I had the privilege of attending the first ever SoCal Christian Writers’ Conference on the Biola University campus in La Mirada, California last weekend. I was invited to teach a major track on writing speculative fiction and to meet one-on-one to mentor authors. What a great time! I was so impressed with the authors who attended this conference. (Especially those who took my morning track!) They were a hardworking, talented bunch and I look forward to seeing how their careers unfold.
This conference offered so much for its attendees. They had ten major morning tracks and dozens of workshops on topics: beginning and intermediate fiction or nonfiction, memoir writing, screenwriting, indie publishing, marketing and publicity, career development, and they had a teen track too, taught by my roommate Shannon Dittemore. And that was just the major morning tracks! Being on staff, I didn’t have much time to attend workshops myself, but I did block off a screenwriting workshop in advance, taught by Bob Saens. It was the only workshop I attended, and he was fascinating! I not only wrote down every word he said, I bought the class recording to listen to later. (Click here to contact the conference about purchasing recordings.)
Keynote addresses were in the evening, so I was able to attend those. I confess that both Karen Ball and Allen Arnold made me cry. (In a good way.) I was inspired, challenged, and encouraged–all of which, frankly, I needed!
All this to say, I highly recommend this conference. It had many offerings for every kind of writer. If you live in California (or if you don’t and have been hankering for a trip to Disneyland or the beach), put this one on your radar for next year. It’s top notch. Visit https://socalcwc.com for more information. Or follow them on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
Have you ever been to a writers’ conference?
Which one is a favorite?
Are you going to one this year?
I still have Realm Makers (Ted Dekker!), OCW Summer (Frank Peretti!), and OCW Fall (Jeff Gerke!) on my calendar for this year.
How about you?
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