Author Q&A with Esther Hatch

 Come with questions and leave with hope. 

Published author, Esther Hatch (The Roses of Feldstone) offers publishing insight for both the aspiring and experienced authors. 

Join us for a night of inspiration and warmth without leaving the comfort of your home.

If you'd like a specific question answered during the Q&A click here for email and click here for the event page.

Stop and Celebrate

At our Winter Dinner, Writers of Kern celebrated fellow members achieving Active status—and thankfully, I was given the honor of pinning each author during the ceremony.

To those outside our writing community it might be tough explaining our seemingly small milestone. Most of the world sees authors in two camps, Bestsellers or Pretenders. Sometimes I’m sure we also buckle under the pressure of well-intentioned friends and family when they begin asking questions on our progress toward publication.

The truth is this, nobody writes well. The only difference between Bestsellers and so-called Pretenders is where we stop. Everybody has a terrible first (or fifteenth) draft. But when we keep plugging away and polish both our manuscript and our craft, we slowly chip away at the Bestseller within us.

Don’t be afraid to stop and celebrate each and every milestone. One of my clients just finished her ninth book. The first three were self-published and were horrific at best (she’d be more than happy to admit that). She learned the value of editors and critique groups and found an agent after her seventh book.

Her eighth book went to auction last week—in the literary world this means the interest was so intense, publishing houses begin a bidding war for the contract. My client did delete all of her early books but she’s kept physical copies and printed every bad review.

Every win (including rejections) should make us pause, reflect and celebrate. Whether you’ve yet to query or you’ve received your fiftieth rejection, stop and celebrate. Every moment is a step forward.

Happy Holidays my lovely writers. See you in the New Year!

—Clarissa Kae

Query Competition

Writers,

Submit for your chance to win One Free Entry to our Spring Conference! 

Submissions are open with an easy to follow online guide.

Competition ends December 15th. 

Winner announced December 20th.

Click here and happy quering!

Thank you, Dear Members

Dear Members,

It must’ve been fate as I’ve had two completely different President’s Message be deleted over the course of a week. The first was an apology over a miscommunication with the last speaker, the second was an all-out beggar’s plea for volunteers and now this—a newfound gratitude for the literary community.

My daughters began a kindness campaign roughly two years ago and although publicly it appears their message has resonated but behind closed doors and through the veiled darkness that only anonymous emails and profiles can provide, there’s been a deep ugliness. Pure, unadulterated kindness somehow threatens the very souls of people—not unlike raw and well told stories. Books take readers outside of themselves, asking them to stop looking through their own glasses but their neighbors’.

One by one, authors, editors and agents have extended beautiful messages of hope to my daughters. It’s this community (that is sadly is used to being silenced) that has linked arms with this rising generation and their Kindness Revolution. It is November, the month we tend to stop and glorify gratitude—and today, I am no different.

I am grateful for the stories, the lives and the books we read and write—and more importantly, share. We are the storymakers, the “changer of lives” as my youngest daughter likes to say. And so, I say, thank you.

Thank you for chugging along on the uphill battle to publication.

Thank you for submitting despite the mountain of rejection letters.

And thank you for rallying around the under dogs and the silenced.

-       Clarissa Kae

Young Writers of Kern

As a board we’re in constant communication, our members at the forefront of every decision. With that, we’ve taken extra care this year in helping our members, beginners or advanced, in their publishing journey—including our Young Writers of Kern, students from sixth grade through high school.

The YWOK Essay Competition is Writers of Kern’s flagship community service project. The purpose of the competition is to promote critical thinking, writing, and research skills. Up to twenty awards of $150 (middle school) and $200 (high school) are given each year. 

In addition, winning essays are published in an annual anthology (a publishing credit before the student graduates high school).

Ava, one of our budding young writers, has enlisted the help of her sisters and Kind Girls Make Strong Women volunteers to strengthen YWOK’s foundation. During the month of October KGMSW will donate all proceeds from their apparel sales and online donation drive.

For parents, students and teachers interested in joining/inviting writers to participate, click here or sign up for our newsletter here. You do not need to be a YWOK member to participate.

If you would like to join WOK/YWOK, all student memberships (18 and younger) are $10 a year and include meeting fees with membership. 

If you’d like to donate via check, (Tax ID# 77-0383293) send to KCSOS, 1300 17^th St, Bakersfield CA 93301 c/o Stephen L. Sanders. To purchase Kind Girls’ apparel or donate via credit card, click here.