BAKOBIT from Bakotopia.com
December 24, 2009
Bakersfield's Literary Arts Scene 2010! What does the future hold for local writers in the upcoming year? By Nick Belardes, Bakotopia.com contributor 009 was very good to me. It started off with writing the book “Random Obsessions: Trivia You Can’t Live Without.” The first part of the year centered around seeing it get into print with Viva Editions, while the second part involved promotions and a book tour. The book tour took me onto Fresno TV, wandering around a Merced zoo, sitting in a bar at the very table where Jack London sat in Oakland, wandering the Lower Haight in San Francisco and Chinatown and reading at the Green Arcade, walking cold streets in Alameda looking for a guitar pick for my son, eating sub sandwiches in Hollywood outside Book Soup — where I remember seeing poet rich Ferguson and my son practice music in a parking lot — and right here with celebrations at Bakersfield bookstores, Barnes & Noble, Borders and Russo’s Books, where many in the community came out to perform and support. There was even a night of trivia at Sandrini’s. I swear, I wasn’t drunk that night. The year is over and I think about not just my work, but books I received by authors who are now my friends. Hazel Dixon-Cooper’s astrologically cool “Work on a Rotten Day,” Greg Olear’s murderous “Totally Killer,” Duke Haney’s epic music-filled “Banned For Life,” Lauren Baratz-Logsted’s children’s fantasy “Sisters 8” series, Gina Frangello’s epic of the mind “My Sister’s Continent” and a copy of “Beatitude: Golden Anniversary 1959-2009,” which is an anthology for which my friend Tony R. Rodriguez wrote a poem. There are so many more. I can go on and on about the creative writers I know, the authors and poets who write books or creative nonfiction for TheNervousBreakdown.com based out of Los Angeles, which features more than 200 writers. I can’t forget Tim Z. Hernandez and Bonnie HearnHill out of Fresno, both of whom have huge novels coming out in 2010. Two books from HearnHill’s young adult “Star Crossed Series” and Hernandez’s novel “Breathing In, Dust,” promises to rock the valley. While my writing includes more books and more screenplays, my dreams include helping
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Nick Belardes/PHOTO BY JOSEPH GOMEZ
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other writers, the LOCAL WRITERS here in Bakersfield (and its surrounding communities), who have similar dreams to my own. They want to get published. But maybe they don’t know how, or lack the drive to do so. That’s why I started the Random Writers Workshop. It’s a place where I can bring all of my resources and energy into the community to help others with similar dreams. There’s no reason why people with serious thoughts of becoming writers and authors can’t make that happen right here in Bakersfield (I swear, I will call some of my writer friends and put them on speakerphone right in the middle of a session when we have questions only they can answer). I also have to say that local filmmakers in Bakersfield are about to explode with success in a similar manner in which the writing scene deserves (A Bakersfield-based scene making an impact not just inside, but outside of the southern Central Valley, connecting to those outside of the city who are skilled, talented, driven, and connected enough to help make our dreams come true). Local filmmakers will be there in 2010. It’s their year. As long as they continue working hard (I have no doubt they are headed somewhere great). But I’d like the same for the Bakersfield writing scene. Instead of individuals, teams of people need to be assisting one another’s dreams. This can happen. That means 2010 doesn’t all have to be about the success of filmmakers in Bakersfield that I’m predicting. And sure, writing is a part of that anyway. It all starts with a screenplay, right? Success in 2010 for Bakersfield’s tiny literary arts community depends on whether writers are willing to step out of their comfort zones, and whether they will write, share, DREAM and fine tune their works, polish them, get them ready for publication, all while sacrificing what artists of any kind have to sacrifice: time. Thanks to Bakotopia and Russo’s Books, hopefully, we’ll do that together through the Random Writers Workshop. Whether there are five, 10, or 20 of us. As least people will know what I’m all about. Here’s to 2010. Random Writers Workshop: -Held every Thursday at 6:30 p.m. -Russo’s Books (The Marketplace), 9000 Ming Ave. -Cost: $8 *Due to New Year’s Holiday, December workshop will be held on Dec.30! -Info: 665-4686, or email Nick Belardes at:
nickbelardes@yahoo.com