News And Announcements

“Chilling,” is how Publisher Weekly describes Come and Get Me, the debut novel from Norm Thoeming, writing as August Norman. “Thoroughly memorable,” declares Booklist. And author Lisa Brackmann (Black Swan Rising) effuses, “[This] page-turning thriller features a sly sense of humor … and a strong, relatable woman at its core―Caitlin Bergman, a woman with flaws … but who doggedly pursues justice and who fights back against the men who would victimize her.” Joining the SCWC for the first time, Norm will occupy our 3rd Special Guest Speaker spot come September to share his journey, his choice to launch a series centered around an intrepid female reporter, launching with a pen name, and more. A helluva read, this book. We’re looking forward to learning how it came to be.

Dates to Remember

The advance submission deadline is August 20, 2019. Though we still have a few more readers to confirm, we’re opening up selection for those currently available today. If you’ve already pre-registered and chose readers “To Be Determined,” be sure to notify Chrissie via email who your first choice and back-up are. If you need guidance choosing a reader, contact Michael. And if you’d like to know what’s expected of the cover letter, below is Lake Union acquisition editor Alicia Clancy at our most recent event addressing the subject. Visit All About Advance Submissions to learn more.

The 2-part “Best Foot Forward: Polishing to Impress” workshop, conducted by editor Jean Jenkins, is limited to the first 12 participants that sign up. Submission of required materials is due by no later than September 1, 2019. Complete details can be found here.

We’ll be updating the Workshops & Events page shortly, then begin rolling out the official weekend conference schedule.

Discounted pre-registration is now open. Regardless of your path to publication, join professional authors, agents, editors and other publishing professionals devoted to helping you get your work where it needs to be, in Irvine

–Michael Steven Gregory
Executive Director, SCWC/SWS

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Publishers Weekly declares The Two Lila Bennetts (Lake Union Publishing), “Intriguing … Chapters headed ‘captured’ and ‘free’ alternate, each describing a parallel reality … Along with two perfect endings, this satisfying thriller offers food for thought. Flawless pacing will keep readers on the edge of their seats.” Its authors, Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke, the writing duo behind five previous novels, Girls’ Night Out, the Amazon Charts bestseller The Good Widow, The Year We Turned Forty, The Status of All Things, and Your Perfect Life, will be with us as Special Guest Speakers. It’ll be the first time we’ve had tag-team authors address their approach to crafting creativity–and remaining best friends in spite of it. We’re thrilled to welcome both aboard.

Good “Muse”

Several new titles recently out from SCWCers. The first in Pamela McCord’s Pekin Dewlap Mystery Series, The Haunting of Elmwood Manor follows “Ghosties” Pekin, Amber and Scout as they attempt to solve the disappearance of a young girl, missing for 100 years … David Putnam’s sixth entry in his Bruno Johnson Thrillers, The Reckless, finds the inexperienced young LA County Deputy Sheriff put on loan to the FBI … And in Teresa Burrell’s tenth Advocate Series outing, The Advocate’s Justice, attorney Sabre Brown is charged with somehow saving her boyfriend’s teenage nephew, charged with murder, despite the overwhelming evidence against him.

In yet more series, ever prolific author Bethany Lopez has been busy. Night & Day: A Time for Love Series Novella (Blackout Series), Lei’d in Paradise: A Cupcakes Series Novella, and Too Dangerous (The Lewis Cousins Book 5) are her most recent. And that was just in April! After a long hiatus, Bethany will be back on staff next San Diego.

Finally, a couple of debut novels are coming up. From Mike Murphey, June brings the release of Section Roads. Set in a small town in Eastern New Mexico, an unsolved murder haunts three high school friends decades into adulthood … And dropping in July, in Carl Vonderau’s Murderabilia the son of serial killer must reconcile his dark past to stop a string of new murders.

Discounted pre-registration is now open for our September event. Limited to 150 participants, secure your Full Conference spot today and save, save, save. To put you in the mood, in the WTW doculogue below, shot across several SCWCs, authors Lisa Brackmann, Matt Coyle, Sara Gran, Isla Morley, and Matthew Quirk address infusing fiction with truth in the face of rejection.

–Michael Steven Gregory
Executive Director, SCWC/SWS

Following the release of a fifth traditionally published novel. author Jonathan Yanez parlayed his success into a prolific independent publishing juggernaut. With over three dozen titles behind him, including the Gateway to the Galaxy, New Arilion Knights, and Pandora Experiment sci-fi series, as well The Elite, Archangel Wars, and Vampire Project fantasy series. With his latest, Dropship: A Near Future Thriller, he delves into the world of cyberpunk. A veteran of the SCWC, Jonathan will join us for the first time as a Special Guest Speaker and workshop leader.

Many other SCWC vets are returning for LA/Irvine17. Many new faces are also aboard. Collectively, we’re plotting to provide another inspiring weekend of curated sessions, all singularly focused on getting you where you need to be with your work–even if that does sometimes require a nudge from one’s comfort zone. We’ll dig deep beyond Writing 101 topsoil in our craft & execution workshops, focus on the latest traditional and indie publishing trends, author branding solutions, book marketing strategies and tactics, and more, in our “Path to Publication” track. (Plus, we’ll do the fun stuff!)

Staff rollout, including which literary agency reps from both coasts will be accepting advance submissions, begins in the next few weeks. Pre-registration is now open. Do so by June 1st and save $100 off Full Conference, which is limited to 150 participants.

In the interim, be sure to put aside seven minutes and treat yourself to this exclusive doculogue on rewriting and voice, featuring authors Joe Ide (Wrecked), Huda Al-Marashi (First Comes Marriage), and Lake Union editor Alicia Clancy, shot at our February conference.

–Michael Steven Gregory
Executive Director, SCWC/SWS

Engage. Inspire. Impact. Pretty much the mantra of every writer mindful of their duty to the reader, regardless of genre. Trick is, how to do so. There are so many words. So many ways. The only thing that’s certain is finding your way. Your voice. That which makes your work singularly unique and leap from the page into a reader’s mind or heart, or both. That reader who may become your one passionate advocate who can make the difference between success and obscurity. In September we’ll again devote our time to affording writers the tools and attention necessary in getting their work where they want it be. A good place to start is in this Give the Reader a Reason post.

Pre-registration Now Open

Discounted Early “Bard” Pre-registration is now open for our 17th annual fall event. Do so by April 15, 2019 and save a whopping $125 on Full Conference participation. Being fresh off San Diego 33, we’re developing several new workshops for September. We’ll begin rolling out regular updates starting next month. In the meanwhile, here’s what you need to know now…

SCWC*LA17 (IRVINE) LOCATION: The conference will again be held at the Wyndham Irvine Hotel, located at 17941 Von Karman Avenue, Irvine, CA 92614. Dates are September 20-22, 2019. Lodging discounts are available to SCWC conferees. Phone (949) 863-1999 to book your reservation, or click here to do so online. Deadline for discounted hotel registration is August 29, 2019.

SCWC*LA17 (IRVINE) SCHEDULE: Rest assured that plenty of craft- and business-centric sessions, read & critique workshops, one-on-one consultations and more will fill up the weekend. Though we won’t begin plugging things in until later, you can get an idea of the overall shape of the conference on the schedule page.

SCWC*LA17 (IRVINE) STAFF: In addition to the many familiar workshop leaders, agents actively looking to build their lists, editors and other publishing professionals returning in 2019, many others will be join us for the first time.

If you haven’t, do subscribe to our periodic .COMmunity updates and never miss an important notification. Join the well-moderated conversation on our Facebook Group for publishing news, support, announcements, and more. Also take a moment–especially those shopping a debut novel–to watch literary agent and career editor Kelli Martin address something few do, in the video below…

–Michael Steven Gregory
Executive Director, SCWC/SWS

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 (Peasprout Chen, Future Legend of Skate and Sword), Sara Gran (The Infinite Blacktop) and Demetra Brodsky (Dive Smack)? Wes, Chrissie and I thank all for making such a memorable weekend.

Now, on to the awards . . .

SCWC*LA/IRVINE Award Recipients

OUTSTANDING FICTION (Mainstream)
Hula
By Jasmin Hakes

OUTSTANDING FICTION (Historical)
They Call Her Billy the Kid
By Justin Treece

OUTSTANDING NONFICTION (Memoir)
What Became of Her
By Karen Hill Anton

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 LA16 was any iteration of “X.”

Funny thing about the winning entry, written by last year’s LA15 winner, is that he actually unintentionally won twice. Story is, what the judges had selected as the winning entry was actually page 15 from his work in progress, accidentally submitted for the contest. The “topic” entry was submitted after the mistake was discovered. Regardless, here are both because both are eXellent…

UNOFFICIAL OUTSTANDING TOPIC STORY
Page 15 from Work in Progress
by
Terry Black
of Mission Viejo, CA

From the Personal Journals of Philbert Einstein
March 4, 2030: Seven Years Ago

I love pet stores.

Not because I love animals, Good Lord no. They’re filthy, verminous, disease-ridden creatures, placed upon this Earth so that we can exploit them–for food, for clothing, for laboratory experimentation. Synthetic fur annoys me, because someone was too squeamish to kill the fox or mink or rabbit it should have come from. Get a clue, vegans! Fur coats are comfy and warm because the original fur-animal was well-insulated. Fake fur is like fake anything, it’s always second-best.

And don’t get me started on fake food. Like vegetarian hamburgers, made with shaped tofu because no one objects to killing soybeans. Give me genuine farm-raised beef, any time. So some cows get slaughtered, boo hoo. Have you seen cows? They’re dumber than my cousin Joey, they graze and fart and watch traffic. No big loss if those fat, juicy tenderloins are served up with some mushroom and grilled onions. Tell me they’re not begging for it.

So why do I love pet stores?

Because the pets are captive, in cages or tanks or enclosures. They’re not going anywhere. It’s the man-dumb-animal hierarchy, right there for all to see, our genetic superiority proudly on display. It fills me with exhilaration.

Especially if I can use them.

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OFFICIAL OUTSTANDING TOPIC STORY
Excalibur’s Hilt
by
Terry Black
of Mission Viejo, CA

No one believes me.

We’re having a holiday fund-raiser at Medieval Times, this Arthurian-themed dinner club, where horsemen dressed as knights joust in a big, festival arena. And there’s a photo op where you can pose with a sword embedded in a stone, just like the original Excalibur.

So we’re laying out a feast for our holiday donors, there’s a dozen six-foot Italian cold cut sandwiches, laid out on trestle tables. But my friend R.T. isn’t doing his job, he’s obsessed with Excalibur.

“That sword was amazing,” he says. “You know how ammunition can be .38 or .45 caliber? That sword was so powerful it’s an unknown caliber–an X-caliber! Only the true king could pull it free.” I just ignore him, he’s an old guy with a gray beard, half-senile.

But there’s a problem.

The donors are due to arrive and we don’t have a knife to cut the sandwiches. The kitchen’s locked, the chef’s gone, we have no knives, not a bread knife, not a stake knife, nothing. We’re in trouble.

Then I hear this sound, CHOP! CHOP! And I rush back and those sandwiches have been perfectly sliced, and R.T.’s like, “Hey, problem solved, it’s fine.”

How’d he do that? Well, it got me thinking.

What if King Arthur–called Artie, or “R.T.”–has been wandering the Earth since antiquity, following that sword, keeping it secret, until the night he needed to cut up some sandwiches?

That would explain why I found Caesar dressing on Excalibur’s hilt!

###

Congratulations to all the award winners!

We’ll return to the O.C. next year with our 17th annual LA(ish) event. Dates will be September 20-22. Discounted pre-registration opens March 1, 2019. In the meantime, our 33rd annual San Diego conference take place Presidents’ Day Weekend, February 15-17, 2019. Limited to 175 writers, all the details can be found here.

–Michael Steven Gregory
Executive Director, SCWC/SWS