Author Matthew Pallamary discussed shamanic practices and ceremonies in the jungle, including the use of psychedelic plant medicines like ayahuasca. He detailed a 10-day program he does in the jungle that involves a cleansing diet and various visionary plants. "Your perception gets more refined. It gets very clear. You start having telepathic experiences. And you really feel like you become a part of the jungle," he said of the experience. Highlighting the importance of altering one's perception to gain new perspectives and understandings, he noted that insights from ayahuasca can be similar to what is gleaned from some types of therapy.

You discover who you are by going into your shadow and integrating those parts of yourself that you have denied, he remarked, adding that every time you bring these parts back to yourself, you're bringing in the energy that you've had to use to keep various traumas in place, and as a result of this, energy becomes more available to you and your awareness expands. The center of the universe is located between one's eyes, he declared, and this represents the shift from personality-centered to essence-centered awareness. Pallamary also talked about his fiction writing process and how the art of storytelling is a form of magic-- the word 'spelling' actually comes from the notion of casting a spell, he pointed out.

Moderator: SBWC faculty member, Marla Miller works with writers on the road to publication, and beyond. Her popular SBWC workshop, Hooking Readers, covers both crafting and marketing tips.

Brook Ashley, is the author of Dare Wright and The Lonely Doll, which features more than four hundred of Dare’s own photographs and an array of other illustrations. Brook Ashley tells Dare’s story as no one else can, as she was Dare’s goddaughter, lifelong friend, and guardian during her final years. She grew up in Wright’s magical New York universe of Edith and The Bears. A former child actress, Brook is a Realtor and a magazine writer in Santa Barbara, CA.

Bee Bloeser, is the author of Vaccines & Bayonets: Fighting Smallpox in Africa amid Tribalism, Terror, and the Cold War. With wide-eyed ideals and two young children, Bee eagerly followed her husband to Africa, where he helped eradicate smallpox, in the 1970s. What she encountered there deepened her love for Africa, while it eroded her naïveté. Bloeser now lives in California and is building a speaking career in the wake of the publication of her book.

Hendrika de Vries is the author of the award-winning memoir When a Toy Dog Became a Wolf and the Moon Broke Curfew. She was a child in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam when girls were to be housewives and mothers. When her father was deported to a POW camp in Germany, and her mother joined the Resistance, she learned to become an empowered woman. She’s a retired Jungian-oriented therapist who used dreams and intuitive imagination to facilitate recovery.

Yvette Keller the author of the Douglas Adams’ London Guide from Herb Lester Associates. Her short fiction leans toward SF/Fantasy at an extravagantly relaxed angle. You can find her work in literary magazines such as Enheduanna, Imitation Fruit Literary Magazine, and The Santa Barbara Literary Journal. For fun, Yvette time travels in self-made historical costumes, and performs in short-form improv and live storytelling shows.

Podcasts & Audiobooks with Lois Phillips, Yvette Keller, Claudia Dunn, and Matthew J. Pallamary

Audiobooks and podcasts are a fast-growing area of publishing. Join this team for an insightful seminar on how to accomplish the goals of getting your book

Podcasts & Audiobooks with Lois Phillips, Yvette Keller, Claudia Dunn, and Matthew J. Pallamary

Audiobooks and podcasts are a fast-growing area of publishing. Join this team for an insightful seminar on how to accomplish the goals of getting your book

Be Your Own Best Publicist

Melinda Palacio & Lida Sideris

This session offers wisdom from the trenches from award-winning authors on promoting your project. You’ll get practical marketing advice on aspects of building an author platform and putting yourself and your book out there.

Shannon Pufahl is the author of On Swift Horses, her critically acclaimed debut novel which takes place in the mid-century American West. The New York Times Review of Books said this about her novel: “The spaces she creates for her characters — San Diego’s languid Chester Hotel, hiding in plain sight, and Tijuana rendered as an underworld — have the aura of realms.” Pufahl grew up in rural Kansas and teaches at Stanford University, where she was a Stegner Fellow in Fiction. She lives in Monterey, CA, with her wife and their dog.

Moderator: SBWC faculty member, Trey Dowell, is a novelist and a short story aficionado. His expertise in writing effective query letters has helped numerous writers get their projects reviewed by agents and publishers.

Mary Hill-Wagner, is the author of Girlz ‘n the Hood, a memoir of what it was like to grow up on some of the meanest streets in America with 10 siblings and a mother who taught her to protect the weak and love hard. Dr. Hill-Wagner is an award-winning author, journalist, and college professor. She enjoys reading, writing, racquetball, theater, and dogs.

Terra Trevor is the author of We Who Walk the Seven Ways, about the search for healing and finding belonging when Native women elders embraced and guided Trevor (mixedblood Cherokee, Lenape, Seneca, German) through the seven cycles of life in Indigenous ways. She’s a contributor to fifteen books in Native Studies and memoir. She’s the granddaughter of sharecroppers and was raised in a large extended family rich with storytelling and music.

Harlan Green, is the author of Building Community: Answering Kennedy’s Call. His memoir covers his work as a Peace Corps Volunteer in a Turkish village, as a photographer and filmmaker for the US Environmental Protection Agency in its earliest days, enforcing the Clean Air and Water Acts, and with Cesar Chavez and the United Farmworkers of America Union during its mid-1970s struggle organizing seasonal farm workers to better their living conditions.

Connard Hogan is an award-winning author of two memoirs. Once Upon a Kentucky Farm: Hope and Healing from Family Abuse, Alcoholism and Dysfunction shines a light on the struggles of those living with trauma from family abuse, and the healing powers of unconditional love. Barbwire, Brothels and Bombs in the Night: Surviving Vietnam reminds us that no one involved in warfare escapes trauma. He hopes his writing inspires others struggling to heal from trauma.

Dale Zurawski is the the author of Bipolar, a Gift of Thorns, a profoundly insightful memoir about being bipolar and how that affects others. This brave book about some of the darkest aspects of our lives shines a light on her courageous journey uncovering the stigma of being bipolar. This book will help anyone who is or loves someone who is bipolar. For the last 20 years, her home base has been Santa Barbara, California.

This session focuses on sparking curiosity and building anticipation. Proven query strategies and methods will be discussed. Bring your own in-progress queries—we’ll read them aloud and offer feedback.

SBWC faculty member, Trey Dowell, is a novelist and a short story aficionado. His expertise in writing effective query letters has helped numerous writers get their projects reviewed by agents and publishers.