The South Coast Writers Conference just keeps getting better!
Although the bad economy seems to have affected attendance somewhat, and there appeared to be slightly fewer authors presenting workshops - again, due to economic concerns - the quality of the conference was very high.
I noticed at the Authors Night readings on Friday night that this was possibly the best group of readers ever. The Keynote Speaker was Naseem Rakha, author of The Crying Tree. Rahka is an award winning journalist whose stories have been heard on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” as well as other venues. Her keynote presentation was one of the best – if not the best – I have heard at the SCWC since I have been attending.
For me, the conference started on Friday when I ran into author Melissa Hart at my motel – most of the authors were staying there - after breakfast. Since I had finished reading – “devouring” would really be a better word - Melissa’s two autobiographies, The Assault of Laughter and Gringa: a Contradictory Childhood, just days before, I was very excited to meet Melissa. Her memoirs are riveting, and I felt like I knew her after reading them. She is very friendly and accessible, as well as being a marvelous writer and great teacher. I got to find out the latter when I took her well-attended six-hour workshop on “Writing Memoir that Sells” that same day. In fact, I ended up sitting next to her and had further opportunities to talk with her. She had great handouts and readings to illustrate points and shared her own experiences in getting published.
Prior to the Authors Night keynote and readings, I ran into Jessica Page Morrell, who had been a workshop presenter at the Write on the Sound conference in Edmonds last October. I had met her when I purchased one of her books, Writing Out the Storm, at that conference’s reception and book signing. I had been very impressed with the book when I recently read it, and when I found another of her books, Thanks, But This isn’t for Us: a (Sort of) Compassionate Guide to Why Your Writing is Being Rejected, at Gold Beach Books the night before the conference, I bought a copy. At the end of the conference on Saturday afternoon, I won a door prize, and my selection was her book Between the Lines: the Subtle Elements of Fiction Writing, which she signed for me. I enjoyed meeting and talking with her again and am hoping to see her at WOTS this fall.
Saturday I took four 1-1/2 hour workshops: two with Melissa Hart, “Humorous Short Commentary about Serious Social Issues” and “The Art of the Short Essay,” as well as “It’s in the Cards” with David Lunde and “Harvest the Fruits of Your Life” by memoirist Sarahlee Lawrence. Lawrence is the author of River House: a Memoir. This was my year to explore memoir!
Lunde is a poet and translator; his workshop was challenging and fun. He gave every attendee four index cards, each with a set of five words on it, and gave us an hour to write a poem using four of the five words on whichever card we chose. Or you could pick an illustrated notecard and write a poem based on that instead. Many of the participants wrote several poems, and they were almost all very high quality. While it took me the whole hour to write just one poem, I was quite pleased with it and plan to polish it and send it off to a yet-to-be-determined publication. And since we got to keep the note cards with the words on them, I plan to write poems using them when I have time. I find this a good way to start a poem, more so than prompts. The next morning when I was checking out, I ran into Lunde in the motel parking lot, and we talked some more. It always amazes me just how down-to-earth most of the authors are.
In addition to my three poems and the poems, short stories, and photography by others in this year’s Rogue River Echoes, I noticed that both Dennis Powers and Keith Scales, presenters at the 2010 SCWC, had also had their submissions chosen for inclusion. What great company to be in!
The 17th Annual South Coast Writers Conference will be held on February 17th & 18th, 2012.
