I know I started out March with a similar calendar trope but hear me out. On March 24, I attended our Become an Author event with Angela Belcher Epps, and all I’ve been thinking since then was, “Bring on the showers!”
Not “showers” in the mom-to-be parties or sexy bathroom trysts from my short story from Fall Lines. Not the river-of-tears emoji or the anime tears flying off one’s cartoon face.
Bring on the April-type showers that water our creative fields and generate blooms of stories, poetry and productivity.
Showers like collective writing sessions with our SCWA chapters leading. Prompt party, anyone?
Showers like writing sprints on Twitter and write-in sessions with pals. Showers like watching a great movie and imagining a side character’s new life beyond it. Or reading a good book and imagining a different ending. Or revisiting a favorite story and tracing your fingers along its print as you remember what it meant to you then and considering what it means to you now.
Showers like inspiration. Like a reminder that we write because we want to, we need to, we love to and when it’s work – like really hard work – it’s only because the flowers are so deep underground, we need to water them so they’ll emerge.
We also need sunshine. And time. But the April cliche is just about the rain. So let it rain, SCWA! Get some of that inspiration on your skin, in your eyes. Let it wash away the pollen and water the roots. The flowers will bloom. They always do.
Kasie Whitener
President
SCWA Board of Directors
Events and Education
FALL CONFERENCE
Be sure to register for SCWA's in-person fall conference by the beach Oct. 21-23! We're so excited for this upcoming event filled with craft and publishing classes, panels on query letters, demystifying the agent process, building a writing life and career in the Carolinas and so much more. Peruse the conference website for information on faculty, schedule, session descriptions, lodging and scholarships. Come write by the beach!
If you can't make it to Pawleys Island in late October, have no fear! We've got a virtual conference Oct. 7-9 for those of you who want or need to stay at home. Or you can attend both! Registration for our virtual conference option opens soon. Watch for details!
CONFERENCE FACULTY SPOTLIGHT
ABOUT ED SOUTHERN, NONFICTION
By Paul Davis
There are 15 reasons why you should register today for SCWA’s writing conference in Pawleys Island this fall.
Here are three:
1. It’s on the beach.
2. The early bird conference fee — $235 for members, $310 for non-members — ends April 30.
3. Ed Southern will be there.
Here’s what author 2021 National Book Award winner Jason Mott says about Southern’s new book, Fight Songs: A Story of Love and Sports in a Complicated South: “A lush, meditative look at how sports and the places we call home are just as flawed and beautiful as we are … Damn fine writing!”
Fight Songs — a finalist for the 2022 Southern Book Prize — is a “mixture of memoir and heavily researched nonfiction” that tackles a wide array of issues: public health, race, masculinity, nationalism, labor and class, says Glenn Bertram, fiction editor of The Greensboro Review.
During the Oct. 21-23 conference, Southern will teach attendees how to weave research into their writing—without sacrificing pace, voice, or the narrative thread. It’s a skill nonfiction and fiction writers need.
Born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Southern spent his youth in Greenville, South Carolina. He has worked for a big-box bookstore chain, served as VP of sales and marketing for Blair Press and has been director of the North Carolina Writers’ Network for the 14 years. In 2015, he won the Fortner Award for service to the literary arts in North Carolina.
He has written or edited five books, and his work has appeared in The Bitter Southerner, the North Carolina Literary Review, Sports Literate, A New Decameron, storySouth and elsewhere.
So don’t wait. Grab a spot in Southern’s class. And join us for the best conference on the beach!
Thanks to an anonymous donation that will offset a significant portion of conference expenses and other member donations toward scholarships, SCWA is able to offer three scholarships to this year's conference, which will include conference registration, a $50 add-on and a $200 travel stipend. Apply now!
APRIL EVENTS
Register for these upcoming April virtual events at Virtual Events and continue to check the calendar for new events.
FIND YOUR PATH TO PUBLISHING
We are so very excited about our month-long series in May - Your Paths to Publish: From Indie to Big 5 - in which we dig into the publishing world and all of YOUR OPTIONS when it comes to publishing. We've got a self-published author, a hybrid publisher and author, a small and university press publisher and author, and an agent and author at a big press to give you insight on the pros and cons of each publishing pathway. It's going to be a month PACKED with essential industry info to help you make THE BEST CHOICE for your own work. Where are your readers? Let's find them!
Limited spots are available so that attendees can get up close and personal, ask lots of questions and get the most out of every week. Register now!
The Petigru Review is open for submissions from SCWA members for the 2022 issue until July 31, 2022. Members can submit at a discounted rate, and the magazine will pay a $5 honorarium upon publication to each accepted author or artist. We also will award $50 to one SCWA member and one marginalized writer (who may or may not be an SCWA member). We are looking for cover art, book excerpts/chapters, nonfiction, fiction, flash and poetry. Complete guidelines can be found on our website and Submittable. We will be open to non-member submissions beginning on May 1, so please tell your friends — or encourage them to join the org! For those who are impatient or would like to submit again in the same category, we also are offering expedited submissions for an extra fee. Please feel free to reach out to the Managing Editor Maria S. Picone with any questions at mspicone@gmail.com.
TPR IN SEARCH OF VOLUNTEERS
The Petigru Review is looking for volunteer staff for the summer 2022 reading period. This is a great opportunity to learn more about literary magazines and the submission process, improve your editorial lens and get involved with the organization. We especially are seeking readers from marginalized groups. We estimate a commitment of no more than two hours per week during our reading period (May through August), but we are happy to be flexible about the time commitment. Please contact Managing Editor Maria S. Picone to arrange an interview at mspicone@gmail.com.
Ah, April! It brings warmer weather, outdoor fun, pollen and the anticipation of summer ahead. It’s also the month for SCWA membership renewal. If you’ve already renewed, THANK YOU! We value you.
As you know, SCWA membership offers association with other writers; educational events — like writing events and workshops; our popular annual conference (that gets better every year); local and virtual chapters and critique groups; and our digital literary journal, The Petigru Review.
But if you haven’t yet renewed, please do so before the grace period ends May 1. After that date, membership benefits sadly will end, and lapsed members will have to submit an application to rejoin SCWA. We don’t want you to miss out on any of these membership benefits.
Looking for a multi-genre workshop with the comfort of a jammy-pants wardrobe? The Columbia II Chapter is now wholly virtual and genre-agnostic! Any SCWA member is welcome to join and bring whatever you’re working on. The group meets the first and third Mondays via Skype from 5:30 p.m. until whenever everyone is finished (usually by 8). Drop in on April 18 to check them out. Email Kasie Whitener at kasiewhitener@yahoo.com to RSVP and she’ll send the link to the Skype meeting.
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April showers bring May flowers.
There are 15 reasons why you should register today for 
