Make no bones about it – apparently, shrunken skulls in the late-night read & critique workshop do just fine – our annual Irvine event proved to be yet another knockout weekend for writers. Big shout out to the conferees who placed their trust in the SCWC staff; along with Rick and Linda Ochocki on the front desk, all of our workshop leaders and advance readers. And kudos to our guest speakers Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke (The Two Lila Bennetts), August Norman (Come and Get Me), Kali Wallace (Salvation Day) and Jonathan Yanez (Forsaken Mercenary: Dropship) & Jynafer Yanez. Wes, Chrissie and I thank you all.
Now, on to the awards…
SCWC*LA/IRVINE 17 Award Recipients
OUTSTANDING FICTION
The Darkness that Consumes
By Emily Osburn of Aliso Viejo, CA
OUTSTANDING FICTION
The Voice of Reason
By Kat Clark Naperville, IL
OUTSTANDING MEMOIR
TBD
By Kat Clark of Naperville, IL
Of course, each SCWC holds a contest in which all writers are invited to participate. The rules are simple: Write a piece in any form you wish of no more than 250 words based on the one-word topic announced Friday night. The topic for LA17 was “March.” Here’s the winning entry…
OUTSTANDING TOPIC STORY
Final March
by
Elisabetta Panzica
of Mission Viejo, CA
The march began. A slow, excruciating cadence. One by one, the days passed on by. We didn’t know how long she had, but we knew it wasn’t more than days. Brown eyes looked up at me, still beautiful and bright. I held her hand, so slight and fragile, afraid that it would break. There was so much I wanted her to know, so much I could have said.
I felt the heavens open above her, saw the angels all make haste. Today there would be a party up in heaven, a great homecoming. We talk of this and that, and she is once again animated. She prepares for her final journey, making herself ready for a new body, strong and free of pain, with wings that will carry her across eternity. Her lips quiver. There are no words of regret, no sadness, only love.
It is March fourteenth, when the final chapter of her life unfolds. She passes quietly with a small gasp. March fourteenth. I close my eyes, it has a message, it is Pi Day, and pi goes on forever.
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Congratulations to all the award winners!
We’ll return to Irvine next year with our 18th annual LA(ish) event. Dates will be September 18-20. Discounted pre-registration opens March 1, 2020. In the meantime, our 34th annual San Diego conference take place Presidents’ Day Weekend, February 14-16, 2020. Limited to 175 writers, all the details can be found here.
—Michael Steven Gregory
Executive Director, SCWC
