Our initial return to in-person activities since February, 2020 exceeded all expectations. Lotsa work got done over conference weekend, tears fell, but laughter prevailed. An honor, truly, that so many placed their trust in the SCWC as we dipped our toes back into real-world conference waters. Huge thanks to Rick & Linda Ochocki, our workshop leaders, editors, agents and hotel staff. Cannot adequately convey how momentous an occasion Irvine turned out to be after all these miserable, many months. Thank you, all.
Now to the awards…
SCWC*LA/IRVINE 18 Award Recipients
OUTSTANDING FICTION (Historical)
Echoes
By Laura Rader of Escondido, CA
OUTSTANDING FICTION (Sci-Fi)
TBD
By Shawn Butler of Irvine, CA
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 LA18 was any iteration of “Tots.” Here’s the winning entry…
OUTSTANDING TOPIC STORY
Hot Tots
By
Simone Berkowitz
of San Francisco, CA
He walked in just as she bent to pull the tray out of the oven, giving him an excellent rear view. The smell of grease woke his stomach as he entered the kitchen where she stood plucking tater tots off the tray and placing them delicately in a bowl. He took in her pencil skirt, silky blouse, and tightly pinned hair before kissing her deeply in greeting.
“Let’s take this to the bedroom,” she said, leading him with one hand while grasping the bowl with the other. He nodded and stripped along the way until he stretched out on the bed nude. She set the bowl next to him and slowly undressed and then unpinned her hair, which fell around her face in waves.
As she lay beside him, he asked, “What’s with the tots?”
“I’ve had a fantasy ever since I taught high school,” she said. “I’ve wanted a younger man to eat tater togs off my body.” As she spoke, she placed several tots on her taut abdomen, wincing at the heat. When she was done, she licked salt off her fingers.
He held her gaze as he started from the bottom, tonguing each tot and crunching it before moving onto the next. When he finished, she closed her eyes and moaned.
“What about you? What’s your fantasy?” she asked, shivering with pleasure as he licked the remaining salt from her midsection.
He flushed red. “Well,” he said, “there’s something I’ve always wanted to do with ketchup…”
###
Congratulations to all the award winners!
We’ll return to Irvine next year with our 19th annual fall event. Dates will be September 16-18. Discounted pre-registration opens March 1, 2022. In the meantime, our 36th annual San Diego conference take place Presidents’ Day Weekend, February 18-20, 2021. All the details can be found here.
–Michael Steven Gregory
Executive Director, SCWC/SWS
