting some of them. That wasn’t the case this year. Because my fall has been so busy, I was often developing the idea for and writing a post the same day I published it. But I’m glad things turned out that way because this year’s #bloglikecrazy taught me something valuable: When it comes to writing and blogging, I actually do know what the hell I’m doing!
I suffer from major impostor syndrome, that feeling we women often have that tells us that we’re not good enough and that we don’t deserve the position or power that we have. I often feel this way about writing and blogging. Because of the popularity of See Jane Write, people in Birmingham regard me as a blogging and writing expert, a title I often shirk because I don’t have a New York Times best seller on my resume and because I don’t seek to make money from my blog through advertisements or sponsored posts.
But when See Jane Write members emailed me questions about blogging (questions I had promised to answer in the form of blog posts this month) I could answer their questions thoroughly and easily. I didn’t have to consult any “expert.” The answer was already beneath my curly coif! And on days when I didn’t have a question to answer I was able to easily come up with a blog post idea and write it quickly and concisely while still making it an interesting, inspiring, or informative narrative.
Who knew that, of all things, this year’s #bloglikecrazy challenge would help me overcome my impostor syndrome!
I’ve realized that I may not know everything, but I know a lot, and I’m smart and resourceful enough to figure out and learn the things that I don’t.
What did you learn from this year’s #bloglikecrazy challenge?