Latest / The Daily Writer / Lisa Shaughnessy on Finding the Perfect Writing Retreat

Transcript

Lisa Shaughnessy on Finding the Perfect Writing Retreat · The Daily Writer

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Daily Rider Podcast, where we bring you tips and inspiration each day to help you build habits for riding success.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: For more resources, including your free Daily Rider Starter Kit, visit DailyRiderLife.com.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: If you've heard any recent episodes of this podcast, you've probably heard me talking about my Daily Rider Retreat.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now, by the time this episode goes live, that retreat will have happened the previous week actually, but I've learned that writing retreats can be a great way to serve your audience by bringing people together in a format that helps them make huge leaps quickly in their business and in their thinking, but also in their relationships and connections.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: And my guest today is here to help us unlock the power of writing retreats.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Using her background in business, entrepreneurship, and writing, Lisa Jaughnessy is on a mission to help writers find writing retreats that give them the support they need to tell their stories and to feel inspired.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: She created the Writing Retreat Sampler, the virtual event that allows writers to hear directly from writing retreat hosts about how their retreats are run and also get a feel for what types of writing retreats are out there.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: You can learn more at writing retreat sampler.com.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: She's also building a website, writingretreatdirectory.com, where writing retreat hosts will be able to promote their retreats and writers can use the filters to find ones that fit their time, budget, and writing needs.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Lisa is also the author of the book Unlock Your Hidden Revenue, and in her off time, she loves traveling and hiking with her husband and their dog.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: You can find her on Facebook and Instagram, and those links will be in the show notes.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: This was a really fun and informative interview.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: I am convinced about the power of live events.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: I think they're really awesome.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I think you're going to get a lot out of this episode, particularly if you are inclined to enjoy those live events, particularly writing retreats.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm thrilled to bring you this conversation with my friend Lisa Shaughnessy.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Lisa, welcome to the Daily Writer Podcast.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think this is your first appearance on the show, if I'm not mistaken.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: So welcome.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's great to have you here.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Kent.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's good to be here, and thanks for having me on the show.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate it.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: So we're going to have this conversation from a couple of different angles.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: One angle is more of the, I guess we call it the business side of what you're doing.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: The other angle is kind of more the, I guess I would call it the content side, which is I want to talk about the value of writing retreats in the first place.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I know this is something you're very passionate about.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe let's start there because your your whole thing that you're doing right now is around writing retreats, which is something by the time this comes out, I will have done two writing retreats.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm still very much a baby in this space, just getting my feet wet.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I'm curious from your perspective, why do you think writing retreats are something that is so big in the writing world and why are they valuable?
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: Well, writing retreats can dense so much into like a one or two-week period.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's great that there's so many courses out there.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: There's writing coaches, there's programs, and people who can help you up level your writing game.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: They can help you with, you know, story development or plot, you know, figure out your plot holes, character development, trying to make a cohesive story out of all of your thoughts.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but that takes time, right?
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: If you join a writing course, then maybe once or twice a week, you're doing the content, you're logging into Zoom, you're having Zoom, you know, one-on-ones maybe with the instructor.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it takes time.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: And even with a writing coach, which I love writing coaches.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think it's amazing.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: I've actually used a writing coach in the past and got tremendous value out of it.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: But again, it takes time, right?
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: I have to write something, I send it to them, they edit it or you know, do what they have, you know, the comments and then they send it back.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: But in a writing retreat, you can condense a lot of that into one place.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: You have your writing coach there, you know, your instructor um there to help you to answer questions.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: And even if it's you know, nine o'clock at night, say everybody's just sitting around, right?
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: At a writing retreat, you're all in one place.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe you're just sitting around and you know, having coffee or cocktails or something, and an idea hits you, and your instructor is right there, and you can kind of run it by her or him.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, also the people that gather with you, you can learn so much from other writers in the same room.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: So again, you do courses, everybody's in a you know, a Facebook group or they're in their Zoom chats.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but there's something about that personal connection, that that person being right next to you, where the conversation is flowing and it's just so casual.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so to me, I think I think all of those have a place.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: I never want somebody to think I'm saying, no, you can only do a writing retreat.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's the only thing that's helpful.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: But you can get so much condensed into the writing retreat that would take you know days or weeks or months um to do in the other the other venues, I think.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: You ever seen the musical Hamilton?
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: I have not.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, you haven't?
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's it's fantastic.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: Be the only one on earth.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, no.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's really great.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, there's a song in listeners who have have seen it or heard it, uh, will recognize there's a song in the musical Hamilton called The Room Where It Happened.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: So the basic idea is the whole musical really centers around Hamilton's feud with, well, pretty much everybody, but he's kind of a contentious contentious guy, likes to fight.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: But his main rival, quote unquote, in the in the musical, and really in real life, I guess, is Aaron Burr.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a there's a song in the second half of Hamilton, and I'm I have a point with the story, by the way.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going too over the where Aaron Burr is singing, you know, I want to be in the room where it happens because Hamilton is getting all these cool things done.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: He's making these backroom deals with politicians.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: He's getting the the finance center of the the US, which is still a baby country at that point, moved to New York City, all those kinds of things.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: And he's jealous because he doesn't have that insider relationship.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: And it kind of reminds me when we talk about retreats, that retreats are kind of like the room where it happens.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like a shortcut to relationships and success in many ways because you you can build those intimate bonds with people that you that it's really hard to get on Zoom or in other kinds of things.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: And and sometimes you can actually find if you say connections to either publishers or agents because if online it sometimes those um easy connections or those easy conversations don't happen because people don't know you, right?
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: They're a little wary, like maybe they've seen you on video or they've, you know, seen what you've done.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: But when you're talking to somebody in person, it's really hard to hide your who you are, you know, your true personality, or they get to know you and say, oh, this is somebody I trust.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: This is somebody I want to give my contacts to because I can see, you know, they're very interested in their writing, they're very serious about it.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I trust that that if I connect them with somebody, it won't come back to me, it won't ruin my reputation.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: So that can be another point to it as well.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: One of the difficult things about retreats, though, is that there's a lot of writing retreat that retreats out there, a lot of different kinds of retreats.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have any thoughts on how a writer can decide maybe which kind of retreat to go to?
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because there's a lot of them all across the well, really all across across the world.
• 8:00
  unknown: Yes.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: So any thoughts for how do you how do you pick what kind of retreat might work best for you?
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: I think I did I just write a blog post on this.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: I either just read a blog post or I'm getting ready to publish it.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it has to do with what you want, your purpose, your goal.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: I would start there.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: So um I know we'll get into it a little bit, but the writing retreat sampler events I have, the very next one is going to be um a memoir retreat.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: Hosts are going to talk about their retreat.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, just know what your purpose is and what you want to get out of a retreat first.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: If you know, if you're going to write memoir, if you want to, you know, delve into nonfiction, if you're um, you know, maybe you're doing, in fact, there's crime writing retreats.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: There's a retreat for almost any kind of genre or what you want.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I would say first narrow down your goal.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: What is your goal?
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: What type of writing retreat do you want to go to?
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: And then from there, along with your goals, are they offering critiques?
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: Are they offering workshops?
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, what is important to you when you leave a retreat, what do you want to have accomplished?
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to spend more time, you know, diving into your manuscript, well, maybe don't pick one that has a lot of outside excursions or outside activities.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: But if those types of things will invigorate your imagination, your creativity, maybe you know, walking down an old town in Tuscany or something is just the thing you need, get that creative juice flowing, then look for retreats like that.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I would say just make a list of things that you want to get out, make a list of your budget, you know, make sure that you are thinking about things that are included and not included.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: So if you look at two retreats and they look like they're the same price, but if you look deeper and one includes all meals and one doesn't, then you might want to rethink that.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a lot of things to really consider.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: You don't want to just, you know, Google, you know, writing retreats and then choose the top one that comes up because that might not fit you.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: Even the time of year.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: If you hate cold weather, don't pick a retreat in Alaska.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: You know, for sure.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: You know, or even the type of environment.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: If you need quiet, if you need absolute quiet to get what you want done, you know, choose one of the retreats that are, you know, mountain retreats or far away from you know activity.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: But if you get again invigorated by the hustle, the bustle, you know, activity, then choose one maybe that's closer to a town or that's closer to activities.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I would say definitely it's going to be very personal, the type of retreat that you want to attend.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: But as you said, there's almost always going to be a retreat for you is if you dig into it and find out what's out there.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess part of this in many ways comes back to being clear on what you want from your writing to begin with.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Because do you want to build a business?
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Are you, you know, like me, I'm a ghostwriter.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's kind of my main thing, but I do uh some other stuff as well.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: And over time, that's going to start to outweigh my ghostwriting side of my business, probably.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I'm very much trying to grow my own side with my own books and the Daily Writer Club and all those things.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm very business-minded in what I'm doing, but that's not what everybody wants.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Some people just want to write that novel, and it's a dream they've always had, and they just want something that's going to help them finish the novel.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: They don't really have a lot of interest in the marketing or business side of it or making a lot of money from it.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: They just have this creative goal.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: Then I think knowing what you want out of this process to begin with, I would think that would also be really, really helpful.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of having clarity on your overall vision of what are you trying to do with this writing in your life?
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe sometimes you don't know at all.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and going to a retreat can actually really help you get clarity on what you want to begin with.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I totally agree with that.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, I've talked to, I have spoken to a couple of writing retreat hosts who have said that very thing that somebody comes to their retreat expecting to work on one thing or have something done.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: And when they get there, just inspiration hits them.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they don't have all the all the daily life stuff in their head.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: They can just have room to think.
• 12:36
  unknown: Yeah.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: All that stuff is gone.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: And then when they have time to think, they realize, oh, well, maybe that wasn't what I wanted to write about.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe that wasn't my goal.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe, maybe this thing that's been niggling in the back of my head that I've tried to like squash down because you know, maybe I haven't felt ready for it.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe I'm ready for that now.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: So that can definitely happen in a writing retreat.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: There's something really significant about getting out of your normal setting and your normal routine that I think is really, really critical for new inspiration, new creative ideas, a breath of fresh air in your life.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I think, you know, COVID really um it made us all aware that when you're kind of locked down in one place for a long time, that kind of is very life-stifling.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: So, and I realize there, you know, there are parts where people are still dealing with that and whatnot, but I think we're mostly kind of past that.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: So people are really anxious to get out and explore new things and getting into a new space with different people you don't hang around with, that can be the exact thing that somebody needs rather than going in, you know, kind of expecting they're just going to go in like to a class or to a workshop.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: The environment and the people there can have a huge impact on the value of it.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, definitely.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: Even just, you know, for people watching.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: So even if you, you know, want to have more free riding, but you end up someplace that has, you know, a little cafe or you take a little day trip, then you know, that can be very, very creative and spark that imagination as well as you, you know, kind of observe, like you said, different things in different people.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: I almost think the and of course it depends on the retreat, but I almost think the the topics or the quote unquote content that you would get from a retreat, I almost think that's kind of beside the point in a way.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying it's unimportant, but I'm saying you can get if you if you just want content, just read a book.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: Or just attend an online workshop.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: But I I think the relationships that you build with people and getting away and just being refreshed in a different way.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's that's really the a huge, huge value in doing a retreat.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: The overall experience is is going to be unparalleled.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: You're just going to get a transformation.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: You're not going to even, it's not you're not going to be able to help it.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: You will have a transformation just being around the different people, the different environment, and being just you without all those extra responsibilities.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: A big thanks to today's sponsor, Vellum.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: For years, my go-to choice for book formatting software has been Vellum.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: It gives you the power to build, style, and preview your book and have a blast while doing it.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: Vellum is the go-to choice for Mac users who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books and want to save tons of time in the process.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: Best of all, you can download Vellum and play with your book's formatting to your heart's content.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: You only have to purchase when you're ready to publish.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: And when you do, Vellum can create ebooks for every platform.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: To download Vellum for free, visit Tryvellum.com slash daily.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: All right, back to my conversation with Lisa Shaughnessy.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: So let's let's look kind of look at some of the behind the scenes of of what this is to begin with, because we're talking about retreats, probably preaching to the choir in some aspect, because people who are listening probably are inclined to want to go to retreats, I would imagine, because they're writers or want to be a writer.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but how did this whole thing evolve for you?
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: You're, I would say, quickly becoming kind of an authority on this writing retreat space, which I'm really thankful for.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: Because uh I don't think anybody, to my knowledge, has really sort of consolidated all their writing retreats out there into one space where people can learn about them.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe there are, I don't know.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: But to my knowledge, you're the first person to do that.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: I haven't found anything out there like it either.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: I I stumbled onto it um kind of accidentally.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: But um yeah, I was looking for because you know what sometimes when you're starting something new, you can look to see what other people are doing, just you know, am I on the right track?
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: You know, what what what else is out there?
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I didn't find anything.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: But it started for me.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: So the writing retreat sampler, for those who don't know, is where I bring writing retreat hosts and writers together so that writers can learn more about specific writing retreats and also learn how a writing retreat can help them just further their writing and publishing goals.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: So, since you mentioned COVID, um a couple of years ago, I was actually running my own business.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: I helped online uh small businesses with their processes and also creating customer follow-up messages so that they could, you know, get more reviews, referrals, and repeat businesses, I called it.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I got a little burnt out on it.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so in late 2018, I stopped doing that.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: I just told all my clients, sorry, I'm not doing this anymore.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I started to write more.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I wrote a little bit on the side, I wrote things here and there, but I decided to start writing my family stories because I was always interested in genealogy and family history.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: And as my family trekked across the US starting in the 1700s, all the way to California, some interesting stories popped up.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I thought, you know, I'm gonna write these and I'm gonna share them with the family because I think they might be interested.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I got really into creative nonfiction.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: How do I write these stories that bring them to life and not just, and then, you know, Polly went to the store and then Polly farmed, you know.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: How do how do I make them really good stories?
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: So I was doing that, and then I started doing more nonfiction or um fiction.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: I started getting into novellas and just kind of anything that popped into my head, and I was really enjoying it.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: And uh that's when I did hire a book coach to help me with a few things and super helpful.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: And then I realized I think a writing retreat would really, really help me at this stage.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: I I I felt like I needed that intensive, that one-on-one, that as we've said before, just you know, just being in one place to to write.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that was in the fall of 2019.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: And by the time I found a writing retreat, it was March 2020 and everything had shut down.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: So uh didn't go to a writing retreat.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I was still so interested in in finding one that or helping people find one because when I was looking for one, all it is is a bunch of blog posts.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: Blog posts on the you know 50 best writing retreats for 2020.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I I didn't find any place that had a writing retreat directory, as I called it.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um there's one, retreats.com lists writing retreats, but there's very few on there, and it's mostly other types of retreats.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: So I thought, well, if if I'm having this problem, there's a ton of writers out there.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: Other people might be having this problem.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: So I decided to start figuring out how to make a writing retreat directory in my you know COVID spare time.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: And and then but I had no no contacts in the industry, right?
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't I knew some writers through my writing groups.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't know any writing retreat hosts.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I started reaching out to people, you know, hey, I'd I'd really like to talk to writing retreat hosts to kind of figure out what they need, how could I help them?
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: How would a directory help them?
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: And and then over that time I got in touch with you.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: So Laura DeFranco introduced me to you and we had a great conversation.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: And you mentioned, you said, Oh, have you thought about summits, online summits?
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I hadn't heard of them, so no.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it intrigued me.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: I thought, oh, well, that sounds interesting.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I looked them up and I found out kind of a couple business models for online summits.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I thought, what if I did an online summit for writing retreat hosts, like to help them maybe with their business or to help them, you know, connect them with resources that would help them.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I was talking to one of my brothers about it, and he's very creative, much more creative than I am.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: And he said, Well, why don't you why don't you connect writers with the writing retreat hosts?
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, that's brilliant, genius, mind blown, right?
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that actually felt more natural to me.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: The other felt really business-y and yeah, which I'm not against business-y, but I feel like I'm more connector, relationship building.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm a middle child of six, so I've always kind of been that uh kind of connector and in in the family.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: But when he said that, that just really intrigued me.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I looked and he's like you said, nobody was doing this.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: I kind of fumbled my way through creating a website.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: Well, actually, as soon as we hung up the phone, I bought the domain name and started creating a website to host this summit.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um so in February, I had the first one.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: I had 13 Writing retreat hosts talk about their summits or talk about talk about their writing retreats.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I had nearly a hundred people sign up from zero.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I had no social media presence, no email lists.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, those people were my first subscribers.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: And the reaction was amazing.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: Writers, writers like, oh my gosh, I've been looking for a writing retreat, but I didn't know, you know, I didn't know what was out there.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't know what it would do for me.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't know, you know, I didn't want to spend a lot of money and time going to one and then find out it didn't work for me, that it wasn't, you know, what I needed.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: And then on the other side, writing retreat hosts were thankful to get, you know, more people to know about them and for how to have somebody kind of be that glue and and be the like the red flag people, the um, the people who do tours and they're always like, okay, rally around the red flag, you know, which that's what made me think of.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: So I've got writing retreat hosts, I've got writers coming, and um, and we're all just you know forming this really, really great community, which has been so generous and so positive.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: It just even on the days where I'm thinking, what am I doing?
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: I I get an email from somebody that'll say, Oh, this is just so great.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate you doing this.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, okay, okay, Lisa, come on, keep going.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, you're you're on the right track.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: So the writing retreat directory is actually still in process.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm hoping to launch that by the middle of May.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but but the writing retreat sampler virtual events really took off.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: Those that really just the need, it was just more than I was expecting.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but so I thought, well, okay, I did this two-day event, this two-day uh summit where I had the writing retreat hosts stacked, um, you know, five on one day, six on the other, and uh you know, they were pre-recorded.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: And then I had the live chat, as you know, because Kent was one of them.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um it just if you can even speak to your experience a little bit, but to me it felt like there was that barrier, like they're watching a video and live chat, but I don't know, it just there was something missing for me.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so I reached out to the people who had attended, and I I asked, I said, if I did a live version of this with one retreat host at a time a couple of times a month, would that be better for you?
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: Would you feel like you would get more out of it?
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: And the overwhelming response was yes.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I I did.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: Well, real quick before we do move on to that, what was your experience?
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: How did you feel about that?
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_01: The uh pre-recorded video with the chat.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I felt totally okay with it.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I mean, I've done summits before where that's that's usually the case.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, in fact, when I take that back, this is the first summit that I did where they wanted the person who was doing the presentation to come in and and do like a live chat, which I thought was great.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: I really loved that actually.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um most summits that I've been on, uh you just record a record a presentation and then they just kind of play it, you know, like like they typically do, which is totally fine.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a big fan of just launching something and seeing what works and then continuing that and then okay, this didn't go so great.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: Let's let's do it.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, whenever we do it again, let's change that aspect of it.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it was great what you did.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: I really thought it was super well put together.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: It was really well organized.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's my point.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: I thought.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, good.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it was, and and it was um, and I thought so too.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I I like you said, get out there, start something.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_01: You can't expand on something, you can't approve on something that you don't have.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I thought, you know, getting all these people together, getting it great, and I liked it because it did get a lot of people together at once.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I had, you know, the 13 retreat hosts over two days.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: So it could really kind of jumpstart this idea.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so but now I I have decided and I'm moving forward with it that I'm doing two events per month with alternating time zone or uh times.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: So I'll do it 8:30 in the morning, Eastern time.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'm in Eastern time, so 8:30 in the morning, Eastern time, one Wednesday and of each month, and then three, three or three: thirty, I can't remember which I decided on um PM Eastern time to catch East Coast people and um maybe even some, you know, European or UK people who want to see it in the evening.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: So I figured between those two times, I can kind of catch people sliding on either side.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I will have them, the replay will always be up on my website.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: So even if people miss it, then they'll be able to go back and look.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_01: But what I like about the live events is people will be able to ask questions, they'll be able to really interact with the retreat host in that way where they're looking at them, they're seeing them.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's just to me, any barrier that comes down between talking or having a conversation or relationships, um, that's just it's just where I'm I'm at.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: That's my where my comfort zone is.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm really excited to have that first one.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's launching on May 24th, which maybe after this airs.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: But um if you go to writing retreatsampler.com, you can see all of the upcoming, all of the upcoming episodes that will be that will be going.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_01: I have people, yeah.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: So and and I reached out to people and say, hey, I'm doing this new thing.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, do you want to present your writing retreat?
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I have people booked all the way through September.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I have a few slots open, but basically I have, yeah, through September.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I have amazing writing retreat hosts.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: I have people who are doing um, you know, somebody's doing in uh Estonia, and we have people in the Berkshires.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um and last time I I really did have the gamut last time.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_01: I had Iceland, Europe, uh where else were people doing it?
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh from California to the East Coast.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: It was just uh just great, great number of retreats that the people really got to see that existed.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um and to really help them, I want writers to know that there's something out there for you.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like if you're not, if you need help writing, there's something out there that's that's going to be there for you.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_01: So just keep looking.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: If you haven't found it yet, keep looking because we're growing a community and we want to help each other.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, you could use this as an opportunity to to do things beyond um what you're doing now in terms of I mean, you're connecting with all these people who are connecting with a lot of writers.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe even something in the future, like putting together a book anthology or something.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's limitless possibilities really, but I just think it's cool how you're connecting with all these people who then kind of have their own sub-communities.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: So they're in a sense, you're becoming kind of a kind of a hub almost for all these people who do writing retreats, which is a very specific niche of of people who love writing.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: So like you could totally own this.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you are owning it now.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I just think it's really cool how you saw a need and you did something about it, rather than just kind of sitting back and going, well, I don't know what the technical barriers are.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how to get this started.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: You just kind of did it, which I think is really admirable.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: So if nobody else says it to you, Lisa, I want to make sure I say it to you.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's really awesome that you just saw a need and you did something to try and fill that need.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it's it has been very exciting and more fulfilling, although some of the technical aspects did drive me crazy.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I think if I'd known about some of them, I may not have gone forward.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm glad I did too, because the people I've met and um the the things I've learned is just it's it's just a such a supportive community.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_01: And another thing I'm doing, which I'm really loving, is uh sponsors.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm having sponsors.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want writers to pay to attend these events.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, believe me, I know that you know we're scraping money together for editing and book covers and all the things.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, the one last thing we need is like somebody else saying, Oh, and if you want to learn something, you know, pay more money.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I've gotten some great sponsors for the first event.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_01: I've gotten um, can I say them on here?
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: Does that matter?
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: So scrabe file, which I love.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: I actually used them a couple of years ago when I was writing short stories, and they're perfect for beta readers.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: You can um post your content, post any stories, anything you want, and you'll get feedback on it.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: You just have to also give feedback, critique other people's work, which helped me tremendously to see what other people were writing.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_01: And they also offer online writing classes.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then ebookfairs.com, they do book fairs.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: They're similar, actually.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_01: They saw a need to help writers connect.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: So eBook Fairs is another sponsor.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_01: They help organize online book fairs for people to uh authors of similar genres, they gather, they they create their own book fair, and then they send that out to their audience.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: So it's kind of like group, you know, the power of of the group to to send out that.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_01: And then our writer within, who is uh Catherine Kay, it's her book coach editing and her writing retreat service.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I have these three amazing sponsors, and I have a sponsor page for them, which means I get more writers engaged in their community.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: So I want to not just, you know, the writing retreat to writer aspect, which I think is important, but what else is out there that can help writers?
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_01: How can I connect writers to more resources, more things that can help them elevate their writing or reach their writing and publishing goals?
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, so when you said hub, that made me think of that.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe I'm I'm becoming one without really uh realizing it or planning it.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's just it's my default.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how can I bring everybody in?
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's a valuable thing, especially in the world of writers who tend to be a little bit more isolated just because what we do is so solitary typically.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: No, I am curious about something, um, and I want to respect respect your time, of course.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: But one little snag that I have run into with my own retreat that's coming up in a few weeks is that um there's some people who said, Hey, uh, you know, I can't afford to ride now, or the timing isn't right, or kind of some other reason they would like to come, but for for one reason or another, they could make it work.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: What are your thoughts on doing virtual riding retreats?
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like, do you do you think they're not as effective as in pro?
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I know they're different, but I've thought about doing like one day or half day virtual retreats.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, just as a way for people who can't do an in-person thing to have kind of something to come and and, you know, we can do workshops or get to know you sessions or critique sessions, or there's any number of things.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: But just curious if you've heard of those.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yes, yes.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_01: I I have, you know, they're not um probably more popular during COVID, but as you said, I think people are are shifting back to in-person.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_01: I think it virtual writing retreats can be very valuable.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, as we said, nothing really compares to that in-person, in-person.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_01: But um, for virtual treats, I would say to help the attendees create kind of that space within wherever they're going to be.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, even if they, you know, rent a local Airbnb and attend your virtual retreat.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's genius.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's really genius.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, they don't have to go far, they don't have to go necessarily to the place where you're holding it, but maybe there's someplace local they can just, you know, go overnight and and spend the day at your retreat, or you know, close a door, find a door in the house, close it, put do not disturb a sign on it, and even create their own environment.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, you know, candles or aromatherapy or flowers or posters, you know, anything that makes that space maybe different and inviting.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_01: So even some visual pictures of places.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, you can't go to Tuscany or you can't go to the Colorado Mountains or to, you know, St.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_01: Charles, Missouri.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_01: But um, but you could have you could, you know, put pictures around you that kind of have that inspiration that aren't normally around you.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_01: So I would say definitely if a virtual retreat works for your audience, put one together, but put a lot of thought into how to create uh an outside environment or a different environment that that that will help them with that creativity um or spark that imagination that that we would get otherwise.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: Gosh, that's really good.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I hadn't thought about those things.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's really, really good.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: Something we're doing at my retreat next month is on the last day, but we're taking like a three-hour break in the afternoon just for some chill out time and relaxation.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: But we have one of our members who uh he's kind of like um he knows a lot about our area.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: He does a lot of hiking, he's in the woods constantly.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: So we're doing kind of a mini hike that day just to get the blood pumping after lunch, kind of wake up and those kind of things.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: But I guess for a virtual retreat, what you could do is hey, we're all gonna take a walk, go outside, you know, keep you could keep Zoom on or keep whatever way you're engaging with people on.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: I I think this would only work if it was probably a smaller retreat virtually.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: But hey, we're gonna all take a walk together.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_00: We're not all in the same actual place, but we're all walking and kind of getting some fresh air.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: That could be an interesting, a really interesting way to do that.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the more ideas you think of, the more you'll think of, you know, ideas off of that.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, once you start kind of going down that brainstorming path, you know, maybe it doesn't end up to be that, but you find something.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I'm I'm all into for brainstorming.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like what yeah, yeah.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I wonder if there's some ways to actually make a virtual retreat superior to an in-person retreat in some ways.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I'm not even sure what that would be, but um I don't know.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_00: I have to think about that.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: Really have to think about that.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_00: I know there's people a lot smarter than I am who've thought about how to make virtual events better in some ways than live events, but I have no idea what that is.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um well, what's interesting is so for my for my virtual event, I'm using a platform called Air Meet.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_01: And it has, you know, so I'll have sponsor booths.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'll actually have um it mimics kind of more of an event.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_01: So when you first go in, it looks like you're entering a room, a space.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then you at the top you can click on this places you can go to the lounge area.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, Kent, you should totally look into Air Meet.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's it it's cool.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's a little pricey.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_01: I will I will tell you that.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_01: But um they have places where you can meet at tables and you can chat at them.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and your camera is there, so that your face is there, and you have your uh your microphone.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like you're all sitting at a table chatting, um, because you're still talking.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's not that you have to type to chat, you know, you're still talking, but it's it's a table and you're all sitting there, and then you could have the main meeting room where maybe you talk about things, you know, what's going on, um, you know, the general session type things.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_01: And if people want to do maybe breakout rooms, um and then yeah, it's it's kind of a cool platform because that was the one thing I wanted too.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_01: When I realized I wanted to do the live events, I just cringed at thinking Zoom, you know, because I knew I wanted to sponsors.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_01: I knew I didn't want to limit, I didn't want to plaster a bunch of sponsor names on a slide and say, you know, here it is.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so this the booths are very, very cool kind of feature, and people can click on stuff in um, you could because you could even use booths for something else.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_01: Like it doesn't have to be a sponsor booth, you could use it for, I don't know, whatever you would use it for for the virtual retreat, because you can put clickable elements in there.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_01: You can put video in there, you can even add video to the main uh reception area.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_01: So you could welcome people, you know.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, welcome to the you know, Daily Writer Virtual Retreat.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm Kent, blah, blah, blah.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you could have the video there when people first enter.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, it's just it's it's very flexible, and there's just a lot of things you can do for it that encourages engagement.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, that's if anybody's been listening to me, that's what they you know I'm all about.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I wanted a way to kind of like you said, have engagement and connection even in a virtual event.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_01: And you can bring people up to the stage too.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I I haven't tested this yet, so I'm not sure how it works, but apparently you can, you know, click somebody, you can bring them up to the stage and and talk with them, you know, if they want to ask a question or something.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, there's a lot more uh engagement and and ways to sort of blend that that virtual world.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_01: So that's neat.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_01: I want to check that out.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_00: Almost like you can do on Clubhouse.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_00: Now I haven't been on Clubhouse in a long time, but I've never been on there.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's really cool.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if it's I don't know how popular it is anymore, but it it's the concept of the app is really, really cool.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: But when you're when you get into a room, people can bring you up on stage if they want you, you know, quote unquote.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_00: If they want you to kind of share the mic with them.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's a really interesting concept.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I I love what they've done with it, even though I haven't obviously I don't love it that much because I haven't been there.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_00: But in back in 2020, you know, it just exploded because everybody was at home.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, this is this is really good stuff.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna look at that.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_00: I think there could be some really interesting possibilities with a really well done and engaging and well thought out virtual writing retreat, not just you know, a couple of Zoom sessions.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the thing.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_01: People want to feel like they're away.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, yeah.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's really good.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna seriously look into that.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, thanks for the tips.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_00: You you may have just changed my whole business model here.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_01: So hey, well, you changed mine.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_00: So probably not so I'd but I'm really gonna seriously look into this because I'm very interested in it.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um cool.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, where can people find out more about you, Lisa, and what you're doing with the writing retreats and the sampler and anything else that you want to share?
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, writing retreatsampler.com right now is the main website.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the front page has the event right on it.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_01: So you can go there, click on any of the event graphics, and it'll take you to Eventbrite to sign up and register for the free events.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm also on Instagram, which I probably should know what my handle is.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_01: It might be at writing retreat directory.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I spend most of my time.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not really good at social media, but that's where I have found that I connect with most people.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_01: You can find me on Instagram if you want to look for writing retreat directory, or at least it's shaughnessy, I'm sure I'll pop up.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_00: Umreat directory.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_00: I just did a quick search for it.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's all.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, well, thank you.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_01: I am also, I do have a Facebook business page.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's possibly also at writing retreat directory.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um that I that's where I like to post longer form things on.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_01: Because you know, Instagram, you can't post links um except if you're doing a story.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_01: And Twitter is just short form, and I'm not really on Twitter much anymore.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_01: So Facebook I like because I can post announcements or longer form things.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_01: So definitely if you if you're out there on Facebook, uh follow the Facebook page.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_01: And then hopefully coming soon, maybe by the time this is aired, writingretreatdirectory.com will be available for writing retreat hosts to promote their retreats on the site and also for writers to find retreats.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_00: Nice.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thanks again for doing this.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I've learned a lot here.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_00: This has been so helpful, and and I loved hearing the backstory of how all this came together.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_00: I you told me some of that, but I didn't know the full story.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I think this is really going to inspire listeners to take action and think about how they can engage with the writing retreat because it really can be life-changing.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_00: So thanks again.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's been a blast.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, thanks, Kent.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_01: I really enjoyed it as well.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate you having me on.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, totally my pleasure.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Lisa.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_00: As you can tell, she is very passionate about writing retreats, and I'm so thankful that we've connected and also that she's put together these really cool resources for those of us who not just host writing retreats, but also for writers who are looking for retreats as well.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_00: I encourage you to check out her website, which is writingretreatsampler.com and writing retreat directory.com.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure and check out both of those.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_00: You can also connect with her on Facebook and Instagram, and those links will be in the show notes.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_00: A big thanks to Lisa for coming on the show today, and of course to you for checking out this episode.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_00: And with that, I will see you next time.