Update for LaJolla Writer’s Conference

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LaJolla Writers Conference, writers conference

The 16^th annual LaJolla Writer’s Conference is coming up on November 11-13th. At the August meeting, Antoinette Kuritz, Conference Organizer, offered SDWEG members receive a $60 discount.  Many members picked up forms at the meeting where Antoinette Kuritz presented.  Those who did not pick up a form can still take advantage of the discount by registering online or calling to register:

Register Online:         www.lajollawritersconference.com/special (contact sandiegowriterseditorsguild@gmail.com for the password).

Call:  858-467-1978

Please note that the following information was not confirmed at the time Antoinette presented.

Every year the organizers try to bring something new and special to the LJWC, and this year it is Grace Doyle. Grace is the Editorial Director of Thomas & Mercer, an imprint of Amazon Publishing.

For your members who would like to explore being published by Thomas & Mercer, Grace Doyle will be in conversation with Author Andrew Peterson during the Saturday afternoon keynote.  She will also be conducting read and critique workshops and will be  fielding pitches in the seven-minute pitches at the sixteenth annual La Jolla Writers Conference, November 11-13, 2016, in La Jolla, CA. (www.lajollawritersconference.com or 858-467-1978).

About the 16^th Annual LaJolla Writer’s Conference, November 11-13, 2016

Founded as a labor of love, the La Jolla Writer’s Conference is one of the most intensive writer’s conferences in the country. The hand-picked, all volunteer faculty includes multiple New York Times bestselling authors to nationally recognized agents, editors, publishers, and media experts. The conference offers writers of all levels the opportunity to learn more about the art, craft, and business of writing in one of the most intimate settings possible.  Dedicated to fostering great relationships, the La Jolla Writer’s Conference has welcomed attendees from more than 43 states and 4 countries.  Named by Writers Digest as “one of the 84 conferences worth your money,” this gathering is a non-commercial learning place, with no up-sell, and a maximum of 200 attendees.  Your only additional cost is lodging and any books that you choose to purchase.

San Miguel Writers’ Conference Contest

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San Miguel Writers' Conference, writers conference, writing contests

The San Miguel Writers’ Conference & Literary Festival is looking for three writers to join them February 15–19, 2017–as their guests!

Submit your poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction to our writing contest before November 1, 2016, for a chance to attend the 12th Annual Writers’ Conference.

Winners Receive:

• Full Conference Package
• Lodging (during the conference)
• One Agent Pitch Session (optional)
• Digital Publication
• Headline a reading during the Conference (optional)
• Bragging Rights

Winning the contest is an exceptional opportunity for writers to attend workshops; hear keynote speakers such as Naomi Klein, Billy Collins, David Ebershoff, and others; and to network with literary agents.

So far the organizers have not received many entries and anyone who enters has a very good chance of being chosen.

Submit your entry through Submittable:	Submit your entry
For more information about the writing contest visit:	sanmiguelwritersconference.org

Note: There is a $30 fee per entry.

Conferences for Writers

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writers conference

From the August 2016 newsletter

“conference” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by  dionhinchcliffe 

The La Jolla Writer’s Conference will be held November 11-13th, 2016 at the Hyatt Regency in La Jolla.

The 33rd Annual SDSU Writers’ Conference is scheduled for January 20-22, 2017. If you are interested in being considered as a speaker for the 2017 SDSU Writers’ Conference, please complete the speaker interest form. Email questions to: directorsdsuwc@gmail.com.

Conferences for Writers

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LaJolla, SDSU, writers conference

From the July Newsletter

“Conference crowd” (CC BY 2.0) by  markhillary 

The La Jolla Writers Conference will be held November 11-13th, 2016, at the Hyatt Regency in La Jolla.

The 33rd Annual SDSU Writers’ Conference is scheduled for January 20-22, 2017. If you are interested in being considered as a speaker for the 2017 SDSU Writers’ Conference, please complete the speaker interest form. Email questions to: directorsdsuwc@gmail.com.

Conferences for Writers

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California conferences, writers conference

From the June Newsletter.

“The Conference 2012” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by  Media Evolution 

Greater Los Angeles Writers Conference produced by West Coast Writers Conferences will be held June 17-19, 2016 at Los Angeles Valley College in Van Nuys. Go to www.wcwriters.com/aglawc for details.

Central Coast Writers Conference and Book Fair will be held September 29-October 1, 2016 at Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo. For more information go to www.centralcoastwritersconference.com.

Writer’s Digest Novel Writing Conference will be held October 28-30, 2016 at the Westin Bonaventure, Los Angeles. Go to www.Novel.WritersDigestConference.com for more information. Note, the early bird discount ends June 6, 2016.

The La Jolla Writers Conference will be held November 11-13th , 2016 at the Hyatt Regency in LaJolla.

The 33rd Annual SDSU Writers’ Conference is scheduled for January 20-22, 2017. If you are interested in being considered as a speaker for the 2017 SDSU Writers’ Conference, please complete the speaker interest form. Email questions to: directorsdsuwc@gmail.com.

Writers’ Conference in Vista

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writers conference

From the March 2016 edition of the newsletter

The Kingdom Writers Conference will be held from 4 P.M. Friday July 8 until the end of a 6 P.M. session on Saturday July 9 at Citadel San Diego Church in Vista. Speakers will include William Paul Young, author of The Shack, and Peter Berkos, winner of an Academy Award.

Cost for the conference is $59.00/person. A VIP dinner for a limited number of attendees will be held on Thursday evening before the conference for an additional fee. For details and registration go to http://www.braewyckoff.com/#!writersconference/biz6h.

Coming Soon – Writer’s Symposium By The Sea

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writers conference

A message from Elizabeth Pode of Point Loma Nazarene University:

Please join us for our 21st annual Writer’s Symposium By The Sea Feb. 16-19.

The event that has brought writers such as Jeannette Walls, Gay Talese, Amy Tan, Anne Lamott, George Plimpton, Joyce Carol Oates, Garrison Keillor, Dave Eggers, Ray Bradbury, Christopher Buckley, Chris Hedges, Michael Eric Dyson, Bill McKibben and dozens more, has another great week of writing discussion coming up. This year will be as good, if not better, than the others!

Tuesday, Feb. 16 — Dick Enberg 

7 pm interview in Crill Hall (Cooper Music) (tickets required)

Enberg is fascinating for a number of reasons. Not only has he been the voice of the Padres for the last several years, and was inducted in the baseball Hall of Fame last summer, he has also covered the biggest sports events in history. He was the voice of the UCLA basketball team during coach John Wooden’s years when they won so many national championships, he has covered Olympics, Super Bowls, Wimbledon, World Series and on and on. His book “Oh My!” is his autobiographical account of becoming a sports writer and then radio and television personality. His theatrical play about Marquette basketball coach Al McGuire has traveled throughout the U.S. and has won several awards. Vin Scully of the Dodgers is the only other announcer in his league.

And he has a Ph.D. in public health. He thought he was going to teach health and be a coach. Now he’s one of the most recognized voices in all of television and radio. The reason I’m bringing him to the Symposium is that he writes these incredibly artistic essays at the end of the events he covers. They’re beautiful. His essay on Jackie Robinson won an Emmy.

Enberg used to announce for the former Los Angeles Rams football team, which will once again be the Los Angeles Rams, as of last week. He’ll have plenty to say about the Chargers.

Thursday, Feb. 18 — Nikki Giovanni

7 pm interview in Crill Hall (Cooper Music) (tickets required)

Nikki Giovanni was very prominent in the Black Arts movement during the Civil Rights turbulence in the 1960s, and she is still going strong in the current Black Lives Matter movement. With the events involving police shootings in Ferguson, Baltimore, Chicago, Minneapolis and elsewhere, her voice is particularly significant today. Before my interview with her she will perform some of her Spoken Word poems.

She is in her 70s, and is still very active. Oprah named her one of her 25 Living Legends, and she’s been the Woman of the Year in many magazines, including Mademoiselle. Her Spoken Word CD, Truth Is On Its Way, where she has a gospel choir in the background, won a national music award and was nominated for a Grammy.

Her appearance is a collaboration between the Writer’s Symposium, PLNU’s Black Student Union, the Office of Diversity, the LJML Poetry Day, and the Women’s Studies Center.

Also coming are fiction writer Robin Jones Gunn and Canadian blogger and author Sarah Bessey.

Details and tickets are at www.pointloma.edu/writers

Webmaster’s note: The Symposium by the Sea is one of three annual writer’s conferences in the area and it is by far the most affordable.

Upcoming Writing Conferences

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writers conference

“The Conference 2012” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by  Media Evolution 

 

The SDSU Writers Conference will be held January 22-24, 2016 at the Marriott Mission Valley San Diego. For more information see http://www.ces.sdsu.edu/writers/

The San Francisco Writers Conference will be held February 11-14, 2016 at the Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco. For more information see https://sfwriters.org/

The UCLA Extension Writers Program will be held February 11-14, 2016 (four days, 10 workshops, small classes) and will be at 1010 Westwood Blvd, Los Angeles. Go to http://www.uclaextension.edu/writersstudio for more information.

Writers Symposium By the Sea at Point Loma Nazarene University will be held February 18-19, 2016. The Digital Author and Indie Publishing Conference will be held February 26-28 at Los Angeles Valley College. See http://www.wcwriters.com

The 2016 Las Vegas Writer’s Conference, sponsored by Henderson Writers’ Group, is scheduled for April 28-30, 2016 in LasVegas. Go to: http://www.lasvegaswritersconference.com for more information.

Back From the La Jolla Writer’s Conference

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writers conference

This year I attended my first writer’s conference. In spite of missing the sessions on the first day (long story, you don’t want to know), I drove away Sunday afternoon with more enthusiasm than I know what to do with, and solid ideas and suggestions that mean I need to revise everything I’ve ever written, but the result will be improved writing. And that’s the point.

Much of the advice I already know – the importance of building platform even before I finish a book (because no publisher will do the work for an author), the importance of a professionally done website and using social media. But Annette Kuritz’s presentation on Cost Effective PR tips included much more. Here are my top ten takeaways from that early morning session:

1. Become an Amazon affiliate.
2. Add something fun and interesting to your blog every week.
3. Include a link to a sales page for your book in every blog post and every social media entry.
4. Find someone who blogs on a subject related to your book and who has a large following and then interview that person for your own blog. Send the link to the person you interviewed.
5. Include the first three chapters of your book on your blog.
6. Know your audience and give them something they want, such as “5 Tips to Get Started Writing,” or “5 Things I Wish I Had Known Before I Started My Novel,” or you get the picture, right.
7. Be authentic with your posts. Tell you audience something about yourself because people pay more attention to people they know and like.
8. Don’t waste money on bookmarks or fliers. Book store owners and managers will just throw them away. (My suggestion, not endorsed by Antoinette: If you have them already, find a Little Free Library and put one in each of the books there.)
9. The only shelves the big bookstores own are the ones with bargain books. Every other surface in a bookstore is “rented” by the publishers (they call it “coop”). Every book on those shelves can be sent back to the publisher for a full refund.
10. Good public relations and marketing are choreographed to drive people to your website where it must be easy to find a link to buy your book.

If you want more information about any of the above 10 tips, add a comment to this post to let me know.

I chose three sessions that dealt with character development. First, Marie Bostwick pointed out the importance of making the supporting characters well-rounded, even if they appear only once, – and how easy it is to do so. Then Andrew Peterson and Lissa Price addressed how to be sure the villain isn’t just a flat character who is 100% evil, a reminder that no character believes himself to be pure evil. Finally, Deeanne Gist rounded out the character development by showing how the hero of any story must change and how using the model of six stages, separated by five turning points, can move the character from lack of awareness of her true essence or identity through challenges that help uncover the longings, needs, wounds, and fears that have shaped her past and kept her from realizing her true essence or purpose, to self-awareness.

I sought out sessions about the challenges during the revision stage – finding those bits that don’t move either the plot or character development along quickly enough and might therefore cause the reader to stop. They need either revision or deleting (Lissa Price). Brennan Harvey’s presentation on world building was useful to help me realize my memoir should provide only enough information about a new place to ensure the reader can relate to what is familiar, at the same time as being intrigued by what is unfamiliar, so he will want to keep reading.

And I attended sessions on what to do once the book is done – the basics of query letters, again with Lissa Price, and metadata and subject codes, with Angela Bole. I was surprised at the number of people who were interested in the geeky topic of metadata, but Angela made it clear it is the heart of making sure books appear among results for the right audience. Martha Lawrence shared her experience on both sides of the author/editor divide (she is both but never for the same book) and addressed the full range of editing stages – macro editing, copy editing, line editing, and proofreading.

Since the La Jolla Writer’s Conference is help in November, which is also National Novel Writing Month, Marni Freedman’s session on how to use both plotter (outlining and planning in advance) and pantser (writing from the seat of one’s pants) approaches to writing was especially appropriate. Instead of choosing one approach, Marni recommends using both. She recommends two notebooks – one labeled “Plot” and the other “Pour.” As ideas come, she recommends writing them in the appropriate notebook until between the two, the story line is clear.

I plan to be at the La Jolla Writer’s Conference again next year. Will you be there?

Early Bird registration which includes CDs of most of the 2015 presentations is open until December 15, 2015.

New Writer’s Conferences Added to Calendar in February 2016

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writers conference

   by  Scott Beale 

Two additional writer’s conferences have been added to the Calendar of Conferences page, both in southern California in February.

Feb. 11-14, 2015 – UCLA Extension Writers Studio, UCLA Campus, Westwood, California. What makes the Conference unique? This conference is all about putting your best ideas on paper – and then getting help making them better. “Attendees choose one of 10 workshops in which they work closely with a professional writer in classes limited to 15 students,” program manager Cindy Lieberman says. Who are the faculty? Memoirist and essayist Samantha Dunn, journalist and memoirist Alison Singh Gee, novelists Daniel M. Jaffee and Mark Sarvas, writing instructor Barbara Abercrombie, short fiction writer Colette Sarto, film and TV writers Jon Bernstiein and Joel Thompson, and former Hollywood agent Nancy Nigrosh. For more information, see writers.uclaextension.edu/programs-services/writers-studio.

Feb. 16-19, 2016 – Writer’s Symposium by the Sea. The 21st Annual Writer’s Symposium at Point Loma Nazarene University will be a witty and informative interview-based experience where the audience gets to eavesdrop on conversations between authors about the art and angst of writing. For more information, select this link.