You know that moment? The moment you’re reading along and recognize, quite unexpectedly, that this book, or this short story, or this article is just daring you to write something even close to being as exceptional, and you actually get excited at the prospect of rising to the challenge of trying? It’s the moment every writer cherishes; the one we at the SCWC all aspire to achieve: craft something so good that others are equally inspired. At this past San Diego conference, we saw a lot of such material come through. We expect to do so again in Irvine. But before details of our upcoming Fall event, let’s revisit a past.
Topic Award Re-imagined
Awards are presented at every SCWC for exceptional work recognized through consensus in read & critique workshops and advance submission evaluations. We also hold a weekend writing contest in which all are invited to participate. The rules are simple: craft a piece in any form you wish of no more than 250 words based on the topic announced Friday evening. The winner is announced on Sunday afternoon.
Nearly three years ago, at LA12, the topic selected was “Move.” The winner was Patricia Rinker, now one of only three conferees–I believe–to have garnered more than one Topic Award win across the 49 SCWCs held to date. Patricia wrote her submission as lyrics spoofing the song “Rawhide,” composed by Dimitri Tiomkin.
Thankfully (hopefully), there’s no evidence of SCWC Director Wes Albers and myself attempting to sing the winning entry a capella at the original awards ceremony. However, one industrious author/workshop leader–Gayle Carline–thought so highly of Patricia’s lyrics, she endeavored to ensure they were properly immortalized in song.
Produced and performed by Marcus Carline, today we bring you the exclusive SCWC world premiere of those efforts. To writers everywhere, jack up your speakers and rejoice…
Suck Less!
by
Patricia Rinker
Keep ‘em movin’, movin’, movin’
Though they’re disapprovin’
Keep those fingers movin’
Suck less!
Don’t try to understand it
Just write, rewrite and edit
A thesaurus, ready by my side.
My heart’s palpitating
My agent still waiting
Waiting for the end of my book
CHORUS
Move on, reread
Reread, move on
Move on, reread
Suck less!
Type it up, rip it up
Rip it up, type it up
Type it up, rip it up
Suck less!
Onward to Irvine
We’re off! In the immediate aftermath of what one conferee called, “The most positively disruptive weekend of my life!” we now turn our full attention to September.
Discounted Early “Bard” Pre-registration is now open for LA15 (Irvine). Do so by May 15, 2017 and save a whopping $100 on Full Conference participation. While well over six months away, plenty of trusted friends are already aboard, united in getting you where you want to be with your writing, whether it be novels, nonfiction, short stories, or other some other form geared for commercial consumption.
SCWC*LA15 (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 22-24, 2017. 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 Sept. 1, 2017.
SCWC*LA15 (IRVINE) SCHEDULE: Rest assured that plenty of craft- and business-centric sessions, read & critique workshops, one-on-one consultations and more will round out the weekend. Though we’ll not start plugging things in until later, you can get an idea of the overall shape of the conference on the schedule page.
SCWC*LA15 (IRVINE) STAFF: In addition to the many familiar workshop leaders, agents, editors and other publishing professionals returning in 2017, we’ll be rolling several new folks into the fold.
If you haven’t, do subscribe to our periodic .COMmunity updates to receive all the latest. Join the well-moderated conversation on our SCWC Facebook group for all sorts of publishing news and support, SCWC exclusives, announcements, and more.
That’s all for now. Much more to come. In the meantime, go forth, write well, aim for excellence and settle only for exceptional. And if you’ve got a book signing coming up, let’s hope it goes a bit better than NY Times bestselling author Matt Coyle’s first one did, which he tells the story of below.
–Michael Steven Gregory
Executive Director, SCWC
