Two essential ingredients - California creativity and the personal touch of Barnaby and Mary Conrad - have made the Santa Barbara Writers' Conference a unique event in the literary world. Participating this year, for the first time, I had the opportunity to rub shoulders with best-selling authors, find motivation in the workshops and exchange ideas and concrete plans with people dedicated to the written word.

Barnaby Conrad, who created the SBWC 26 years ago, is at once laid-back and larger than life. this lively, charismatic 76 year old is a man of multiple talents and careers: a complete polymath. He has been a matador, diplomat, personal secretary to Sinclair Lewis, artist, sculptor, musician - and author of 28 books. His most famous one is Matador, a runaway best-seller in the 1950s, which is still a classic and has sold five million copies in 28 languages. Conrad seems the quintessential Renaissance man.

Yet, talented and engaging as he is, the conference might not have flourished without Mary, his elegant wife of 38 years. They form a perfect team. He concentrates on the product: she on the people, all of whom she knows by name. Together they have been the driving force and inspiration of the conference since its inception in 1972.
"The secret is the intimacy," said Barnaby without hesitation when I asked him what sets Santa Barbara apart from other conferences. "the open, interactive, informal contact between organisers, participants, workshop leaders and guest speakers."

A little north of Los Angeles and south of Big Sur and San Francisco, Santa Barbara is an upmarket beach community frequented by Hollywood habitueés. The conference's participants come from as far away as Switzerland, France, the UK, Russia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, and even China. For non-Californians, the informality and enthusiasm were disarmingly infectious; everyone was on a first-name basis.

Unlike many other literary get-togethers, SBWC participants undergo no advance screening. It is simply first-come, first-served, which accounts in part for the high degree of diversity. An impressive 65% of this year's participants are repeats; many have made it an annual event for decades.

They included students and teachers, full-time mothers and grandmothers, full-time bricklayers and a rich layer of best-selling authors. All mingled easily, the common denominator being their commitment to quality self-expression. Over the years, more than 100 books and countless short stories and articles have emerged as a direct result of this conference.

Of the many who have made good, one is former student and comedian, Fannie Flagg, whose book, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, became a best-seller and then a film; another is Spencer Johnson, co-author of the hugely successful book, The One Minute Manager. Still another, Catherine Ryan Hyde who has produced several novels, including Pay it Forward, subsequently made into the successful film.

Then there is Frances Weaver, 76, to remind us all that embarking on the road to literary fame can be a later-life adventure. An unpublished perennial at the conference for almost twenty years, she was at last discovered at the age of 72 by agent Michael Larsen and hit the big time with The Girls with the Grandmother Faces followed by I'm Not as Old as I Used to Be, and a regular spot on the Today show.

Frances now spends part of each year as resident literary light on Crystal Harmony cruises. Not bad for a young-at-heart senior citizen with a sprightly mind, a bright sense of humor and an ability to learn from the conference.

High-profile guest speakers put Santa Barbara in a class by itself. Well-known writers who have come to share their stories over the years number in the hundreds and include: Maya Angelou, William F. Buckley. Jr,. Erskine Caldwell, Jackie Collins, Paul Erdman, Fannie Flagg, Alex Haley, Ann Lamott, James Michener, Robin Norwood, Eva Marie Saint, Artie Shaw, Danielle Steel, Irving Stone, William Styron, Amy Tan, Eudora Welty and Gore Vidal.

Equally important are the agents, editors and publishers who appear each year, giving tips on the practical aspects of writing and looking for fresh talent.

True to form, the 1998 conference featured such best-selling authors as Mr. Sci-Fi, Ray Bradbury (The Martian Chronicles, Fahrenheit 451), Sue Grafton (the alphabet mystery series beginning with A is for Alibi that made her and her female sleuth Kinsey famous), Iris Chang, author of the highly acclaimed non-fiction, The Rape of Nanking, and the late beloved philosopher-cartoonist, Charles "Sparky" Schultz of Peanuts and Snoopy fame.

I found it a totally new experience to meet such best-sellers, to sense the private personality beneath the public persona, to hear about the behind-the-scenes roller coaster rides of a writer before - and after - making it big. Everyone starts small.

And the workshop leaders never tired of reminding us that 'success comes before work only in the dictionary'. Writing a publishable, not to mention best-selling, piece generally involves endless variations on the themes of time, discipline, hard work and editing. These teachers have been put through the paces many times themselves. In fact, eight of this year's crop of 30 published workshop leaders are themselves former students, It shows. Caring, nurturing, professional and unendingly patient, they balanced advice and criticism in just the right dosage so that I came away enriched and motivated.

They also bonded with the students, both in and outside of class. One, a humorist cum jazz pianist, lured us to a wonderful little cafe high in the hills for an unforgettable evening of music and ribald conversation. Despite the late nights, we got up each morning at what seemed like dawn. They may be laid-back in California but the pace at Santa Barbara is fast.

The programme featured a never-ending stream of workshops, panels, guest speakers, one-on-one sessions with agents and editors, late night readings and critiques, contests to enter and awards to win.

The pattern is well-established. It begins with two workshops daily from 9:00-11:30 AM and 1:00-3:30 PM.

Topics run the literary gamut from fiction (short story, mystery, romance, science fiction and novel); to documentary and creative non-fiction (biography, autobiography, magazines, and travel); to screen writing, dramatic writing, poetry, juveniles, humor, right brain experiences, editing, marketing and publishing. Participants may stick with one workshop throughout the week but are encouraged to sample the literary smorgasbord.

Following the workshops are two additional daily lectures, one at 4:00 PM usually focusing on practical aspects like self-publishing, and one evening programme at 8:00 PM usually featuring renowned guest speakers on various aspects of writing. Then, for the truly stout-hearted, there are so-called pirate workshops from 9:30 PM till around 2:00 AM where participants read their own works and are critiqued in depth.

Even the most ardent student could not crowd in the entire range of activities - but we tried. After all, it was only one short week. To prepare, I asked Barnaby what books I should read in advance. "Well, mine, of course, especially The Complete Guide to Writing Fiction," he answered with a twinkle in his eye, adding, "Yeah, and I also recommend Flaubert's Madame Bovary. for anyone with imagination, it's got literature's steamiest sex scene. there they are, driving around Paris for a six hours in a carriage that keeps 'appearing and reappearing, sealed tighter than a tomb and tossing like a ship' - and all that without Viagra." Vintage Barnaby.

Obviously, the man himself makes Santa Barbara special. But I found three other features unique. One was the accent on the visual impact of a story. With its proximity to Hollywood, its is no wonder that Santa Baba ra featured several screen writing and dramatic workshops and that people frequently worked in terms of visual scenes, often commenting on the viability of a piece in terms of its adaptability for television or cinema.

A second feature was the marketing aspect. Agents, editors and prospective publishers scour Santa Barbara because they know, as Barnaby puts it, that "It's not unlikely that the next literary big hitter will be discovered at our conference." And, especially in the States and Great Britain, marketing and promotion are indispensable parts of success.

The networking aspect, though a part of all writers' conferences, was particularly open and heart-warming. With contacts so convivial and support so sincere, for the short space of a week at least, one forgets that writing is a lonely profession.

Finally, though, the last morning, devoted to awards, readings, and just plain fun, arrived. As I sat in the large auditorium, savouring the wealth of new friends and contacts, experiences and inspirations, I could already sense the groundswell of energy that will carry me towards next summer and another encounter with the "write stuff" at Santa Barbara.

Adrea Mach is a Canadian who lives in Switzerland.