A couple of weeks ago, I hosted my first Daily Writer Retreat in St. Charles, Missouri. Although the Daily Writer Club has been active for nearly two years, I had never considered hosting a retreat until a few months ago.
Why? Because I knew it was a lot of work to put together a great live event. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to invest the time or energy to host a retreat when I felt there were so many other important things to do. Client work, my podcast, my own writing, and the endless administrative details necessary to run a business all require my attention. Hosting a retreat for a select few people was pretty far down that list.
However, I’ve been to a lot of retreats and other small events in the last couple of years. I knew the incredible power a retreat or live event can have to impact people’s lives. There is magic when people come together in person—a magic that you simply can’t duplicate online.
Despite my best intentions to put off a retreat until next year or beyond, I decided to go ahead and give it a shot. Several of our Daily Writer Club members had been asking about a retreat, so I knew it was something they wanted to do.
We made plans to have a smaller retreat of ten people. I had a lot of help planning the event, and we decided on the following schedule:
On Tuesday evening, we met at a great BBQ restaurant for dinner.
On Wednesday, I kicked off the day by having everyone share what a successful retreat looked like for them. In other words, what did they most want to get out of our time together? This was helpful for me to know so I could adjust as needed in order for everyone to get the most value out of it. We spent the rest of the day in two small groups, helping everyone get clear on their business goals.
On Thursday, we had a similar schedule, except that we focused on how to write a short book. I’m a big proponent of crafting short books, especially if you’re a first-time author. I did a teaching session on three ways to organize a short book, then we spent the rest of the day in two small groups working on their book concepts, outline, and their next steps for writing and publishing.
Now that you have a basic idea of how we structured this retreat, I’ll share the ten most important lessons I’m taking away from this experience.
- People are hungry for live events.
After two years of dealing with COVID, people have been ready to get back to live events. Not everyone, of course—some people are still cautious, and everyone has to choose for themselves whether they want to attend live events.
Personally, I never stopped going to events. But it’s clear that people simply want to be together. This retreat showed me the power of getting together in person, particularly for writers who are often isolated.
- Food and location make a big difference.
I splurged on a nice, large, historic home in St. Charles, Missouri. We were only a couple of blocks away from the historic Main Street, where there are dozens of quaint little shops and many coffee shops and restaurants. It’s also right next to the Missouri River.
Catering was provided by my friend Stephanie Hill, who owns the catering company Nibble & Nosh. The food and the home were a little more upscale, which set a tone that I wasn’t trying to get away with a budget retreat.
- Introverted writers need a different type of retreat.
I designed this 2-day retreat as sort of a “retreat for introverted writers.” I’ve been to retreats before where people are going from the early morning until late at night, and it’s exhausting for introverts who need personal space and downtime.
So, we went into this retreat with the plan of having a long lunch break, and being finished around 3:00pm both days, with an afternoon break so people could take a walk or get coffee.
What I didn’t take into account, though, was that writers love to talk and talk when they’re around other writers. Even introverts open up a lot when they’re surrounded by others who “get them” and have similar goals and interests. We ended up not having much downtime because people wanted to talk!
- The main value of a retreat is not information, it’s relationships.
As a result of being together, everyone there made new connections, expanded their goals, made a lot of progress on their book outline or project, or had some other type of breakthrough (myself included).
Everything is SO MUCH EASIER (and more fun) when you surround yourself with great people. A retreat is a great setting to build those relationships and collaborate with people.
- You need help planning a great retreat.
I had a lot of help planning and running the Daily Writer retreat. My wife, Melanie, helped choose the venue and prep some of the food. Two of our Daily Writer Club members, M.J. James and Lynn Smargis, were a big help in planning the retreat and leading groups.
It’s not just about “having help” and offloading things you could do yourself. Having other people’s help and input actually multiplies the impact of the event. They bring ideas and energy you can’t bring yourself. I’m so grateful to these people for making it so much better than I could have done on my own.
- A retreat or live event can have a powerful impact on someone’s business or life direction.
One of the people who came had been trying to build their ghostwriting business, but they have been stalled out for a while. However, in one of our group sessions, he discovered he had a real gift and love for editing. Now he is working with another editor in the group to build his editing business, which will be a quicker way to gain some income than ghostwriting.
This insight and a new direction for his business only happened because he attended the retreat. Being in a live setting with people who want to assist you can help you make radical progress in a short time.
In fact, it was a Total Life Freedom retreat where I was challenged to start the Daily Writer Club! I didn’t feel ready, yet I made the decision to do it two years ago in the context of a retreat.
- A retreat is a great setting for people to look at the big picture.
At this retreat, we did a lot of book planning, but the most powerful question we talked about was “What do you really want from all this?”
We writers love books, but the book needs to be connected to your bigger goals. A lot of writers get stuck—not because they don’t have ideas, but because they’re not sure which idea to pursue. When you get clear about your goals and what you want, everything is a lot easier.
A retreat gives you the time and space to get away from the details of your business and life, and instead focus on the bigger picture.
- People love swag!
We have all been to events where the organizers gave you merchandise that wasn’t high quality. I didn’t want to give away cheap pens or other items that weren’t first-class.
I went through VistaPrint and had high-quality tumblers, pens, notebooks, and stickers designed. They were not cheap, but they made a great impression. We put all of these items in gift bags for attendees.
Just a side note: when you are designing merchandise for your business, make sure it’s items people will actually use. Nobody wants another coffee mug. High-quality tumblers are a great option. I chose one with a white background so the green Daily Writer logo really stands out… especially when you’re using it on Zoom calls.
- You’re never too old to chase your writing dreams.
We had several people in their 60’s or 70’s at the retreat. It was so fun and inspiring to see them taking action and making progress! Don’t ever think you’re too old (or too young) to try something new or take the next step.
- The role of a retreat leader is not to be the guru, but a catalyst.
People in your group or community come to your retreat because they respect you and you have a certain breadth of knowledge they want to learn from. However, I don’t believe a retreat is the time to focus on the knowledge you have as a leader.
A retreat is not about gaining information. It’s about life change. And the best way life change happens is through conversations, application of knowledge, good questions, and discussion… all in a safe and welcoming environment.
The leader’s job is to be a catalyst and to make sure everyone is supported and included. This means having a high degree of emotional intelligence and social awareness. You need to be able to see when others aren’t participating and take steps to draw the best out of them.
Bonus lesson: Focus on adding value at a retreat, not making it highly profitable.
For this first retreat, my goal was not to make money. In fact, I planned on losing money. I wanted to get a good group together and have an awesome event. Therefore, I priced it really low and did everything I could to make it worthwhile.
I ended up losing money, but it wasn’t really a “loss.” I considered this an investment into my training as a retreat host. Events can be expensive, and my goal will never be to make this the most profitable part of my Daily Writer business. But it’s an important part because nothing can match the energy and relational value of a live event. You can’t replicate it any other way.
Those are my major takeaways from this retreat. I learned a lot and saw this as an opportunity for me to get my feet wet as a retreat leader. I suspect this will become a bigger part of my Daily Writer business as time goes on.
If you have ever considered leading a retreat for writers, I hope you’ll take these lessons to heart. And I certainly want to invite you to participate in our next Daily Writer Retreat, which is coming up at the end of February! More details to come…