Mad Woman Goes to Conference

The latest California Creative Writers Conference was recently held over two consecutive weekends.  It started on Friday afternoon, 3/3/23, then all day Saturday and Sunday, then in the afternoons Monday through Wednesday.   This was the virtual part of the conference on Zoom.  While I sat at my computer for it, it was still a tiring six days.  I did skip a few panels, like the one on short stories. I don’t really write short stories – there was a lot of information to be had.

The next Weekend, March 11^th and 12^th, was the in-person event.  We were at a new location, the Embassy Suites Hotel, LAX South http://www.wcwriters.com/hotels/index.html . One of the best perks of this hotel near the airport? FREE PARKING!!!!!

This is where Mad Woman joined us.  The conferences needed volunteers and I suggested Liz.   She’s a writer of fantasy and has been volunteering at our blood drives and Gallifrey One’s charity auctions for years.  I knew she and the conference would be a good fit for each other.

For this conference, we had only one tract of programming, which meant only one room to set up.  Here was the first panel, Meet the Agents, Editors, Scouts and Publishers, with conference president, Tony Todaro, moderating.

The hotel also had a pretty good restaurant.  On Friday, after setting up, I had a turkey club sandwich.  It was tasty and huge.  On Saturday, after the last panel, we met there for our Agents and Editors Happy Hour.  This is where you can network with other conference goers and speakers in a casual atmosphere.  When getting your writing career off the ground, it can be intimidating to talk to professionals.  But the agents, editors and other speakers are all friendly and will gladly speak to you as long as you are polite and friendly.

As for Mad Woman, she was a bit intimidated, but she took advantage of the pitch sessions and pitched one of her novels to an editor.  She got some good feedback and the agent would like to see her work when it is done.  And that is the bottom line of these conferences:  To network with professionals that can guide you in your writing and be encouraged.

The hotel also had a beautiful interior with several koi fish ponds.

I wasn’t able to verify it, but I believe this hotel was used as the science lab in the first episode of, “The Orville”.  If not, it sure looks a lot like it.

The next conference will be from August 4^th through 6^th, most likely at this hotel. http://www.wcwriters.com/aglawc/

Dennis

155th blog completed.

Second Steampunk novel: 783 words.  <– This is what I’m now concentrating on.

Second Steampunk screenplay:  157 pages.

First Steampunk novel:  73,675 words.

First Steampunk screenplay:  Need to update with notes from the novelization.

Third Steampunk screenplay:  38 pages.

Tried a new recipe yesterday:  Honey BBQ Meatloaf   https://iamhomesteader.com/honey-bbq-meatloaf

“This was a large, three-pound meatloaf.  Two pounds ground beef and one pound ground pork.  This was the first meatloaf Dennis made using ground pork and it was a success.  It had a great BBQ flavor.   Recommendation:  top with more BBQ sauce instead of ketchup.  One note, it took longer to cook than the recipe indicates.  It was not cooked through after an hour of cooking, probably because it’s so thick.  After putting on the second half of the BBQ sauce mixture, continue to cook for 40 minutes, not twenty.  That will do it.” – Vincent Rheinhardt.