The 15th Annual South Coast Writers Conference was held on February 12th and 13th, 2010 in Gold Beach, Oregon. It was my intention to report on it immediately afterward, but life sometimes has other plans, and it has been a year since I wrote anything on this website.
During that time, I have attended a number of other book and literary events that I would like to report on, but I want to go back and cover the SCWC first.
If you have read my posting for February 1, 2010, you will know that I was very excited about the conference.
It turned out that it greatly exceeded even those expectations and was the most enjoyable SCWC I have attended to date.
It turned out that the motel I was staying at during the conference was where all the authors and presenters for the conference were staying, and Friday morning at the continental breakfast there, I met Keith Scales, who has been artistic director for Shakespeare-in-the-Parks and the Classic Greek Theatre of Oregon, as well as an actor and director, and who has presented Chautauqua programs, but is now focusing on writing. Keith is a fascinating person to talk to and gave an excellent reading of his work-in-progress at the Friday night Authors’ Night.
I also met Rebecca Olson at the same continental breakfast. She is an associate editor from CALYX Journal, which is based in Corvallis, Oregon, and which “has been publishing the work of women writers and artists since 1976.” I later took a workshop (“A Fierce Brightness” about CALYX Journal and women’s writing) from Rebecca, who encouraged me to submit to the magazine.
After the continental breakfast, I took an all-day workshop called “Finding Your Voice” with Kim Griswell, who spent six years as coordinating editor of Highlights for Children. I had been a little concerned that perhaps the workshop might focus on children’s writing, but it was it was a general discussion of voice in writing, with many opportunities to write during the six hours. This was really the first intensive workshop I had taken. It involved a lot of writing and was an interesting experience. As a side note, one of things I noticed was that of the large group of people taking this workshop, only three were men. This is something that I have noticed at other conferences: it seems that women far outnumber men.
As the winner of the Bob Simons Scholarship Award, I was invited to attend the dinner held on Friday evening for the authors who were presenting workshops at the conference the next day. I met one of my favorite authors, Dennis Powers, in the buffet line. When he discovered who I was, he was very excited to meet me. He had read my February 1st posting and was very impressed with my having won the Bob Simons Scholarship Award and with my winning poem and my two others published in Rogue River Echoes, all of which he had read. He encouraged me to continue writing and took my contact information so he could send me a copy of his forthcoming book, Tales of the Seven Seas: the Escapades of Captain Dynamite Johnny O'Brien. After the Author’s Night readings, I purchased a copy of his Taking the Sea: Perilous Waters, Sunken Ships, and the True Story of the Legendary Wrecker Captains, in which he most kindly wrote a personal inscription. On Saturday I took a very good workshop from him on “Living the Writer’s Life.” It was really a thrill to meet one of my favorite writers.
Another of my favorite writers, John Daniel, was the Keynote Speaker for the Author’s Night held shortly after the dinner at another location. After the keynote and the author readings, I approached John to ask how I could find a copy of All Things Touched by Wind, one of his books of poetry, which I had only been able to find on line at outrageous collectible prices. John was kind enough to offer that he had some copies at home and would be pleased to sell me a copy at the original price. (Shortly after the conference, he mailed the book with a personalized inscription.) I took John’s very well-attended workshop on “Finding and Shaping the Language of Memory” on Saturday.
This was a year when great snow storms blanketed the east coast and caused several cancellations by presenters, forcing me to choose some alternate workshops from what I had originally planned. One of the alternate workshops I attended was Linda Barnes’ “Famous Next Week,” about how to make a chapbook, which turned out to be extremely interesting, especially as my success with my poetry in relationship to the conference had gotten me thinking that perhaps I should focus more on writing poetry.
If you live near Gold Beach, Oregon or are willing to make a trip there, I highly recommend this conference. Its average attendance is about 100, and it is not only educational and inspiring, it is also a lot of fun and a chance to meet other writers, aspiring and published. The 2011 SCWC takes place in only two weeks, on February 18th & 19th.
