HE GREAT WHITE ART is what John Gardner called it, what it is that we, the writer, do. While art it may be, the realities of today's expanding transmedia marketplace — from books and magazines to movies, interactive narrative and graphic novels — dictate that it is the faceless reader, be it an agent, an editor, a bookseller, Hollywood bigwig or grocery store bagger who we, the commercial writer, are ultimately writing for. Communicating successfully to that reader is what the Southern California Writers' Conference is about.

Founded and run by professional writers the SCWC provides veteran and emerging talent authoritative guidance to help distinguish material that is ready for market consideration, having facilitated nearly $4 million worth of first-time authors' book and screen deals. With extended one-on-one evaluation of advance submissions and dozens of read & critique and Q&A workshops available, the SCWC is uniquely tailored to empower the writer with the vital tools, networking and industry experience needed to sell their work.

So whether you're a writer unable to determine why your work's not working, a writer simply in search of some answers, a writer wanting feedback on what you've written, a writer just starting out, or just a writer who wants to hang with other writers, join us for the Sixth Annual Southern California Writers' Conference *Los Angeles (in Irvine).

Your words are worth it!

LATEST NEWS AS OF 9/30/08
>> Print 4-Page Online Brochure  I  SCWC .COMmunity Blog
>> View Proper Manuscript Format Sample  I  MSG on Writing a Synopsis
>> JJ on "Pitch" Conferences  I  MSG on Choosing the Write Conference

[ Note: Agents wanting to participate contact Michael Steven Gregory only if you're accepting clients. There are plenty of other conferences that provide reps who have no sincere intent of acquiring new clients with free weekends at nice hotels in desireable locales. The SCWC is not one of them. ]

LA6 CONFERENCE WRAP #1: A more thorough summary of Irvine events is coming soon. What's imperative now is to get the word out on who won what awards this past weekend. Those writers whose work was cited by a consensus of our staff authors, agents and editors as being exceptional to the point of warranting special recognition...

SCWC*LA 6 Award Recipients:

• OUTSTANDING FICTION >> Ernessa Carter

  from Los Angeles, CA for Molly Ringwald Ending

• OUTSTANDING FICTION >> Stephen Harper

  from Marina Del Ray, CA for King's X

• OUTSTANDING FICTION >> Jacqui Murray

  from Laguna Hills, CA for To Hunt a Sub

• OUTSTANDING NONFICTION >> Catherine Claxton Dong

  from Corona, CA for Predicting History

• TOPIC >> Alice Hayward

  from Los Angeles, CA for Betrayed by a Stray (read here)

BEAT THE RUSH, BEAT THE BOOK (9/12/08): Only two weeks till Irvine. Though there's still plenty of room to join us, now is the time to register and absolutely reserve your space. For those wanting to dig into The Novel Cram track, four slots remain open as of today. The track leader, Drusilla Campbell, urges attendees to bring a laptop (if available), and to read & bring along Harlan Coben's Tell No One, as well . . . On the good "muse" front, Simon & Schuster reports that Saturday evening speaker Stacey O'Brien's debut title, Wesley the Owl, has been the #1 title on Amazon in the animals, bird watching, & ornithology categories for the past week, is second to Thomas Friedman's new book in the nature category, just received a 4- (out of 4) star review in People magazine, and is now going into its third printing. And the book only came out last month! It's been a wild ride for Stacey since first bringing her manuscript to LA4. Can't wait to hear all about it at the banquet . . . Speaking of food, what do you do after your post-conference fill fades and you hunger for the support, guidance and wisdom of professionals to help you finish your book, such as those found at each SCWC? Debuting at LA6, Beat the Book is a new year-long writing workshop devoted to enabling five writers with qualified projects to complete a book-length manuscript and to develop on-going creative partnerships with other writers and industry professionals. Conducted by author/editor Lynn Vannucci, get all the details on Beat the Book here.

ONE MORE AGENT (7/31/08): From New York-based Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary Agency, joining us for the first time and looking to expand his client list is Jeff Moores. On the advance submission front, Jeff's interested in quality contemporary fiction and literature, narrative nonfiction, memoir, politics, current affairs, journalism, graphic novels, gay & lesbian, popular culture and popular science. If you're thinking of submitting to an agent, he's another one that should fill up fast. Welcome aboard, Jeff!

ANOTHER ADDITION (7/18/08): With next month's release of Damn the Rejections: Full Speed Ahead (Stephens Press) marking her second book release this year, following April's A Clown in the Trunk, a sequel of sorts to her light-hearted memoir, A Circus Without Elephants, author Maralys Wills returns to the SCWC with two more of her inevitably supurb workshops. This time around, along with her popular "Writing the Irressistible Memoir," Maralys will conduct a new and needed session that should prove especially useful to many of our female writers (not to mention more than a few men), "Masculizing Your Book for the Male Market."

HOTTER THAN JULY (7/10/08): Less than three months out from LA6 and already the conference is sizzling. Two more readers have been added to the advance submission roster. First, as the decision for a house to publish a book these days is often less in the hands of editors so much as those of the marketing department — the responsibility of which is figuring out if it can actually sell the published book — Tom DeYoung, Senior Vice President Sales, Marketing, Distribution for Dorchester, will be accepting submissions for consideration of personal recommendation for acquisition consideration. Also, multi-faceted author, essayist, journalist, poet and Saturday morning speaker Steven M. Thomas will accept a limited number of submissions. Steven is also conducting a new workshop specifically for nonfictionalists, "The Power of Preparation" . . . A couple other new sessions added to the schedule are "Writing Sensuous Prose" and "Little Things Mean a Lot: Using Small Details to Create Big Impact," both conducted by the inimitable Judy Reeves . . . Because of a scheduling snafu, Iota Publishing's president and editor-in-chief, Terry R. Cooper, has assigned editor Kimberly Cole to cover advance submissions. Terry will be attending the Iota Publishing Roundtable, however, which has been moved to Friday afternoon . . . Hardcopy brochures should be in the mail in the next couple of weeks with the online version (pdf) appearing here shortly. Meanwhile, check in with the SCWC community blog for timely publishing related news and don't forget to register for Irvine before Aug. 1 to save $50 on your full conference registration.

IMMERSION TRACK A "HIT" (6/28/08): With bestselling author Drusilla Campbell returning to conduct The Novel Cram, one of three total-immersion tracks that first debuted at our Palm Springs event, many have asked if we'll be doing others. Specifically, the Script-to-Screen: Writing for Production track in which aspiring screenwriters work with accomplished filmmakers to produce a short film from scratch over the weekend. Short answer is, maybe, but not in Irvine (this year). For a limited time, however, you can watch the last one we recently finished. It's called The Hit Me. Please note that compressing the movie into a manageable size for online viewing made it a bit darker than normal, but we’ll get that fixed.

MUCHO GOOD "MUSE" & SCHEDULE (6/19/08): It's tricky locking down a rock-solid schedule three months before the conference, but we usually come close. There'll likely be tweaks as we work our way nearer to September — and probably an addition or two — but at least you can take a gander here and start psyching up for our weekend of work and stay (awake!) . . . Got some good "muse" to report: Longtime conferee and SCWC award-winning author Dodi Cross reports that her book, A Broad Abroad in Thailand: An Expat’s Misadventures in the Land of Smiles, was awarded the Silver Medal in the Humor Category at the recent BookExpoAmerica. The win was extended by ForeWord Magazine’s Book of the Year Awards. Dodi also nabbed First Place in the National Indie Excellence Book Awards, 2008, for Best Autobiography and placed as a Finalist in the Humor Category. Major kudos! . . . And this just in: Yet another conferee and valued friend of the conference, Gayle Carline, has just closed a deal for her novel Freezer Burn, a murder-mystery, with Echelon Press. It was at this year's San Diego 22 event that Gayle and the house's publisher, Karen Syed, hooked up. Gayle frequently pops into the SCWC blog, so be sure to drop by and give her a big, sloppy, cyber hug. Good job Gayle and Karen! . . . Registrations are coming in steadily now which means that advance readers are starting to fill up, as is The Novel Cram. Don't delay. Kick-start your writing career and register today . . . And finally, tolerate and embrace ambiguity. It's what genius would do!

MORE ADDITIONS (5/8/08): With The Four Seasons: A Novel of Vivaldi's Venice (Hyperion) coming out November and Until Our Last Breath, which PW calls, "[A] powerful tale of the triumph of love under extremely difficult conditions," out from St. Martin's next week, we're delighted to have author Laurel Corona aboard to conduct two essential sessions. The first, "Fact and Storytelling in Nonfiction," has been requested by many conferees. The second, "Ethics in Nonfiction Writing," couldn't be more topical given the many recent publishing scandals impacting the memoir/nonfiction market (check the SCWC blog post "A Million Little Insights" for more on that) . . . From esteemed independent publishing house Behler Publications, which handles an impressive array of genres, editorial director and 2007 Gold Medal IPPY award-wining author Lynn Price will be accepting advance submissions and conducting two crucial sessions: "I’ve Written ‘The End’ — Now What?" and "How to Avoid the Maalox Moment with a Publisher" . . . Best-selling author Drusilla Campbell is now confirmed to return with her wildly popular total immersion track, The Novel Cram: Building the Better Book. As we run The Novel Cram only at our L.A. or Palm Springs events, it tends to sell out as class size is strictly limited. Get the details here . . . We still have more staff to announce and scheduling to iron out, so check back soon for updates. One correction from the last update is that agent Alexandria Machinist is schedule for a later SCWC, not the September one, so has been removed from the list. Also . . .

. . . There's only three weeks left to knock $75 off full conference registration, so sign up now and cover at least a half-gallon of gas cost in the doing so . . . That's about it for today. Have got some good "muse" to report about the recent series of successes a SD21 and SD22 conferee has enjoyed, but we're going to make you wait just a little bit longer to find out what. (What we can mention is they're tasty!)

AND WE'RE OFF! (4/14/08): Staff is being finalized for our Irvine event and the roster will be posted over the next few weeks. As some anxious writers out there are wanting to secure their place now, the registration page has been unlocked for you to do so. Given that we're nearly six months out and there's still plenty much to attend to, a special Early "Bard" Discount of $75 off full conference registration is available thru May 31, 2008. Additionally, as we knead the LA6 schedule in effort to address what most interests you, please feel free to email Michael with session ideas. It's your conference after all, so you should get what you need out of it . . . Now onto the recent round of good "muse" to report: Two of LA5's guest speakers are spitting in tall cotton today as both's debut title success grows. First, Raul Ramos y Sanchez's America Libre just got nominated for the prestigious International Latino Book Awards, established in 1999 to honor the contributions made to literary excellence by Latino authors in the English and Spanish-speaking world (full story here). Second, author Andrea Portes' 2007 BookSense Pick and LA Times best-selling coming-of-age novel, Hick, recently named among the best adult books for high school students by the School Library Journal, just snagged a movie deal with producers Steven Siebert and Christian Taylor (full story here). Know who was the agent behind these deals? None other than our own Sally van Haitsma, from Castiglia Literary . . .

Good friend and longtime SCWC staffer Gary Phillips has a new one out. The anthology he edited, Politics Noir: Dark Tales from the Corridors of Power (Verso), launched this past weekend with contributions by such authors as John Shannon and Darrell James. Dick Adler wrote on the Rap Sheet blog, “[Phillips has] put together...a sharp collection of new stories about the link between crime and politics. He might not have invented Eliot Spitzer or the mayor of Detroit, but he could have." He also calls Gary's own included story, "A thing of beauty." Be sure to support your author(s) by picking up a copy. And speaking of sordid political scandals, don't forget to checkout this little riff we shot at last year's event . . . Finally, beloved read & critique workshop leader Matthew J. Pallamary's new book, a memoir called Spirit Matters, is now out. He offers an interesting insight into it via this author-byte called "Individuation" . . . That's it for now, more soon!

SCWC*LA 5 Award Recipients:

• OUTSTANDING FICTION >> Natalie Scott

  from Marina Del Rey, CA for Rules for Riders

• TOPIC >> Richard Meese

  from Long Beach, CA for The I (read here) WARNING: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE

SCWC*LA 6 LOCATION: The conference will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, located near commuter-friendly John Wayne Airport in Irvine. Address: 17941 Von Karman, Irvine, CA 92614. Phone: (949) 863-1999. Discounted lodging rates are available to SCWC*LA conferees. Conference dates are September 26—28, 2008. Be sure to book your room by no later than Sept. 1st to ensure the super-discounted SCWC rate. Just mention the writers' conference.

SCWC*LA 6 SCHEDULE: As always, there'll be plenty going on throughout the days and nights. Check here to find out exactly what.

SCWC*LA 6 STAFF: In addition to having many familiar Workshop Leaders, we'll also bring new friends into the fold. Here's where you can find out who they are and what they'll be doing.

SCWC*LA 6 GUEST SPEAKERS: To be announced soon.

HERE'S WHERE you can check out all the information:

• Workshop Leader Bios & Staff - SCWC*LA 6
• Conference Schedule - SCWC*LA 6
• Registration - SCWC*LA 6
• Frequently Asked Questions - SCWC*LA 6

THAT'S ALL for now.  Do check the website for updates and be sure to remit your postal address to receive our free brochure. For more specific information, e-mail us or phone directly (619) 303-8185.