I love the old adage “in like a lion, out like a lamb” to describe March. It sounds as if we’re brash, bold and determined at the beginning of the month. It inspires me to seize the day, be energetic and bold! To get unstuck on projects that have stalled since the 2022 New Year’s spark.
I know lamb time is coming. There will be a chance to rest and reflect and enjoy the flowers as they bloom and all that spring has to offer. But for now – ROAR!
March is my favorite month of the year in part because it’s my birthday month but also because it’s an annual milestone – the end of the first quarter, the nudge into a new season. It’s when we emerge from the long winter and find things new, hopeful and budding. March is full of hope for what’s to come. It doesn’t dwell on what has been but looks forward to what can be.
For a perpetual optimist, March allows yet another opportunity to plan and execute great ideas and our SCWA leadership has been busy!
The Events &Education team has been hard at work organizing a variety of programming including this month’s Become an Author event with Angela Belcher Epps “Get into Your Write Space” all about connecting to that intrinsic motivation for inspiration. If you’re not registered yet, click here to get your spot.
The Board of Directors is hard at work organizing and formalizing committees. As we move toward a governing board configuration, we are decentralizing the operating work through committees. Committee work is a low-impact, high reward way to lend your voice, your time, and your talents to SCWA. Existing committees include Finance & Fundraising, Membership & Recruitment, Events & Education, Technology, Marketing, and Diversity. Interested in serving? Email me at scwritersassociationpresident@gmail.com and we can discuss what might be a good fit for you.
Our chapters are hard at work getting work polished and ready for submission. We have winners among us!
The 2022 Charlotte Lit LIT/south awards include flash fiction winner Amber Wheeler Bacon, fiction finalist Mary Alice Dixon and poetry finalist Yvette R. Murray.
The SC Academy of Authors awarded the 2022 Carrie McCray Nickens Fellowship in Poetry to Columbia III writer Danielle Verwers for her work “Between Two Poles.”
We’re so very, very proud of all of you! Congratulations!
Welcome to March, writing friends. I hope you’ll find inspiration and motivation in the roar of the lion and gratitude and hope in the soft down of the lamb.
Kasie Whitener
President
SCWA Board of Directors
Events and Education
WHY CONFERENCES MATTER
By Paul Davis
Years ago, at a writers conference in Boston, a journalist from Estonia joined me for lunch. We talked about the upcoming keynote speakers — historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, author Tracy Kidder and former New York Times executive editor Bill Keller — and swapped career tales. I already had attended a few writing classes, including one on the art of the interview.
My new friend, a serious-looking young man with glasses and a bad haircut, opened his conference bag and handed me a glossy brochure featuring reviews of his work. He had written several well-received books about the history of Estonia.
“Are you hoping to land an agent?” I asked.
“No,” he said.
Then why travel so far?
“Inspiration,” he said.
I was surprised at first, but then I realized: That’s why I’m here, too. It’s the reason, in fact, I empty my wallet and attend one or two conferences each year. At various times I have rubbed shoulders with Gay Talese, Jennifer Egan, Susan Orlean and Robert Stone. I’ve made new friends and pitched my book to agents.
But like my Estonian friend, what I really look for is inspiration. Do other authors struggle? (Yes. Journalist Isabel Wilkerson spent 10 years on her mammoth history, The Warmth of Other Suns.) How do authors organize a 375-page book? Do they use note cards? Do their spouses read their stuff? (Mayflower author Nathaniel Philbrick enlists his wife and father as early readers.)
At the Power of Narrative conference in Boston, Adam Hochschild said one of his best books, King Leopold's Ghost, had been rejected by nine publishers. Nine! The book won the prestigious Mark Lynton History Prize for literary style and sold more than 600,000 copies.
Inspiration.
It’s a good reason to pack your bags, put some gas in the car and head to Pawleys Island. This Oct. 21-23 keynote speaker Ashley M. Jones will talk about new — and old — ways to write poetry; short story writer Jessica Lee Richardson will reveal how settings can shape a story; novelist Leigh Stein will explore characters in novels; and nonfiction writer Ed Southern will share his tips on weaving research into your work. The conference includes a Q&A with agents, a pitch class, a slush fest, breakfast with an ocean view, and more.
Four years ago, I scoured the internet — the nation! — to find great faculty for the Pawleys Island Writers Conference of 2018. My goal was to find a writer who was versatile, perhaps someone who covered as many genres as possible, writing and publishing fiction, poetry and nonfiction. But as a teacher myself, finding a great writer who was also a great teacher, someone who knew how to communicate with her students — writers — in an engaging and original way was also essential. Luckily, I stumbled upon Leigh Stein’s website early in my search, watched videos, read some of her published work, and decided to make contact. She said yes!
Turns out that Leigh’s three-hour workshop on how to turn your obsessions into a book was a big hit. Her session was the highest rated one at the conference that year. Since then, she’s had more success, publishing two additional books — a novel with Penguin and a collection of pandemic poetry with the ultra-hip Soft Skull Press. She’s also become a voice on social media and elsewhere, pulling back the curtain on the publishing industry and offering transparency into the effort often necessary in becoming a published author. What kind of books get published? How much does a writer actually make on her books? What can writers do to connect with actual readers and build an audience before their book comes out?
She’s joining us again in Pawleys Island — as a keynote this year — to answer these questions and more. Last year, our members said they wanted workshops on both craft and publishing, and Leigh’s experience offers just that.
Read her bio and session descriptions below.
Leigh Stein is an author, a cultural critic and a book development expert. She is the author of five books, including the critically acclaimed satirical novel Self Care (Penguin, 2020) and the poetry collection What to Miss When (Soft Skull Press, 2021). Her nonfiction writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker online, Allure, ELLE, Poets & Writers, BuzzFeed, The Cut, Salon and Slate. Leigh’s status as a working writer, along with her publishing experience and relationships with agents and book editors, makes her uniquely positioned to help writers sell their books.
Wants and Needs: Plotting Begins with Character
“A story tracks what a person wants, what he'll do to get it, and what costs he'll have to pay along the way," plotting guru John Truby says. To write a great story, start with a fascinating main character: Tom Ripley, Merricat in We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Jack in Room, Edie in Luster. A majority of the craft choices you'll make — voice, pacing, arc, conflict — spring from character. Learn how to develop complex characters by giving them both subconscious needs and explicit desires. This craft seminar is for fiction writers at all stages of the outlining, drafting and revision process. If you're slogging through the middle of a draft or stuck on the ending, clarifying a character's desire line will help you find your way in the dark. FICTION
How to Pitch Your Book ($50 add-on session)
Agents get up to 100 queries in their inbox every day. Book editors get dozens of submissions each week. It isn’t the most beautifully written 300-page manuscripts that rise to the top — in the era of short attention spans, it’s the killer concept that sells. Learn how to answer the question, “What’s your book about?” in a way that makes a reader go, “I want to read THAT book!” Writers at all stages of the publishing process — whether you're drafting your manuscript, querying agents or about to have your debut published — can benefit tremendously from thinking about their book from a reader's point of view. This is for fiction and nonfiction writers, and poets, too! Conceptualizing a book gets at the paradox at the heart of book publishing: your book must be totally original and similar to something that's already popular. By the end of this master class, writers will be able to describe their own books in a succinct and compelling way. Every student will have their book concept workshopped by Leigh. Class size is limited to 20 students. ALL GENRES
CONFERENCE SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE
Thanks to an anonymous donation that will offset a significant portion of conference expenses and other member donations toward scholarships, SCWA is able to offer three scholarships to this year's conference, which will include conference registration, a $50 add-on and a $200 travel stipend. Apply now!
In February's Writers Studio event, the Aiken Chapter led writers through a series of prompts. The Novel Workshop also wrapped up last week with its final session on plot and structure.
MARCH EVENTS
Join us for our free-to-members events this month, Writers Studio hosted by the Charleston Chapter and a Become an Author workshop with faculty Angela Belcher Epps. In this workshop, attendees will go back to their writing roots for inspiration, reminding themselves of their unique sensibilities and what it is that ignites their passion for writing. Read more here.
Register at Virtual Events. Members can access recordings of these events and other events in the Members Only section of the website.
FREE GOODLIT RETREAT
Wedgewood Circle, a Kentucky-based network that connects its members with artists, industry executives, institutions and organizations to create art and entertainment, is offering its annual FREE GoodLit Retreat Aug. 14-21 that brings together award-winning authors and industry leaders to mentor a new generation of aspiring writers. GoodLit writers take part in a series of workshops, enjoy personal writing time to develop their craft, receive one-on-one mentorship, and gain renewed creative energy from intentional rest in the beautiful Kentucky countryside. All expenses associated with the retreat, including travel and lodging, are covered by the Wedgewood Circle. The retreat is limited to 15 writers. To apply, go to https://form.typeform.com/to/JalUnD. The submission deadline is March 31, 2022.
Question: What costs 22 cents a day and offers fellowship with other writers, great programs and educational opportunities, an amazing annual conference, chapter meetings and critique groups, and so much more?
Answer: Yes, you’re right! It’s your SCWA membership, of course.
If you don’t want to miss out on these opportunities, renew your membership by April 1 – see instructions at Renew Membership under the Membership tab on the home page. And if you’re not a member, we’d love to have you join us.
And while we think we’ve got a pretty good thing going for our SCWA members, we know we can always improve. Got an idea? Just email SCWAmembership@gmail.com. We’d love to hear from you.
DO YOU WRITE MYSTERY, SUSPENSE, THRILLERS?
If you are interested in joining a virtual Mystery/Suspense/Thriller Chapter, please contact John Castellano at jcast977@gmail.com.
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