I once had lunch with a dear friend who I met at the Santa Barbara Writers (SBWC) Conference, Charles Champlin. Chuck was a film critic and writer and I adored him as he was so smart and full of stories and kind. He would entertain people with stories of celebrities he knew and interviewed.
We went to lunch at a famous Los Angeles restaurant. I can’t remember the restaurant’s name and I also can’t remember what we talked about, but I have to say it was an honor to be his friend.
When the lunch was over Chuck said that he was off to meet Greg. As in Gregory Peck! I so wanted to go with him. I don’t know why I didn’t beg him to take me. Funny how that was the big take-away from our lunch!
I went to the SBWC 14 years in a row. Not only did I first declare myself as a writer there, I met friends who I’m still close with these several decades later. Writers conferences will do that to you.
Walter Halsey Davis, a writer and producer known for “Silent Cries,” “Jane Doe” and “Do You Remember Love,” was a workshop leader at SBWC. We became fast friends until he died in 2019. He had a big influence on my writing; he always encouraged me to go deeper in my writing. One story I wrote told of a woman who was sexually assaulted by a friend of her lawyer husband. Walter asked, “If you were that character, how would you like the story to end?” That question freed me to create not only what my fictional characters would want, but what I, a person, would want. A blending of fiction and fact.
Ray Bradbury, who wrote more than 30 books and nearly 600 stories, was the keynote speaker for SBWC for almost 40 years. I was lucky enough to sit at lunch with him and others, several years in a row. He could entertain for hours, yet he also listened. One great piece of advice he gave was, “If you think you’re done writing a piece, write another page.” That advice is chiseled into my brain.
Another great who was at the SBWC, was Elmore (Dutch) Leonard. He wrote 58 books, many of which were made into movies (Get Shorty). He lived outside Detroit, I lived outside Detroit. I related to his writing style and his characters.
In one workshop, I read the opening chapter of one of my books. The workshop leader didn’t like how I opened the novel with my antagonist. I left the workshop a bit confused, until Dutch (who had been at the workshop, something I didn’t know) greeted me with, “I liked how you opened the book.” We sat in the shade and talked for 45 minutes. In a letter he wrote to me some months after the conference, he said he thought we had talked for 15 minutes. Pretty funny. What I learned from Dutch was to have confidence in my story and keep writing. He said he once wrote 100 pages before he figured out the plot!
Jordan O’Halloran, a writer friend of mine who wrote “Clean Up on Aisle Three,” mentioned how a writers conference affected her. “My first writers conference was the Santa Barbara Writers Conference. It was beyond a big help to me. I was a new writer in 2018, the first year I went, and I loved every second. I was able to meet people who took writing seriously and were actually published!”
O’Halloran won Best Fiction at that conference and her book was published in 2021.
What’s a girl to do?…recommend writers and aspiring writers to check out conferences where they might learn from accomplished writers, bond with other writers and possibly make lifelong friends and connections.
Lucy Llewellyn Byard welcomes comments and shares. To contact her email lucywgtd@gmail.com
