Hi friends,
Excited to be with you today! Right now, I’m getting my final things packed and heading to the airport to pick up a sweetheart of a friend. We’re heading up to beautiful Lancaster, Pennsylvania for a 4-day writing retreat. I can’t wait! I’ve hosted a writing retreat up there for a handful of dear writing friends. It was definitely a memorable time. We got hit with a massive blizzard and had to extend the retreat a bit until flights resumed, but we had lots of writing time, played games (thank you, Julie Klassen, for the fun Scrabble game), brainstormed ideas, took in the beautiful snow, and laughed a ton.
This particular retreat is one I hosted last spring for aspiring authors. The last day of the retreat everyone voted to have another one this year and so we are. We have a private FB group and keep in touch throughout the year. It’s amazing how a group of eight very different women from all over the region and country can become friends in such a short time. I truly believe it’s because we share three loves—the love of reading, the love of writing, and most especially the love of Christ.
We’ve formed a sisterhood of sorts and it’s been such a blessing for all of us. The ladies have friends who are in the same spot along their publishing journey—some slightly ahead, some just starting out. But I truly believe I’m blessed the most from our time together. I love the joy that fills me as I see the growth they’ve made in writing, in attending their first conference, in their first agent request or contest final. We’re a group of cheerleaders in cozy clothes, fuzzy socks sitting around a beautiful stone fireplace with mugs of extra-strong coffee, of course. We’ll, most of us. There are a few tea drinkers among us. I will win them over one day. It’s my mission.
You don’t have to be a writer to attend a retreat. Several phenomenal reader retreats have popped up over the last handful of years. I’ve had the blessing of attending CFRR (Christian Fiction Readers Retreat) and now ACFW Storyfest. I’m looking forward to taking part in Storyfest this September in St. Louis. If you’re a booklover, you should check it out! It’s going to be a ton of fun. There will be panel discussions, games, giveaways, and meals with some of your favorite authors.
A few more reader retreats that I’ve attended and loved, or that I’ve heard wonderful things about are:
Fiction Readers Summit in Grand Rapids, MI. Chris and Susie and the entire team do a fantastic job. I loved being an attending author their first year.
The Mississippi River Readers Retreat organized in Minnesota this August by a mother-daughter reader duo. They have a fantastic line up!
Reader Question: Have you attended a retreat? If so, what was your favorite part? If not, what would interest you most about attending one?
I can’t wait to read your answers.
Have a fabulous rest of your week!
Dani
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I’ve attended all 3 Christian Fiction Reader Retreats. The first time, I assumed I would just go and hear authors speak, maybe get a few books signed, etc. I was a little late because of Nashville traffic and had to try to sneak into a chair quietly. I sat in the closest one I could find after asking the lady sitting beside it if it was taken. Then I realized I was sitting next to Becky Wade!!!! Day made!!!
I so enjoyed your talk last year. It was so real and honest!!
I have enjoyed connecting with authors and fellow readers. 💕
That’s so awesome. Becky is a sweetheart!
Dani – How fun to walk down memory lane with those pictures from our first Inkette retreat. What fun that was! I know you’re going to have a wonderful time in Lancaster with your mentor group. Sounds wonderful! After you got me hooked on retreats, I developed a hunger for them. It’s just feeds my soul to step out of the real world and be around writers for a few days. I’ll be attending both ACFW Storyfest and The Mississippi River Readers Retreat for the first time this year and am really looking forward to them. Readers are the whole reason we write, so spending time with them is always a joy!
I know. It brought back great memories. I love retreat time. So special. Yay! I’ll get to see you at Storyfest. It’s been too long <3
I haven’t gone to an organized writing retreat. They sound like fun! I think the smaller groups and closer friends sounds more my style. The larger groups sound like conferences! (at least to me). I do enjoy good conferences too. But for a retreat, smaller more intimate settings (not that I’ve gone to a retreat with a group). lol I have had one self-imposed retreat at a local hotel to work on a deadline. No relaxing there! And last summer I enjoyed a writing residency all by myself in a cabin in the woods. That was awesome. Except at night. Then I wished for a group. Oh my, that imagination works great in the dark! Your retreat sounds perfect!
Yep. Smaller groups are wonderful too. I would be the same way in a cabin at night. LOL.
While I haven’t yet attended a readers’ retreat, a good friend and I are registered to attend Storyfest in St. Louis in September. We’re are really looking forward to it.
Yay!!! You’ll have to be sure to say hi.
Retreat ? Not as a writer, or even aspiring writer. Would that be possible ?
To quote a frenemy, who’d looked at one of my earlier attempts,
.’ You’re not a writer’
Not a writer, and I find real writers quite scary, but perhaps a retreat would be valuable in other ways.
Wow. I’m so sorry you got that kind of negative feedback. It’s just one person’s opinion. Doesn’t mean they are right.If you feel called to write, write 🙂 Reader retreats are a ton of fun for both readers and writers.