Countdown to Culture Days: Free Online Publishing Workshop in Miramichi
In celebration of Culture Days, for the first time ever Bread ‘n Molasses magazine will open its doors to the public and invite them inside to get a rare glimpse behind the scenes into the world of online publishing.
On Saturday September 29th from 9am to 4pm join Bread ‘n Molasses magazine editor, Kellie Underhill on a journey through creating content to online publishing and promotion in Miramichi, NB.
“It’s really two separate workshops,” Underhill says. “In the morning session from 9am until noon we’ll focus on creation, then after lunch we’ll get into online publishing, blogging, using social media, email newsletters and everything that goes into online publishing and promotion.”
Participants may register for just the morning or afternoon session or the entire day. Participation is limited and preregistration is required.
“I want to keep the group small so we’ll have plenty of time to address everyone’s individual questions or focus more time on particular areas they want to learn more about,” Underhill says. “If we get a lot of interest though, we may add more workshops on the Friday or Sunday during Culture Days so everyone will experience the same intimate group setting and one-on-one attention.”
Morning Creation Session
During the morning session writers of all genres and experience levels will be inspired and encouraged to create a piece of writing for publication on Bread ‘n Molasses magazine’s website. Participants may bring work already in progress or create something fresh and new.
“This is a really great opportunity for anyone who has never been published before to get a publishing credit under their belt,” Underhill says. “There are a lot of really creative great writers in hiding whose work has never been read because people lack the confidence to show it to anyone. Writing is such a personal experience and it takes a lot of guts to share that with anyone and face possible rejection. At Bread ‘n Molasses our mandate has always been to support and nurture beginning writers and give them a safe environment to share their work, learn from feedback and grow to be even better writers. And normally all this happens through email conversations, so I’m really excited to get to work with some writers face to face.”
The morning creation session is not just for beginning writers though, more advanced writers are also encouraged to attend.
“As a writer you never reach that point where you’ve perfected your craft and you can’t learn another thing to improve upon it,” Underhill says. “Writers at any level always need an editor’s feedback, a proofreader’s eye for technical detail, and to be able to create something that connects with readers. Writers create in a private bubble but once they’re done creating, I think they need to bounce their work off a lot of different people, gather feedback and suggestions, then go back in for the critical rewriting process where they really polish it to a shine. So I would love to see some advanced writers attend this workshop too. I think it would be really interesting and educational for everyone if we got a mix of writers at all levels.”
Afternoon Publishing and Promotion Session
After lunch the afternoon session’s focus changes to online publishing and promotion. Participants will see how it’s done at Bread ‘n Molasses and learn how to apply the methods and processes to their own business or personal interests.
“In this day and age it has become impossible to successfully promote yourself, your volunteer organization, your business or pretty much anything without having some sort of online presence,” Underhill says. “In the early days of the internet revolution you might have been able to get away with not being online but now, with the phenomenal growth of smart phones, if you want to be found today, to have people talking about your special event or your work, you absolutely must use the internet to make it happen.”
Participants will be given the rare opportunity to see how Bread ‘n Molasses magazine is published and then distributed and promoted to its readers, while learning how to get a website, set up and maintain a blog, effectively use social media like Facebook and Twitter, create and distribute an email newsletter and more.
“There are still a lot of people who think being online is cost prohibitive or really difficult to do,” Underhill says. “But many of the tools you can use are completely free or very affordable and the programs you can use to distribute information have become very intuitive and simple to use. You don’t need to spend tons of cash or time in order to reach a broad audience.”
If you’ve ever wanted to start your own blog, distribute an email newsletter, or join the social media frenzy but weren’t sure how to begin or which platform to choose, then this workshop is for you.
“I think this part of the workshop will definitely benefit the writers I’ll work with in the morning because a huge part of becoming a successful writer or published author is self-promotion. And even if you don’t aspire to becoming a published author, the big pay-off for any writer is having an audience appreciate your work,” Underhill says.
But the afternoon session isn’t geared just toward people who enjoy writing.
“It will benefit a wide range of people. Some people might just want to have an online platform where they can keep in touch with family members or a group of friends, or maybe they’ve got a hobby like scrapbooking, crafts, baking or woodwork that they’re turning into a small home-based business and they want to increase their market,” Underhill says.
“Maybe they’re volunteers with a local church, school, sports group or other organization and they want to easily let people know about meetings, practices, special events and so on. Or participants might be small business owners who want to better connect with their clients and customers. There are a lot of possibilities for the afternoon! I’ll be looking to see what all the participants individual needs and interests are so I can tailor the session accordingly and make sure everyone comes away with the information they need.”
Preregistration Required
The Bread ‘n Molasses online publishing workshop is a one-time free event in celebration of Culture Days on Saturday September 29th, 2012 in Miramichi, NB. Participation is limited and preregistration is required to attend either the morning session on “Creation”, running from 9am until noon or the afternoon session on “Publishing and Promotion”, running from 1-4pm. Participants are encouraged to register for the entire day. Individual laptops are welcome and at least some computer experience is appreciated. For more information or to register email Kellie Underhill, Editor at .
Kellie Underhill
About Kellie Underhill
Kellie Underhill has been the Editor of Bread ‘n Molasses magazine since its inception in 2003. She studied Journalism at Ryerson University in Toronto, ON with a particular focus on newspaper copy editing and worked as a freelance journalist for several years with her work appearing in The Miramichi Leader, The Moncton Times-Transcript, The Brunswick Business Journal, The Atlantic Chamber Journal and The Reader magazine. During her time as a freelancer, she also did public relations writing for clients including the New Brunswick Community College in Miramichi.
A longtime member of the Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick (WFNB), Kellie served a term on its Board of Directors and was the Editor of the WFNB’s quarterly newsletter, NB Ink, for four years. She has planned and organized a couple of the WFNB’s annual spring literary festivals in both Miramichi and Sackville, NB, and has emceed several of their literary events held in Miramichi, Moncton, Fredericton and Sackville, NB. For many years she’s been involved with Fredericton’s Broken Jaw Press as part of the Editorial Board and has been credited as a proofreader on some of its publications. A personal blogger since 2004, Kellie enjoys creating fiction and her short story “Three Thirty Three” appeared in the Irish literary review, The Sharp Review.
About Culture Days
Culture Days is a collaborative coast-to-coast-to-coast volunteer movement to raise the awareness,accessibility, participation and engagement of Canadians in the arts and cultural life of their communities. With the support of a National Steering Committee and volunteer Provincial and Territorial Task Forces, thousands of activity organizers self-mobilize at the grassroots level to present and coordinate free public activities that take place throughout the country over the last weekend of September each year.
The third annual Culture Days weekend will take place September 28, 29 and 30, 2012, and will feature thousands of free, hands-on, interactive activities that invite the public to participate “behind-the-scenes,” to discover the world of artists, creators, historians, architects, curators, designers and other creative people in their communities. For more information about Culture Days events happening in New Brunswick visit http://nb.culturedays.ca/en.
Giv’er Miramichi is about “What’s up, what’s new, what’s happening”. We are focused on building people up, supporting one another and celebrating our successes.