SCWA / The Quill / July 2025
A Newsletter of the South Carolina Writers Association
July 2025
Message for July
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
July is a month that makes us pause to reflect on freedom and liberties.
As writers, we have the freedom to express our innermost thoughts, our emotions, our hopes and dreams, our tragedies and heartbreaks, our joys and triumphs. We have the freedom to take people to places they’ve never been and may never go, to share real-world experiences and fantastic fantasies.
Reflect on freedom and writing with how others express it:
“Writing is a form of personal freedom. It frees us from the mass identity we see in the making all around us. In the end, writers will write not to be outlaw heroes of some underculture but mainly to save themselves, to survive as individuals.” – Don DeLillo
“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” – Frederick Douglass
“Reading can be a road to freedom or a key to a secret garden, which, if tended, will transform all of life.” – Katherine Paterson
“Having the freedom to read and the freedom to choose is one of the best gifts my parents ever gave me.” – Judy Blume
“Reading gives you freedom. It gives you power like no other. It gives you the ability to think beyond imagination. It gives you faith and trust, vision and wisdom and strengths of the worlds out there.” – Megha Soni
“Frederick Douglass taught that literacy is the path from slavery to freedom. There are many kinds of slavery and many kinds of freedom, but reading is still the path.” – Carl Sagan
“Reading is freedom of thought.” – Nahida Jabin
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead
“But libraries are about freedom. Freedom to read, freedom of ideas, freedom of communication. They are about education (which is not a process that finishes the day we leave school or university), about entertainment, about making safe spaces, and about access to information.” – Neil Gaiman
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela
“Books were my first ticket to personal freedom. I learned to read when I was three and soon revealed that there’s a whole world to know beyond the borders of Mississippi.” – Oprah Winfrey
“Literature was the passport to enter a larger life; that is, the zone of freedom. Literature was freedom. Especially in a time in which the values of reading and inwardness are so strenuously challenged, literature is freedom.” – Susan Sontag
“My alma mater was books, a good library…. I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity.” – Malcolm X
“Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.” – George Washington Carver
“With freedom, books, flowers and the moon, who could not be happy?” – Oscar Wilde
Remember, dear writers, that writing represents your freedom to express yourself. It also represents your readers’ freedom to expand their worlds beyond themselves. Keep doing it.
Events and Education
REGISTER NOW FOR 2025 SUMMER VIRTUAL VIRTUAL CONFERENCE
SCWA is excited to host "The Joy of Writing: Partners & Performance," from 6 to 11 p.m. Friday, Aug. 15, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 16.
This two-day virtual event features sessions necessary for writers ready to dig into the business of writing. Learn how to navigate the landscape of modern publishing, how to monetize your work, and how to approach writing like a job.
With keynote talks from Jonathan Haupt and Jodie Cain Smith, this event also features sessions on how to perform your work at readings and open mic and get involved in the literary community.
Registration for SCWA members is $125 and $150 for nonmembers. Zoom link provided upon registration.
AUTHOR’S TOOLBOX
RENEE FOUNTAIN: "PLATFORMS BUILDING FOR INTROVERTS"
Join us for Author’s Toolbox at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 17, via Zoom as Renee Fountain presents “Platform Building for Introverts.”
Renee C. Fountain champions various genres, ranging from adult thrillers to informative nonfiction and close-to-her-heart YA. Over the years, Fountain has helped launch several crime thriller writers and series, including Sarah Cain’s The 8th Circle, Michel Logan’s Hell’s Detective and Jonathan Fredrick’s Cain City series. Before putting on her agent hat, she spent five years working for the CW television network as a book scout and story analyst for television development. She spent nearly a decade working in major publishing houses, including Harcourt Brace and Simon & Schuster, where she worked with some of the best writers and illustrators in the publishing world. In addition to looking for the next bestseller, Fountain also can be found at ReneeFountain.com, providing developmental editing and other writing services.
Members, free; nonmembers, $25. The Zoom link will be provided upon registration.
SUMMER SERIES CONTINUES
SCWA’s popular virtual Summer Series is back! Plan to join us at noon every Tuesday through Aug. 5 for a variety of topics and presenters.
Members may attend free; register for any or all sessions. Nonmembers pay $10 per session or $70 for all remaining sessions.
Here is the schedule of the remaining speakers and topics:
July 8: Marketing for Writers: Search Engine Optimization, Keywords and Website Discoverability, Sydney Bollinger
July 15: Writing a Series, Jodie Cain Smith
July 22: Writing for Young Readers, Dakota McElhinny
July 29: Writing All Things Canine, Barb Magera
Aug. 5: How to Write a Cozy Mystery, Sheila Hudson
Kasie Whitener
VP/Events & Education
Membership
TOWN HALL MEETING
SCWA will hold a virtual town hall meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday, July 16. We want to provide updates as well as give members the opportunity to share their thoughts and ideas. All SCWA members are encouraged and welcomed to attend. We hope to see you there!
FUNNIES FOR THE MONTH
What type of blood does a proofreader have? Type O.
Being a writer is satisfying. Being an editor is more rewording.
Dakota McElhinny
VP/Membership
Publications
SUBMIT TO THE PETIGRU REVIEW THROUGH AUG. 23
The submission window for The Petigru Review is now open. TPR welcomes submissions of original fiction, nonfiction, poetry and art from members of the South Carolina Writers Association and the public at large. The reading period for all genres will close on Aug. 23.
The 2025 edition of TPR will be a themed issue focused on “Taste of the Carolinas.” Submissions need not be set in South Carolina, nor need they be written by South Carolina authors, nor do they need to focus on food or drink. However, preference will be given to pieces that engage that thematic element in some way.
The submission fee for each general submission is $3, payable through Submittable at thepetigrureview.com/submit.
Please follow these guidelines:
Prose: Submit only one piece of short fiction or nonfiction. Prose narratives must not exceed 5,000 words in length. All prose submissions should be double-spaced.
Poetry: Submit no more than five poems. All poems must be submitted in a single file.
Files for all prose submissions must be uploaded to Submittable in either a .doc, .docx or .pdf format.
Art: Submit no more than five pieces. All art must be submitted in a single file and in a digital format.
Files for art submissions must be uploaded to Submittable in either a .tif, .gif, .jpg or .png format.
STUDENT GINNY PADGETT AWARD IN CREATIVE WRITING
Student submissions for the Ginny Padgett Award in Creative Writing also continues through Aug. 23.
Questions regarding submissions to TPR should be directed to:
Managing Editor/Fiction Editor: Andrew Geyer (ageyer@usca.edu)
Assistant Editor/Nonfiction Editor: Sara Sobota (ssobota@coastal.edu)
Poetry Editor: Sydney Bollinger (hello@sydneybollinger.com)
BECOME TPR’S BLOG EDITOR
The Petigru Review is looking for a volunteer editor for the publication’s forthcoming blog. The editor will work closely with Sydney Bollinger, SCWA Publications Director, on developing, managing and assigning blog content to writers.
We want to create a dynamic space to share what’s going on in South Carolina’s literary community. Think author interviews, book reviews, SCWA member spotlights and feature stories about South Carolina and its writers.
Interested SCWA members can reach out to publications@myscwa.org for more information.
SHARE YOUR WRITING SUCCESS
SCWA’s Marketing Team wants to feature member writers and their work on SCWA’s Facebook and Instagram pages.
Fill out the survey linked below to share your writing successes.
We look forward to hearing from you!
The South Carolina Writers Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit literary organization, receives support from the South Carolina Arts Commission and our members, furthering our mission to offer a supportive environment for people to become better writers. SCWA is grateful for this support. Donate to help SCWA to enhance our ability to provide quality programs and services to writers in South Carolina and the region.