Taxi offers its members free attendance at the Taxi Road Rally in November of each year. The Road Rally alone is worth the price of a membership. There's a big convention in Las Vegas in the spring called Eat'M. Las Vegas is such a blast, and even though it isn't a major music center, there will be lots of people from L.A. there who you could meet in the flesh. The best kind. Yes, the Internet is an amazing tool for information gathering.
Search engines are a great way to research artists, too.
Study the songs you love and really understand what makes them great. Write and write and write. Go to songwriting workshops. Read books on songwriting. Write and write and write.