Southern California Writers' Conference

I just wrapped up a fantastic President’s Day weekend at the Southern California Writers Conference in San Diego which has been masterfully run by Michael Steven Gregory and Wes Albers for going on 22 years now.

I’ve done panels with MSG at Larry Brody’s TVwriter.com conference and various WGAw events, but I’ve never seen him in his real element. He was the MC from CABARET, Bob Fosse in ALL THAT JAZZ, and Christopher Walken in – anything – all rolled into one. From his opening speech in which “suck” and the concept of learning “how not to suck” became the joyous and inspiring theme of the con, Michael and the equally hysterical (in his deadpan way) Wes set a tone of informality and hilarity that was completely infectious.

Even wiped out as I was from being caught up in the Valentine’s Day Airport Massacre of 2007 (a 17-hour layover in Phoenix in which I had exactly one chance to catch a flight before the long weekend or I’d have to walk to California) – I found myself jumping to volunteer to cover a workshop on “Blogging and Internet Resources for Writers” when the original instructor got caught in a snowstorm. Totally impromptu, but what the hell – somebody had to do it.

I was completely inspired by the charming and sidesplittingly funny Barry Eisler (who is On The Bubble today at Murderati) – both his keynote speech and workshop “Fire Up Your Brain”. What a showman!

Rob Gregory Browne forbade me to attend his character workshop (I’m still mad at him – I was probably the ONLY person at the conference who didn’t go) – but we had a great time doing an informal panel/discussion on the ins and outs of Hollywood with MSG and the ballsy and irrepressible Susan Arnout Smith, who also just signed a 2-book deal at St. Martin’s.

My workshop on Supernatural Thrillers was well-attended by some fantastically poetic horror writers, who came up with such haunting images I can’t get them out of my head.

My books sold out of the bookshop, run by one of my favorite bookstores - the incomparable Mysterious Galaxy - and I had a great time catching up with Gordon, Christine, and Sam.

I did my own keynote speech on Sunday night after having done both a panel and workshop earlier... but managed not to suck, anyway!

And then, after being excoriated by Michael and Wes for not drinking enough or staying up late enough (very atypical behavior for me at a con, as many of you know, but hey, I was WORKING) – I finally fulfilled my alcohol and sleep deprivation requirement when I hooked up with a just wonderful set of conferees (new word) : Jeremy James, Mariana Williams, Brendan Cody, Candice Williams, and Lauren Hartney. They dragged me to the bar and poured Mai Tais down me; we closed the bar, retired to a private room to talk writing and life, and finally dispersed well after 4:30 a.m., so there, MSG! As usual I ended up much more inspired and energized by the people I was supposed to inspire than vice-versa, I’m sure.

Rob GB and Jeremy both have great wrap-ups of the conference on their blogs, and I’ll also post my notes on Internet Resources here for easy reference.

All in all – magical. I’d do it again tomorrow. With more Mai Tais, this time.