Just when you think you can’t possibly have a better conference experience, then comes another SCWC that tops it. Irvine was that. Such a blast. Such great writers. Such terrific workshop leaders. And what about them guest speakers–Amy Meyerson (The Bookshop of Yesterdays), Henry Lien[Click For The Rest...]

It sticks true today as in any time ever before, what author-philosopher Alan W. Watts had to say about writers and writing: “Advice? I don’t have advice. Stop aspiring and start writing. If you’re writing, you’re a writer. Write like you’re a goddamn death row inmate and the governor[Click For The Rest...]

In Demetra Brodsky’s arresting Dive Smack, Theo Mackey only remembers one thing for certain about the fire that destroyed his home: he lit the match. Gretchen McNeil (Ten) calls the debut novel, “A tense psychological drama with a voice that pulls you in and a twist you won̵[Click For The Rest...]

Sue Grafton declared her, “[T]he first fresh literary voice I’ve heard in years. Sara Gran recombines all the elements of good, solid story-telling and lifts something original from a well-loved form.” Salon calls the series “delicious and addictive.” CNN says she “Reads …[Click For The Rest...]

Amy Meyerson, author of The Bookshop of Yesterdays, will join us September as a Special Guest Speaker. Of the book Publishers Weekly effuses, “In her heartfelt debut, Meyerson brings readers on a scavenger hunt full of literary clues and family secrets…. Filled with quotes from [Click For The Rest...]

[View roast video highlights.] I think it only apt that on the occasion of my 30th Southern California Writers’ Conference *San Diego I should lose my voice. In the screenwriting world we like to explain that, good dialogue is the verbiage you wake up in the morning wishing you’d said[Click For The Rest...]

Out April 3rd in hardcover from Henry Holt and Co., Peasprout Chen, Future Legend of Skate and Sword introduces readers young and elder to a vibrant new heroine and the fiercely competitive world in which she dreams of becoming a legend of wu liu, the deadly and beautiful art of marti[Click For The Rest...]

An unexpected murder of crows boded well for conference weekend, and our plot of writers seized the occasion to shine. From Wes, Chrissie and myself, Rick, Linda and Cricket, to all the workshop leaders, guest speakers, and agents–and most importantly to the conferees themselves, who [Click For The Rest...]

Author of The Dining Car, his sumptuous telling of “a story of service, serendipity, and second chances,” Eric Peterson will round out our 32nd annual San Diego conference schedule. As our Sunday afternoon Special Guest Speaker, Eric will share how he navigated the turbule[Click For The Rest...]

Plot is not story. Even the most skilled application of craft will conceal a weak story for only so long. Story is story. Craft is the toolbox an author turns to to tell a story. Surprisingly, many good writers—craft execution-wise—don’t understand the distinction between the two. In [Click For The Rest...]