I'm so Excited!

It's only August, but I'm already excited about and looking forward to the 21st SCWW Conference in October. I think some of the excitement comes from being a member of the Board of Directors. We are a working Board and for us the work on the conference began in January, so by now the plans on paper are becoming a reality. Registrations are coming in and critique, pitch and real-time query appointments are filling up. If you've been following our blog, you've seen the faculty has started their posts with advice on how to make your conference experience a great one - they're just teasers for the good writing advice they'll pass along at the conference.

I'm also looking forward to being a volunteer at the conference again this year. I'm tackling the job of heading up this year's Silent Auction, a daunting task and an important part of the conference. The money generated by the Auction helps significantly with the following year's conference expenses. But I have a great committee and some big Auction items are already in. We have our 5 day stay at The Oaks and we have our first faculty offering. I anticipate more faculty items, as well as some other interesting pieces in the next two months. Chapters have let me know they are getting their baskets together. It's always a fun surprise to see what the Chapters have chosen as their themes and the items they used for it. I'll include a list of Silent Auction items in my September post.

This is my third time volunteering for the SCWW Conference. The last two years I worked the registration desk and the critique room, giving me the opportunity to meet so many of the attendees over the weekend and some of the faculty I didn't hear in sessions. This year I'm moderating a Slushfest. Slushfests are a great way to see and hear how agents and editors initially react to our manuscripts. What an eye-opener!

I'm also excited and a bit curious about what this year's 'take-away' will be. This is my 6th or 7th SCWW Conference and every year I come away with pages of notes and hand-outs, but there's always been that one specific nugget that was just the right thing I needed that particular year. One year it was finding out the short story I had critiqued was really a novel in the making - which I've since finished. Another year it was hearing how three different faculty members read the same piece of my work . . . and came up with three different opinions! But each had valuable information. Who knows what this year will bring, but I know I'll come home with just the right tidbit.

And I'm also looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new writers in October.

There's a lot to be excited about with the upcoming SCWW Annual Conference, from the outside in. If you haven't registered yet, there's still plenty of time to do so. If you want an appointment with a specific faculty member, the time is getting a little tighter for you. And if you want to be part of what makes all this happen, think about becoming a volunteer. See you at the beach!