As much business gets done at the bar, over a drink, as in any given SCWC workshop. Over some 37 years it’s been that way. It’s sort of how I view email. While many respond to email in declaritive statements seemingly intent on fending off further engagement, I’ve always felt email an ongoing discussion, often intermittent, disjointed. One thread of email that may last months or years, regardless how disparate the subjects, questions, heads-ups, mere updates on well-being, remains, at least in my mind, all merely one prolonged conversation. Really not any different than a quality late-night confab over drinks at the bar. You just never know where the gab’s gonna getcha by the end of the eve. And while not everybody drinks, everybody should have a bar one can call home. A place to go on safari with no game in mind. Only the prospect of a trophy to be had.
That’s where the SCWC fits in. Writing unites us, yes, but it’s the passion and personal interactions that prevent us from splaying asunder our individual journeys beyond any given conference weekend. Contacts are made. New friendships flourish. Opportunities and support arise with rabid abandon and curious ferocity. As a result of the SCWC, books have been published and careers have erupted. Hell, even marriages have launched atop the buoyant tide that remains SCWC.
I recently discovered in the way-way-back a conferee who declared SCWC, “The most most positively disruptive weekend of my life!” I like that. And while a friend recently coined me as the spine of the conference, what’s essential that all understand is that you–the staff and conferees–remain the muscle. The sinew. Without you actively participating in our community, we’d be unfit. We’d be a conference like too many others: about the people behind the podium, not first and foremost the writers in the room. Just wanted to take a moment to thank you, all. It remains a privilege to run this show. We have so many more miles to travel.
The bulk of the schedule is now posted, with still a few tweaks to be made, and all advance submission readers are now available for selection. The Novel Boot Camp has a few seats available. And discounted hotel lodging and advance submission deadlines are fast approaching. It’s going to be a fantastic “weekend for words.” I look forward to seeing you there.
Now onto what most matters…
Good Muse
In the thick of summer (and weeks-long, suffusive wild fire smoke) we have many SCWCers with new books available to all those grateful readers we adore and aspire to please.
The first in his debut action thriller series, Conor Black’s In the Wind introduces audiences to rogue justice fighter Nate Vigil … From Jennifer Silva Redmond, the long-awaited memoir Honeymoon at Sea chronicles her hippie California lifestyle childhood to the at-sea honeymoon adventure on a twenty-six foot sailboad that redefined her life … Mary Vensel White’s Things to See in Arizona is a “[S]atisfying blend of travelogue, romance, mystery, and teen coming-of-age,” lauds Indie Reader…
Crime Under the Sun: A Sister in Crime Aanthology, edited by our own Matt Coyle, includes short stories by SCWCers Michelle Rodenborn and John Edward Mullen … Russ Thompson’s latest in his Fnding Forward series, geared for troubled youth, Blue Wall tackles teenage depression … Danielle Harrington’s The Pure Ones, third in the Hollis Timewire series, continues the adventures of her vigilent heroine in a dystopian hellscape…
Finally, a big CONGRATULATIONS! to Michelle Rodenborn. She nabbed the win in one of our favorite SCWC workshop leader/guest speaker’s generous offer of manuscript review and consult, Joe Ide (the IQ series).
Awesome stuff, folks. Best of success to all!
Finally, for those planning ahead, our 38th annual San Diego event will take place Presidents’ Day Weekend, February 16-18, 2024. Save a whopping $175 off Full Conference participation and register by September 1st here.
–Michael Steven Gregory
Executive Director, SCWC
