News And Announcements

Among those joining us September is John Vorhaus, author of The Albuquerque Turkey, his wildly readable sequel to The California Roll. Chronicling the capers of grifters Radar Hoverlander and Allie Quinn, Kirkus calls his latest, “Pleasantly preposterous.” Booklist raves, “Clever and glib and fine entertainment.” Even Publishers Weekly assures that “Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen fans should be pleased.” Also a screenwriter, John’s The Comic Toolbox: How to be Funny Even if You’re Not remains the seminal book on writing comedy for TV and film, and his numerous titles on poker, including the six-volume Killer Poker series, remain ridiculously popular. Along with being Friday evening’s special guest speaker, as is befitting, John will be conducting a rather unique workshop.

Andrew Peterson, whose breakout novel First to Kill evolved from our PS2 event, is back.  His latest to feature former Marine sniper Nathan McBride, Forced to Kill, is out tomorrow on Audible.com read by none other than the voice of Jack Reacher, Dick Hill. Following a far too long hiatus, author and award-winning filmmaker Pamela Jaye Smith returns. Her latest, Symbols * Images * Codes: The Secret Language of Meaning in Film, TV, Games and Visual Media, should prove especially useful for book writers in this Age of the Entrepreneurial Author.

Joining us for the first time is playwright, television and screenwriter Kat Smith. Named one of the “25 New Indie Faces to Watch” by Filmmaker magazine, Kat’s scripted for ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox/FX, Starz/Encore, Warner Brothers, Universal and others, is an alumnus of AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women and Film Independent’s Directors lab.  Kat will debut a severe character building workshop culled from her 20 years of professional experience, as well as her studies with renowned acting teacher William Esper and lifetime fascination with psychology.

Plenty of familiar friends will be with us in Newport Beach, including such popular workshop leaders as Judy Reeves, Laura Taylor and Robert Yehling.  Behler Publications editorial director Lynn Price will be there.  And, of course, Drusilla Campbell will be conducting yet another round of her total immersion NovelCram: Building the Better Book.  On the agents front, Gordon Warnock of Andrea Hurst & Associates and van Haitsma Literary’s Sally van Haitsma are committed, with plenty others yet to be announced.

Lots more updates comin’ up.  Remember that the Newport Beach conference is more limited in size than San Diego.  Reserve your spot by taking advantage of the $75 Early “Bard” Discount today.

Six months ’til LA9, only one month out of SD25, and we got mucho good “muse” to report.  ZOVA Books has signed Jessica Therrien for her debut novel The Descendants after discovering her in workshop at our February event.  A boutique publisher representing such acclaimed authors as Dances With Wolves novelist and Academy Award winning screenwriter Michael Blake, as well as Pulitzer nominated bestselling author of Sacagawea, Anna Lee Waldo, the deal with Jessica marks a significant expansion of their catalog into the young adult readership.  Release is slated for February, 2012.

Also just in, SD21 Outstanding Fiction Award winning conferee Laurence O’Brien — who traveled from Dublin, Ireland to join us — reports, “Just thought you would like to know that I have been offered a 3-book publishing contract with Harper Collins UK with world rights to follow and a January 2012 launch of my first book, The Istanbul Puzzle, to be followed in January 2013 by The Jerusalem Puzzle.”  Workshop leader and freelance editor Jean Jenkins can take a lot of the credit for that.

Overall, been a great many months for past SCWC conferees.  Among the most recently published: Raul Ramos y Sanchez (House Divided), Claudia Whitsitt (The Wrong Guy), John Rosenberg (The Healthy Edit), Jenny Hilborne (Madness and Murder), T.B. Smith (The Sticking Place), Julie Ann Weinstein (Flashes from the Other World), E. Scott Menter and Kelly Thacker (Hummingbird Review), and Pam Goldstein (Chicken Soup for the Empty Nester, along with her first play, The Interview, which premieres April).

We’ll begin rolling out staff announcements for our September event over the next several weeks.  As with the San Diego conference, we’re keeping up to speed on digital innovations impacting the industry, and all that every writer needs to know to flourish in this new Age of the Entrepreneurial Author.  In the meantime, register before June 1st to take advantage of the $75 Early “Bard” Discount.  You’ve earned it!

Newport Beach rocked on every level — literally so Saturday evening!  From the agents to the editors to even the most curmudgeonly veteran workshop leader, consensus is that the quality of material presented by conferees at LA8 possibly hit a new high.  As with every SCWC event, however, only a chosen few can be singled out for award recognition.

SCWC*LA 8 Award Recipients:

OUTSTANDING FICTION
Ceremony by Indy Quillen
of San Diego, CA

OUTSTANDING NON-FICTION
How to Raise a Husband by Tonilyn Hornung
from Granada Hills, CA

OUTSTANDING TOPIC
Debacle’s Muse (read here) by Tracy Neis
from Placentia, CA

Congratulations to the honorees.  And congratulations to all the writers who joined our community this past weekend.  As you now know, you’re an essential part of it and you are not alone.  If you haven’t already, join the SCWC Facebook group and keep us informed of all your writerly success.  Our 25th annual San Diego event is only five months away.  Now go forth and write well!

Author Maralys Wills has been added to the schedule.  In addition to conducting at least a read & critique workshop or two, she’ll be accepting advance submissions in mainstream, literary and historical fiction, along with memoir and narrative non-fiction.  Ever the genre-skipping authority, her recent Damn the Rejections, Full Speed Ahead is a must-have for all writers determined to sell what they’ve written.

Plenty of room still available for our Newport Beach event, however the NovelCram is starting to fill up.  And for those interested in Jean Jenkins‘ “Best Foot Forward” workshops, as of this morning there are only 4 seats left.

A heads up for those submitting to advance submission readers: All material must be in our hands by no later than this coming Sunday, September 6.  What that really means, of course, is you should have it in the mail for delivery on Saturday at the latest.

More to report soon.  In the meantime, here’s your latest Writer Replay, in which an accomplished author is reminded what truly matters in today’s ever-changing publishing world.

Jeff Sherratt’s The Brimstone Murders became the bestselling book of all time for Echelon Press in 2008.  Come October, Detour to Murder, the fourth installment of his popular Jimmy O’Brien mystery series, is out from freshly launched ZOVA Books and we’re happy to have him (as well as some of the folk behind the new house).  ZOVA’s also inked a deal for a new thriller by our own Mike Sirota, called Fire Dance, to be published next year.

Deadlines are approaching and to poorly paraphrase Doug Adams, nobody enjoys the sound of a deadline whooshing past more than a writer.  Thing is, you don’t want to miss these two important deadlines: Sept. 1 to take advantage of Early “Bard” Registration savings; Sept. 5 — the absolute drop-dead-deadline to get your advance submission material to the SCWC.  Many of the readers remain open, so if you’re considering choosing any now is the time to make is so.

Speaking of advance submissions, we’re getting a lot of questions about what should be in the cover letter to your respective reader(s).  Think of the cover letter as you would a good query letter.  Be concise, communicative and courteous.

Here are a couple of terrific examples:

1. Andrea Portes query letter (novel)
2. Althea B. Clark query letter (narrative non-fiction)

While Drusilla Campbell‘s NovelCram immersion track remains open at this time, Jean Jenkins‘ two-part “Best Foot Forward: Polishing to Impress” workshop is limited to only 12 participants.  Geared specifically to empower genre fiction writers with the essential tools to distinguish their work from the 99% of submissions routinely floundering out there, there are only four spots remaining as of today.  Pre-conference commitment to this workshop is mandatory.  Here’s the details.

The posted schedule.  Don’t even attempt to print it, else you’ll waste a ream of paper.  With the new layout of the site this has caused understandable grief among some.  We understand.  In the next week or so there will be a printable .pdf of the working schedule posted for download.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS feed to keep up on all the latest updates.  LA8 is shaping up to be another fantastic SCWC writers’ weekend, so be there or be — um — where?

Now here’s your latest Writer Replay, in which Russell confides in his newly found muse.