We’ll be starting a membership drive at the SLF on Tuesday, March 1st, and one of my tasks is to figure out what panels we’ll be hosting. The plan is to do one panel / week in March (Saturdays at 2 p.m. CST), that will be free and open to the public (though we’ll ask you to register in advance).
It’s sort of like a convention, but a distributed one? 
And then going forward, keep those going weekly; they’ll either be free to members or if ticketed, at a significant discount. We’re planning to also add workshops and classes down the road.
I’m thinking the first Saturday of the month we’ll dedicate to beginners, welcoming people into the field. And then after, it’s mostly a question of who I can persuade to come be on a panel for us. We’re planning to record them and host them on the SLF site / Youtube channel, so this should end up with us building a nice archive of conversations and resources for writers.
45 min. panel, with 30 minutes of Q&A afterwards, I think.
Something like this to start:
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Saturday, March 5: Generating Ideas — let’s talk about where writers get their ideas, and how you decide which ideas you want to develop into a short story (or novel, or screenplay, or…)
Panelists: TBD
Saturday, March 12: What Do Editors Want? A panel of short fiction editors talk about what they’re looking for in stories right now — and what to avoid! What common mistakes do writers make? What makes a story stand out from the slushpile?
Panelists: TBD
Saturday, March 19: Creating a Shared World. Writers from George R.R. Martin’s Wild Cards and Ellen Kushner’s Tremontaine come together to talk about the challenges and delights of working in a shared universe.
Panelists: TBD
Saturday, March 26: Writing for the Screen. Looking to break into screenwriting? Experienced screenwriters will talk you through what you should do to have a chance at writing for the silver screen.
Panelists: TBD
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Thoughts?
• Does this sound interesting to you? Mark your calendars!
• Any particular panels you’d love to see? Give me your suggestions!
• Anyone you’d particularly want on a panel? I’d love to hear about it!
• See one of these panels and think, “Hey, I’m a pro writer and I’d be great at that! I could volunteer 90 minutes to help out the SLF and other writers!”? Drop me a note. We will, of course, happily link to your current publications…
