SCWA / The Quill / June 2024
A Newsletter of the South Carolina Writers Association
June 2024
Message from the President
MAKING TIME
Congratulations! We have made it halfway through 2024, and this year is flying by. With the year moving so quickly, I sometimes wish I was on Centaurian time. Which, according to “Men in Black,” is a 37-hour day because, let’s face it, 24 hours just doesn’t seem like enough time.
The hardest part of writing for me is having the time to sit down and put pen to paper. I tell myself that I’ll miraculously become a morning person and write before work. When that doesn’t work, I tell myself that I’ll write before bed. My life coach and I are working on making the latter into a habit. That means putting sleep off an hour and so far, an incentive is needed for the follow through.
I love to write and love the stories that come to me. However, like most things in my life putting the physical work in is a challenge for me. If you’re like me, sometimes it’s the community that can help most with making time. We have a lot of options in this regard such as:
Finding someone to write with you. This is probably the hardest because you both need to be comfortable with silence and just being in a space together. The upside is you have to show up because you can’t let the other person down. It’s like going to the gym together.
Deadlines. Our SCWA chapters are great for this goal. You know each week or month pages are due. Sometimes having that small amount of pressure to produce something helps bring about words on a paper.
Having someone just simply ask, “Hey did you write today/yesterday?” can be that motivating factor to make time.
I’m still finding what works for me and that’s okay. Maybe I’ll start out with a little notebook and write down things as they come to me and work from there. Baby steps for working from writing a few minutes to an hour. And for those like me hang in there. While we might not be able to add hours to our day, we will still get there.
May the muse be ever in your favor.
Ash Smith
President
Events and Education
2024 STORYFEST EARLY BIRD PRICING ENDS JUNE 15
Early bird registration for SCWA’s 2024 Storyfest, set for Sept. 27 through 29 in Columbia, ends June 15. Fees for the full three-day conference are $250 for members and $325 for nonmembers; those fees will increase by $30 on June 16, so register now and save! Student registration for the full conference is $140. A one-day ticket for Saturday-only sessions is available for $195. Masterclasses, manuscript critiques and query pitches are available for additional charges as add-ons to your registration.
Storyfest, SCWA’s biggest event of the year, will be held at The DoubleTree by Hilton in Columbia, with the added advantage of having the hotel and conference under one roof – and the rooms are less expensive this year, too!
In addition to amazing authors, editors, agents and screenwriters from outside of our state, some of South Carolina’s most prominent writers will be there to make this conference successful. We will have three pre-conference masterclasses and craft classes as well as the invaluable Queryfest, Slushfest, Speed Pitch Session and a “Publishing World Today” panel, which provides cutting-edge self-publishing assistance. Four keynote speakers will provide valuable insights, including information on artificial intelligence and how it will impact the writing world, and Storyfest has 20 other breakout and other presentations – something for every genre. A Saturday cocktail hour, open mic, exhibits, book signings and more also will be included.
We will highlight our keynote speakers and presenters in The Quill between now and September. We featured Lynn Cullen and Grady Hendrix in the May issue; see 2024 Storyfest Faculty bios on all of our fabulous speakers. Here are two more keynoters:
TIFFANY YATES MARTIN
Tiffany Yates Martin has spent nearly 30 years as an editor in the publishing industry, working with major publishers and New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling and award-winning authors as well as indie and newer writers. She is the founder of FoxPrint Editorial and author of Intuitive Editing: A Creative and Practical Guide to Revising Your Writing. She is a regular contributor to writers' outlets like Writer's Digest, Jane Friedman and Writer Unboxed, and a frequent presenter and keynote speaker for writers' organizations around the country. Under her pen name, Phoebe Fox, she is the author of six novels. Visit her at www.foxprinteditorial.com.
She will offer a masterclass, “Mastering the Holy Trinity of Story: Character, Stakes and Plot;” deliver a keynote, “The Happy, Harsh Truths of a Writing Career;” and present breakout sessions. We are thrilled to have her for 2024 Storyfest.
ALAN ROTH
Alan Roth graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey with degrees in history and English literature, then attended graduate school at Emerson College in Boston, where he received an MFA in creative writing. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and serves as an adjunct professor of screenwriting at Fairleigh Dickinson’s School of the Arts. He is a winner of the coveted Nicholl Fellowship Academy Award for best original screenplay (Jersey City Story) and works with producers on developing projects for both film and TV.
He will present a keynote, “AI and Current Trends in Writing,” and a breakout session on “Book to Screen.” We are so pleased to have him as part of 2024 Storyfest.
The hotel room rate is $169 (plus tax & fees) for one king or two queen beds. For the SCWA discounted rate, reserve at the DoubleTree by Hilton Columbia; book by Aug. 29 for the discount.
If you are not a member of SCWA, join now to enjoy the member rate for Storyfest as well as other SCWA benefits. Membership is $75 annually; go to Join Us.
For more information email administrator@myscwa.org.
AUTHOR’S TOOLBOX CONTINUES IN JUNE AND JULY
SCWA continues to offer Author’s Toolbox sessions in June and July, free to members and $25 to nonmembers. (Hint: If you join SCWA for $75, attending three Author’s Toolboxes “pays” for your membership.)
June 27 - Synithia Williams: “Writing Romance Novels”
Synithia Williams has published more than 25 novels since 2012. Her novel A Malibu Kind of Romance was a 2017 RITA® finalist, and she is a 2018 and 2019 African American Literary Award Show nominee in Romance. Her books were listed as Amazon Editor’s “Best Book of the Month” in Romance. Reviews of Williams’ books can be found in Publisher’s Weekly, Library Journal, Woman’s Word, Kirkus and Entertainment Weekly. She lives in Columbia, South Carolina, with her husband and two children.
The Zoom link will be provided upon registration.
July 18 - Stephen Hundley: “Writing Short Stories and Novels”
Join acclaimed writer Stephen Hundley for a one-hour talk on writing short stories and novels—and adding fantasy and science fiction to traditional Southern stories.
Hundley is the author of The Aliens Will Come to Georgia First (University of North Georgia Press, 2023) and Bomb Island (Hub City Press, 2024), “a funny and fast-paced” novel that is part coming-of-age romance and part thriller, says Hundley’s publisher.
He is a fiction editor at Driftwood Press and a book review editor at the Southeast Review.
His stories and poems have appeared in Prairie Schooner, Cream City Review, The Greensboro Review, and elsewhere. He holds an MA from Clemson University and an MFA from the University of Mississippi. He is currently completing a PhD in English at Florida State University.
Award-winning Southern author Ron Rash calls Hundley’s Bomb Island “a remarkable novel by an immensely talented young writer.”
Zoom link provided upon registration.
OTHER UPCOMING SESSIONS:
Aug. 22 - Alex Rath: “Writing With Anxiety”
Oct. 17 - Brenda Gardner/Lisa Harrison, creators of the Friends and Fiction Official Book Club site with over 30,000 members.
Nov. 21 - Anthea Sharp: “Kickstarter for Authors: How Writers Can Find New Readers and Flourish With Crowdfunding"
JULY AND AUGUST: WAKE UP & WRITE: A DAILY ACCOUNTABILITY GROUP
Not every writer needs to write every day, but often, the most successful writers do engage in a daily practice. And there’s a wonderful thing that happens when you perform a task over and over until it becomes habit: you get better at it.
For the months of July and August, commit to writing every day with me from 8 to 9 a.m. There will be a daily prompt for those in need, special guests weekly to inspire us and a time for those who wish to share and/or ask questions from 9 to 9:30 a.m.
Additional materials will be shared for writers hoping for that extra bit of motivation, like daily tasks to complete during our off-line hours and curated written, audio and video writing advice from bestselling authors.
Whether you’ve got one big project or multiple, a tight deadline or all the time in the world, sign up and let’s show ourselves and one another that we’re committed to our craft and the stories that only we can tell.
Member price: $25 / month or $45 for both months
Non-member price: $40 / month or $75 for both months
Group leader Amber Wheeler Bacon is a writer and teacher whose work has appeared or is forthcoming in Crazyhorse, Ecotone, Epiphany, Five Points, New Ohio Review, Post Road, Prairie Schooner and Witness. You can find her writing online at Ploughshares, CRAFT, Fiction Writer’s Review and New South. She is the recipient of the 2018 Breakout Writers Prize sponsored by The Author’s Guild and a 2021 Bread Loaf scholarship. She received the 2022 Lit/South Award for flash fiction, a 2023 Prairie Schooner Award and was a finalist for the 2023 Chautauqua Janus Prize, nominated by Ecotone Magazine. Bacon has an MFA from Bennington College and teaches English at Coastal Carolina University. She has been a staff reader for Ploughshares, a fiction editor at Four Way Review, managing editor for South Carolina Writers Association publications and a daily editor at the Southern Review of Books. She lives by the beach in South Carolina. Bacon is represented by Amy Bishop-Wycisk at Trellis Literary Management.
Pat Brandon
VP/Events & Education
Membership
RENEW TO GET MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS
We want you back!
If you didn’t renew your SCWA membership by the April 1 renewal date or during the 30-day grace period, your membership now is lapsed. This means you can no longer take advantage of member benefits, such as discounted Storyfest registration and free Author’s Toolbox registration, plus you cannot participate in chapter meetings.
If you have questions, please email membership@myscwa.org.
Publications
TPR GENERAL SUBMISSIONS ARE ONGOING
The Petigru Review welcomes submissions of original fiction, nonfiction, poetry and art from members of the SWCA and the public at large. Submissions from all genres are in full swing, and the 2024 issue of TPR is shaping up to be a beauty — but slots remain in all genres!
The reading period for all genres will close on Aug. 23.
The 2024 iteration of TPR will be a themed issue focusing on place and/or voice. Submissions need not be set in South Carolina, nor need they be written by South Carolina authors. However, preference will be given to pieces set in the Greater South (SC, NC, GA, FL, VA, AL, MS, LA, TX, OK, MO, AR, TN, KY, WV).
There will be a $3 fee, payable through Submittable, for each general submission.
Prose: Please 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.
Files for all prose submissions must be uploaded to Submittable in either a .doc, .docx or .pdf format.
Poetry: Please submit no more than five poems. All poems must be submitted in a single file.
Art: Please submit no more than five pieces. All art must be submitted in a single file and in a digital format.
For questions about submissions, email Drew Geyer, managing editor, at ageyer@usca.edu.
Drew Geyer
Managing Editor, The Petigru Review