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IWOSC — Independent Writers of Southern California — provides writers of the greater Los Angeles area with several opportunities to get together with other writers each month. We have casual satellite get-togethers in various areas; we have a seminar most months, and a general meeting, typically a panel discussion, about a writing-related topic.

Many of our members are published professionals or professional writers of other sorts, while others are working on breaking into the professional writing scene. Some write books, others write for magazines, others do public relations....

If you're a writer in the Los Angeles area or Southern California, at any level of your writing career, writing in any genre, we invite you to come check us out.

Upcoming IWOSC Events
for Independent Writers

Monthly General Meeting/Panel Discussion:
MARKETING FOR THE WRITER: How to get the biggest bang for your buck — and your time

Monday, May 20
7:30 SHARP to 9 p.m.

Your work will not sell itself. But, regardless of the enormous competition out there, if you are savvy, creative, and energetic, your work will have an edge — if you know how, where, what's new and creative, and how to do it inexpensively and time-efficiently.
What has changed recently?
What is all of this new buzz about Amazon and short stories?
In this yearly panel, we have assembled veterans who are very experienced in those matters. Learn from them and resolve to put the time and energy into improving your marketing. Yes, everyone can benefit from improved marketing.

Read more about it.

Free for IWOSC members
$15 non-members

 

Monthly Seminar:
METHOD WRITING: An Organic Approach to Writing
with Presenter Jack Grapes

Saturday, May 18, 2013
10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“Method Writing” is an organic approach to writing, consisting of various concepts that take the writer through techniques designed to make the writing more compelling and more effective, publishable and productive. Jack Grapes, author of “METHOD WRITING,” will present this overview of the writer's creative process, a technique he's developed and used in his writing workshops for 35 years.

Read more about it.

$15 for members
$35 for non-members

 

Satellites — Informal sessions

IWOSC's monthly drop-in satellite sessions are free and open to all writers — both members and non-members.
Bring your writing, your ideas, problems, questions, and complaints. Receive support, laughs, juicy controversy, and plenty of networking.

Pasadena/Altadena Satellite

Upcoming meetings:
Friday, June 14
Friday, July 12
Friday, August 9
Friday, September 13

Time: 8:30 a.m.
Free to all
Non-members welcome!

Join writers in the San Gabriel Valley area for an active exchange of ideas at The Coffee Gallery. This is always a joint meeting of the IWOSC Pasadena Satellite and the Alameda Writers Group SIG. We thank Jane Neff Rollins for her support with this satellite.
Details

 

South Bay Satellite

IWOSC's South Bay Satellite is for writers in Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, El Segundo — anywhere the ocean meets the shore in California. This group gets together on the third Tuesday of each month at 10 a.m. at the Marmalade Cafe in El Segundo.

Upcoming meetings:
Tuesday, June 18
Tuesday, July 16
Tuesday, August 20
Tuesday, September 17

Time: 10:00 a.m.
Free to all
Non-members welcome!

Location:
Marmalade Cafe
2014 Park Place, El Segundo
Details

 

West Valley (Woodland Hills/SFV) Satellite

Upcoming meetings:
Wednesday, June 12
Wednesday, July 10
Wednesday, August 14
Wednesday, September 11

Time: 10 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Free to all
Non-members welcome!

The West Valley (Woodland Hills/SFV) Satellite meets monthly at Marie Callendar's each 2nd Wednesday at 10 a.m. offering writers a chance to participate in a free-flowing exchange of ideas about their work and the writing business.

Location:
Marie Callendar's
14743 Ventura Blvd.
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
(between Van Nuys Bl and Kester)
Details

 

Ventura County Satellite

Upcoming meetings:
Thursday, June 13
Thursday, July 11
Thursday, August 8
Thursday, September 12

Time: 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
$2 per person
Non-members welcome!

IWOSC's Ventura County Satellite meets on the 2nd Thursday and is hosted by Dawn Wood.
Details and RSVP

 

Westside Satellite

Upcoming meetings:
Thursday, June 13
Thursday, July 11
Thursday, August 8
Thursday, September 12

Time: 10 to 11:30 a.m.
There is a fee of $3 per meeting, which goes to charity.
Non-members welcome!

IWOSC's Westside Satellite meets on the 2nd Thursday at the Santa Monica Bay Woman's Club. Vickey Kalambakal hosts.
Details and RSVP

 

Orange County Satellite

Upcoming meetings:
Thursday, June 20
Thursday, July 18
Thursday, August 15
Thursday, September 19

Time: 7 p.m.
Free to all
Non-members welcome!

The opportunity to meet fellow Orange County, California writers is brought to you by host Kurt Bensworth at the Tustin Library on the 3rd Thursday of each month.
Details

 

IWOSC Reads Its Own

Sunday July 14, 2013
2 to 4 p.m.

Join us for a spellbinding afternoon of eclectic, eccentric, and exemplary works — from poems to true stories to hilarious monologues and beyond, read aloud by distinguished IWOSC scribes. We’ll be regaled with their wit, have our emotions stirred, or be plunged into deep thought as these talented member writers read short excerpts from their published, unpublished, or in-progress works at the beautiful independent bookstore, Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena, California.

We'll announce our selected readers as we set the line-up.

Free to all
Plenty of parking on Colorado and neighboring streets.

Read more about it.

 

 

Special IWOSC events

In addition to producing our own events for Southern California writers, we also participate in other writer-related events.

LitFest Pasadena 2.0

On Saturday, May 11, 2013 IWOSC participated in the second annual LitFest Pasadena at Central Park in Old Town Pasadena.

LitFest Pasadena is a celebratory day of readings and panel discussions featuring well-known California authors, hands-on activities, gourmet food trucks, and great fun — all promoting the literary arts.

LitFest Pasadena 2.0 featured over 75 authors, storytellers, performers, and exhibitors creating a day that explored an eclectic mix of subjects such as Southern California surf culture, local history, children’s and young adult literature, and more.

See litfestpasadena.org for details.

 

Los Angeles Times
Festival of Books

IWOSC was proud to once again be a participant of the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at the USC university park campus the weekend of April 20-21, 2013. Admission is always free and it's a fabulous community event.

If you met us there and weren't yet a member of our writer's group, we hope you'll come join us at one of our upcoming meetings. If you are a member of IWOSC, we hope you came and said hello.

 

IWOSC-related events

UCLA Extension
Writers’ Program

The UCLA Extension Writers' Program is the nation's largest university-related writing program (more than 500 courses annually, with over 140 courses online). Complete info at the program's site.

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For some extra fun for writers, we're sharing a word of the day here.
~ Interested in learning it?
~ Think you know it?
Click the word to open a new window/tab to see, hear, or learn.
It's always nice to build some new pathways in your brain.

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News & Reminders!

IWOSC's Online Community

Join us in our Yahoo! Group and access the message board, calendar, links library and more. You'll have to register if you're not already a Yahoo! member.

IWOSC Events Mailing List

To get on the mailing list for all IWOSC events, send us an email with the subject: subscribe me to the events list.

NOTE: If you have a blocker such as Boxbe, please add iwosc-news(at-sign)iwosc.org to your OK list or we'll be plagued by rejection notes — and you won't receive the mailings.

IWOSC Meetings To Go

Couldn't attend an event? Be there with an audio recording of it! View our list of available events and purchase your tape today!

Easy Payment via Paypal

You can make reservations for selected seminars and pay for your membership at Paypal. Make payment to payiwosc(atsymbol)iwosc.org.

SAVE THE DATES

IWOSC meetings are generally on the 4th Monday of the month and IWOSC seminars are the 3rd Saturday. In August and December, we forego the search for writing-related knowledge to enjoy celebrating our successes at an historic Los Angeles area venue. These are our tentative events so you can plan for them.

Future IWOSC meeting dates
June 24: Playwriting, with an all-star panel
July 29: When Writers Attack: making a difference with your writing

Future IWOSC Seminar and Workshop dates
June 15: Peter Balaskas - Crafting the Short Story - part 1
July 20: Peter Balaskas - Crafting the Short Story - part 2


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