The Scripturient Society

Writing Retreat Recap - Story Sirens Studio, Spring 2025

• Ash O'Rourke

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✨ Come behind the scenes of our Spring 2025 Story Sirens Writing Retreat—a weekend filled with creativity, connection, and storytelling magic!

In this short episode, we share some of our favorite moments from Story Sirens inaugural retreat and discuss some of the things we are looking forward to at our next one!

🌿 Whether you're drafting a novel, revising a memoir, or just craving time with fellow storytellers, the Story Sirens Studio writing retreats are designed to fill your creative cup with exactly what you need.

📣 Applications for our Fall 2025 retreat are OPEN!

Spots are limited and already going fast, so don’t wait—visit https://storysirensstudio.com/retreats to explore testimonials and pictures from previous retreats, learn about upcoming events, and apply!

💌 Questions? Drop them in the comments, reach out via our site, or email us at contact@storysirensstudio.com!

🖋️ Your story matters—and we want to help you tell it.

Support the show

Don't forget to visit our writing group on Facebook to tell us about what you've been working on!

Find us on social media @thescripturientsociety

Support the pod and work out your writing muscles with this book of fantasy writing prompts from Story Sirens Studio.

Looking for a laugh? Visit our sister podcast That Pretentious Book Club!

Gino:

Hello and welcome to That Pretentious Scripturient Society, otherwise known as Story Siren Studios.

Ash:

Hello everyone.

Katherine:

Hello, hello.

Gino:

Um, I am one of your hosts, Gino hola, hola from Argentina. Over here you have Wheezy AKA Ash O'Rourke.

Ash:

It ain't easy being wheezy.

Gino:

Yep. And then,

Ash:

today. I will try not to wheeze directly into the microphone, but if you hear it, that's what that is

Gino:

and then I don't actually know, I know you Louis AKA don't know how

Katherine:

I, yeah, so Ash is, Ash is also AKA Tolkien, and then I am Louis, AKA, Katherine, AKA Karissa, which is my actual name. But.

Ash:

Whatever else I decide to call you.

Katherine:

Hi.

Gino:

You may be wondering why, uh, you have this random assortment of ladies if podcast.

Ash:

Is she okay? Is she trapped in a closet somewhere? We need proof of

Gino:

The answer is yes to all of those.

Katherine:

Yeah.

Gino:

She's also trapped in a closet.

Ash:

She's

Katherine:

Yeah.

Ash:

in a closet.

Katherine:

We kidnapped her, but she is okay.

Ash:

but she's okay though, so it's fine. No, she's just, she's just a busy lady, so. You just get the three of us, suck it up.

Gino:

Yeah.

Ash:

You get and you don't throw a fit.

Katherine:

Spoken like a mother.

Gino:

So we're just here to, if you guys didn't hear, I don't know. I'm not sure if we ever mentioned this, um, but we had this retreat recently, this writer's retreat.

Ash:

yeah, yeah. That's right. We totally did that, didn't we?

Gino:

Yeah,

Ash:

mentioned it

Gino:

I don't think we mentioned it at all.

Katherine:

No.

Ash:

about it way too much. Uh, if you

Katherine:

No,

Ash:

social

Katherine:

we haven't been talking about it for like a year, and Ash's like super psyched. No way. No.

Ash:

this is probably the first. You guys are hearing about it,

Katherine:

Hmm.

Ash:

I'm sure you're psyched for more details.

Katherine:

Yeah. In retrospective details.

Gino:

exactly, we're bringing the you this special episode of our podcast to talk to you about our previous writer's retreat because as I mentioned recently to these lovely ladies my bird life took over our last that Pretentious book club episode. So we didn't get to talk about the retreat at all, and I know y'all are starving for details. So.

Ash:

Oh yeah,

Gino:

We're all here to kind of tell you about the amazing experience and then you can see for yourself how awesome it is. And sign up for our next one. And also hear the amazing antidotes about, uh, you know, me telling, telling. We see that's nice. Cut up these vegetables so people can eat.

Ash:

Oh my gosh. If you guys wanna see a

Katherine:

Oh,

Ash:

of Gino and pretty much

Katherine:

it was a great dynamic.

Ash:

usually see, like I am pretty much exactly probably how I like, I'm my happy like 10-year-old self that I am here, but like when I'm off camera, usually with you guys, like away from the mic, I'm like. Business. Business. Time to go. I'm an entrepreneur lady. And then you guys luckily don't have to deal with that. Everyone else does. and then at the retreat, Gina was like full house mom mode. It was awesome.

Katherine:

It was,

Gino:

bedtime. Everybody lights out.

Katherine:

She like come into the room, we're all talking. She was like. And it's time for quiet hours. So

Ash:

And she'd be like, so this is actually a quiet zone. There's a

Katherine:

yeah,

Ash:

and it says quiet zone.

Katherine:

point.

Gino:

You guys are selling this real well, everyone's gonna be like, uh, nevermind. We don't wanna go

Katherine:

You know, it was great though because sometimes like I'm the person in the room that's like, can everyone please shut up? Like I'm trying to do stuff, and you were that person this time, so I didn't have to do it. It was great.

Ash:

It was great, but also very fun. It's also very fun and very casual,

Katherine:

Yes.

Ash:

of people say that what they liked what they liked the most about the retreat, which was just, I don't know what I. Affected from the feedback'cause that was our first one. But one thing we got a lot of that I didn't anticipate was people being like, I love that everything was optional. Like all of the workshops, all of the activities and exercises were optional. And I thought it was so funny that we got that like individually, independently from a bunch of people, but also almost every

Katherine:

Mm-hmm.

Ash:

thing. They just liked that it was optional and like laid

Katherine:

Yeah.

Ash:

and like no low pressure. So

Katherine:

The ability to opt out will often make things so much more like you feel like you're choosing it, so you have more fun when you do it, instead of like, Ugh, I have to do this thing, so,

Ash:

And you're like, well, I, what if I'm not comfortable? What if I

Katherine:

mm-hmm.

Ash:

if I don't, you know, wanna do like the peer critique circle? Although we encourage it, it's optional, like you're paying to be there. So we want you to enjoy your time there.

Katherine:

Yeah.

Ash:

like, you're really gonna hate it and you just know like, then you don't have to participate. But also. Everybody ended up participating. And I think even the people, like for example, the peer critique circle, I think that was the one that the most people had like, I don't know if I wanna do that. Like, and everyone participated and it was also, I think what we got the most, like when we polled afterwards, like, what did you enjoy the most? We got a lot of white, we loved the like peer critique circle. So you know, fun stuff like that.

Gino:

Which will definitely be happening again. The next retreat. It's a great

Katherine:

Yep.

Gino:

opportunity. One, learning how to help out your feather, feather your feather authors. Mm-hmm. Um, your,

Katherine:

No birds on the mind.

Ash:

It's just

Gino:

bird brained fellow authors and also, you know, to get some review from peers on your own work. We're gonna have a little bit more. this time, have anyone bring some pieces specifically that they want reviewed? This last time it was kind of, Hey, what you got? But,

Ash:

Yeah. Probably, I'm thinking maybe we print them and pass copies around for people to read. So if you're not comfortable reading aloud,'cause I know that was a whole other challenge, some people were like, well, I want the feedback, but I don't wanna read my stuff aloud. Totally fair. And because the written word is, is typically read silently, individually. That's fine. Like, we get it. So we'll do it. Everything is gonna be. It's gonna be like all the cool stuff last time and then even cooler.'cause like little things like that, like, oh, we're gonna make it an option so people can print what they wanna share and everyone can read it. Like that kind of thing. Just like optimizing, you know, that's an entrepreneur word.

Gino:

A third, a third option that will also be o offered is I can read your story aloud with different voices and accents if you prefer it that way, so

Katherine:

I love it.

Ash:

I didn't actually know that until just now, but I'll be taking advantage of that one.

Katherine:

Get as many characters as you possibly can in like one page and force all the voices.

Ash:

Oh

Katherine:

The evil laugh.

Gino:

a UN meeting in this scene, and it's

Katherine:

Yeah.

Gino:

accents

Katherine:

All the accents.

Ash:

I was actually thinking maybe I need to do like a political thriller so I can have a UN

Katherine:

Hmm.

Ash:

so I can make you read. A bunch of stuff

Katherine:

Every accent. Get the German, Of it. Yeah.

Ash:

Yeah, it'll be

Gino:

But for real, no matter what whiskey tell or wheezy tells you I was, I was nice. I'm not mean, I'm

Katherine:

She was nice. It wasn't, no, it wasn't a mean thing. It was just a structure thing.

Ash:

yeah.

Gino:

to whe

Ash:

true. She was, I promise she was only mean to me. She wasn't even mean. It was just so funny.'cause usually she's more like Ladi la like free spirit having a good time. Like when it comes to like all of the planning stuff and I'm like business planning, revenue projections. And then we got there and it just. Flipped and it was hilarious and amazing. And yeah,

Katherine:

It was great.

Ash:

it was fantastic. But she still participated in like most of the stuff too. And it was, it was really fun and everyone enjoyed her and nobody knows her real name and I'm so proud of that. So if you also want to

Katherine:

All right.

Ash:

real name, but wanna feel a lot closer to her, this is your opportunity.

Gino:

So. Catherine, you didn't have, like, you weren't a big part of the planning process,

Katherine:

Mm

Gino:

give kind of your view or opinion? I don't know of what you expected or what, like what sur I don't know. Just anything

Katherine:

Yeah.

Ash:

Yeah. What

Katherine:

I had,

Ash:

impression?

Gino:

Yeah, there

Katherine:

yeah, I'd,

Gino:

impressions.

Katherine:

a, like, weird experience I think because like I was. There when you guys were setting up and like, like, like last minute, like preparing stuff and everything. But then I also like wasn't involved. So it was, I mean, I had fun. It was great. Um, I think it's'cause I've never been on like a writer's retreat, so I like really had no idea what to expect. I was just like, okay, like we're gonna go to this house somewhere and everyone will sit down and write. And like Ash had talked to me beforehand. She's like, do you wanna do like a. A workshop or whatever, and I was like, oh, okay. And you know, I agreed like four months ahead of time. So then I had totally forgotten and had to plan it like last minute.

Ash:

It was

Katherine:

but

Ash:

way, we also got

Katherine:

I know I had fun.

Ash:

liked your talk

Katherine:

But yeah, so I had kind of like, I kind of knew there were gonna be like workshop things going on, but I had no idea really what that meant.'cause again, like I'd never been to one before. So we drove up and I was very impressed with the, the house or whatever it was.

Ash:

Yeah.

Katherine:

like a mansion to me. It was so nice.

Ash:

all

Katherine:

Yeah.

Ash:

all

Katherine:

Yes.

Ash:

venues. Yeah,

Katherine:

was very cool. And you know, we were like, I was sort of helping set up and I just let Gino tell me what to do and I felt like I was in the way for the most part, but I was just like, cool, cool. This is fine everyone, you know, like we did little signs on the doors about whose bedroom was whose. And so it was very easy to find your way around, which is always stressful for me because I'm like, I don't wanna take someone else's room. And the. Yeah. We did some like icebreakers the first night to kind of get to know everyone'cause it's weird'cause you don't know these people and they're strangers and it's funny'cause a lot of people were like, yeah, we weren't sure if it was a scam. But we came anyway just to see.

Gino:

We're not a

Ash:

I've literally had

Katherine:

for real.

Ash:

this next retreat and be like, I wanted to apply, but then I decided not to because I'm afraid for security reasons. And I was

Katherine:

Yeah.

Ash:

understand your feeling. That's okay.

Katherine:

Mm-hmm.

Gino:

but we're

Katherine:

But it was legit. We are real. And so now we have other people to, to validate that. So that's nice.

Ash:

As The most aggressively introverted person that I know. Did you feel comfortable and like,

Katherine:

yeah, I mean.

Ash:

activity and I feel like I can hear like a collective

Gino:

Yeah,

Katherine:

Yeah. No, it was very, no, it was calm. It was, I think, I think really the only thing we did, you guys kind of led the conversations and were like, welcome. Like, here's kind of what we're, here's the setup, right? Like, there's gonna be quiet hours and quiet zones, and you know, we're gonna do the yoga in the morning and we're gonna have, you know, dinner at this time or whatever. So you kind of like set the schedule. And then we did like the, what did you call them? Like the, the papers that we did. Vision boards and that was fun.'cause then you can kind of just do it on your own if you want. We had like all the materials you could make your own. But then like if you see someone else doing something, you can say like, oh that's really cool. I really like that image. Or whatever. Hannah, who was like one of the girls, she like really liked my stencil work because I was doing the stencil. So I was like, she was complimenting me on it. Thank you. But it was like, you know, just kind of a nice way to. Like you could participate but you didn't have to kind of thing. Like you could make it an individual thing rather than a social thing, but you could also do both. Um, and I mean, it was, I was nervous. Like the first night I was kind of sitting there and I'm like, why did I do this? I'm so panicked. Like, this is so many people. I don't know. And then like the next morning came and I kind of, I had like my little writing cave and I like sequestered myself in the back. Like there was a room specifically, like there were a ton of spaces you could choose from and I chose, everyone was like, we knew you were gonna pick that one, because it's like the, it was so cool.

Ash:

alcove thing and I

Katherine:

Yes.

Ash:

that's exactly where she's, and then sure Where was it? There was Carissa also participated in most of the events,

Katherine:

Mm-hmm.

Ash:

activities. But I knew because she was gonna be so heads down because like she writes like a maniac and I was

Katherine:

Yeah.

Ash:

Okay. So there was one that I was like, I don't think she's gonna participate'cause it's gonna take up a big chunk of time. And sure enough, I walked by just to let her know it's starting. And I didn't even have to speak. I stood there until she looked up and then she just shook her head no. And I was like, I under, I just nodded and walked

Katherine:

Yep. Just walked away. It was great. That's like the vibe I'm looking for. Like I can take a break if I need to, but I can also keep going. So. Yeah, I had my little cave in the back. It was great. It was across from a bookshelf with no books, so that was weird. But it was fine.

Gino:

even notice that. I knew the

Katherine:

Yeah.

Gino:

was there, but I didn't

Ash:

did notice

Gino:

notice there were no

Katherine:

There were, there were, uh, like records and games and I was like, all right. Yeah. So that was cool.

Ash:

are the books?

Katherine:

Mm-hmm. But yeah, so I kind of got into my writing zone and like I said, it it like, um, the ability to take breaks and like have other people around was actually kind of nice. Like, I would occasionally go out to just like, get a soda or like refill my water or whatever. And it was kind of cool to just have other people around. I could kind of mentally, um, like distance myself from whatever I'd been working on at the time and then like go back to it. And then like meal times were fun. The food was great. Gino is excellent at planning that and making it,

Ash:

some

Katherine:

and,

Ash:

of, um, for people who've reached out, like do, are we able to like cater to specific like meal preferences or dietary restrictions? Yes, I. If there's

Katherine:

yes.

Ash:

just are absolutely, you are not gonna eat at 100%, not let us know. And if you have dietary restrictions, let us know as well. And it's

Katherine:

Mm-hmm.

Ash:

you guys apply for the retreat, there's like questions in there. So Yes. To answer that question. And

Katherine:

Mm-hmm.

Ash:

too. It wasn't like our, we had someone who couldn't eat dairy and we were like, okay, cool, you can sit there and eat celery all weekend. Like they

Katherine:

It was real food.

Gino:

No,

Katherine:

just the dairy free version.

Gino:

Not just

Katherine:

Yeah, it was salad.

Ash:

Yeah, don't worry.

Gino:

I'm not gonna be

Katherine:

Yeah.

Gino:

I not to sideline too hard, but I have a friend who has like gluten into, or she's celiac and lactose intolerant, and actually

Katherine:

Oh.

Gino:

has issues, but one day they were like, we were at a restaurant, whatever, and they had known beforehand and they said, oh, we, we got you dessert, we got you covered, we got you covered. And they came out and they just handed her a peach. Like they just. We still to

Katherine:

Like we planned this. We got this.

Gino:

so much.

Katherine:

Oh my gosh.

Ash:

Rest assured Gino's culinary skills are beyond just offering you a peach if you have

Katherine:

Yes, we had more than peaches, we had snacks, we had like, yeah, like tea and coffee stations. So it was very cool. And again, like I said, it's like if you need a mind break, it's nice to just go out and like do that A room with other people maybe. So

Gino:

I do

Katherine:

what were you gonna say?

Gino:

go hungry on the retreat, it is a hundred percent your fault. I

Katherine:

Yes.

Gino:

I weigh over food.

Katherine:

So much food.

Ash:

apples that

Katherine:

Oh my gosh.

Gino:

there will be more apples because

Katherine:

She had enough for like three per person.

Gino:

Well, everyone was there for three days. I thought everyone would eat an apple a day to keep the doctor away, you know?

Katherine:

Of course.

Gino:

and everyone was like, no, we don't like apples.

Katherine:

I the joke that like.

Gino:

this

Katherine:

Exists in my family is that I think apples are too hard to eat because like biting into, I need them cut up because biting into them is too hard.

Gino:

all

Katherine:

So

Gino:

don't like biting into them either. So what you're

Katherine:

yeah.

Gino:

to cut'em all up for this one. Everyone will

Katherine:

Yes.

Gino:

they're cut

Katherine:

Treat me like a 10. A 10 year olds. Yeah.

Ash:

honest, I also would probably eat an apple if it was cut up. Also, if it was a

Katherine:

Yep. Yeah, and there were like, uh, drinks and the mocktail version too, so that was also fun. Yeah, overall it was very cool. And I felt like you said no pressure. It was like, okay, if you wanna participate, you can. If you don't want to, you can't, or you can choose not to.

Ash:

Yeah,

Katherine:

Not, you can't, but,

Ash:

if you don't

Katherine:

uh, you don't have to.

Ash:

Anyways,

Katherine:

Yeah. I mean, you weren't invited anyway. Yeah. But yeah.

Ash:

the social aspect? I know like the first time I went on a retreat where I met Gino, actually

Katherine:

Mm-hmm.

Ash:

I, because I'm also aggressively introverted, you wouldn't know it, but not as much as ca as Catherine, which is kind of crazy that there's

Katherine:

Yeah.

Ash:

far of a scale. But I remember thinking like going in I just wanna go here because I want my free ice cer and like, I wanna get like my mermaid cert so that I can like perform

Katherine:

one look at me. No one talk to me.

Ash:

I was like, I don't wanna talk to them. I don't

Katherine:

Mm-hmm.

Ash:

I don't like being around people. And I'm very anxious about this experience. To the point that I also, almost like the week before, I remember that retreat being like, I'm not gonna go. I'm not gonna

Katherine:

Mm-hmm.

Ash:

stressed out. Like, how did you feel about like the social connections you made and are you still connected to people? And I have not prefaced any of these. I literally don't know what she's gonna

Katherine:

No.

Ash:

So I didn't like coach her ahead of time. I'm curious.

Katherine:

yeah, I felt like it was good. I, I think. For me as a person, I just have to let myself have 24 hours where I know I'm not gonna be comfortable. You know what I mean? So if you're like a super introverted person, you just have to accept like, okay, for the first 24 hours or so, I'm gonna feel some regret. I'm gonna feel like I made a mistake. I'm gonna feel like I don't wanna be here. And then it will turn and like you'll have the one conversation with someone and think, oh my gosh, we're like, we have this in common. Or this is like a totally interesting take I've never thought of before or whatever. And once I get to that point. It's, it's good. And I think it's the, how many people were there? 10. I think that it was a good number, whatever it was.

Ash:

total

Katherine:

Oh, total. I, am I not including us.

Gino:

Yeah. Sounds

Katherine:

Okay.

Ash:

it was 13 total.

Katherine:

Yeah, because it was enough people that if you didn't really want to talk, you could just kind of sit there and not feel awkward. You could just like listen to what other people were saying, but it wasn't like so many people that you now have to start your own conversation. You know what I mean? So I think it was a good number. And I, I mean, it, it's gonna depend always on like the, the type of people you get to come to these things, right? Because I just think everyone was very like ready to. Like be social, right? Everyone was kind of like, we're all in. Kind of like, we wanna get to know you guys get to, you know, we wanna listen to what you have to say. All that kind of stuff. So the attitude.

Ash:

number of extroverts. I expected more introverts.

Katherine:

Right. So, um, yeah, the writer's retreat is like your writers, but you're also willing to go on a retreat. It's what kind of person is that? But it, I, I was pleasantly surprised. I kind of thought, okay, I'm just gonna like sequester myself in the back and I'll talk to Ash and Gino and that'll be it. But I like met people that I was like, okay, we can have a good conversation about this or whatever. I. Like everyone exchanged, like their social media stuff after the fact. And I'll not lie, I have not been on Instagram since, so I, it does not look like I'm connected to people, but they are on there

Ash:

Yeah,

Katherine:

back on.

Ash:

ready.

Katherine:

Yeah, exactly. So yeah, it was just kind of, it's cool to have like a, a greater variety of writers too, to like hear what their thoughts were on things. Uh, everyone was in very different genres or like different styles.

Ash:

diverse in like

Katherine:

Yes. So it, it was cool to kind of hear like my world building workshop. I was like, okay, how do I make this relevant to the people that are doing like nonfiction or poetry? And I was like, okay, now I have to like, broaden my horizons a little bit and think about how this can apply to them, which is good for me and my writing and everything too. So I think it was just like, overall, not what I expected, but in a good way, right? Like I. I didn't necessarily like, strangely enough, I actually didn't get a lot of writing done. Isn't that weird? Like it was mostly,

Gino:

Not say that.

Katherine:

I know I was,

Ash:

whole

Katherine:

I was planning, I was like brainstorming and thinking things through because I was having like, you know, ideas about how to make something better. I did write, I was, you know, editing and writing some news things, but it was not like me just sitting and writing for three days straight. But when I got back, it was much easier to start writing. So I think. I don't know if that's how it worked for anyone else, but it's like, you know, not necessarily the experience you're expecting, but still a really valuable one. So yes, I would recommend it.

Gino:

She was like all that to say, I had a horrible time. Thank you.

Katherine:

Yeah,

Ash:

never

Katherine:

I hated it. This is the last you'll ever see of me friendship over

Ash:

she's done, she's, she's done

Katherine:

it.

Ash:

sirens. This is actually her exit

Katherine:

Yeah, this is my exit. It was really great watching the dynamic between Ash and, uh, Gino though, because like Ash literally would be like, Hey, I have this really cool idea for next time. And Gino's like, Ash go away. I'm trying to like, make dinner.

Ash:

Like, I'm trying to feed the people who are

Gino:

I.

Ash:

at this

Katherine:

Yeah.

Ash:

that's happening

Katherine:

Like I'm focused now. Oh, the other thing I was gonna say is we played games one night and I think the games were also a great icebreaker because you don't have to like you don't have to like, think up what you're gonna talk about or like, have like weird personal information necessarily. Like the game, I'm gonna forget what it's called, but like, where you have to ask someone to tell a story

Ash:

Oh

Katherine:

you have to challenge them. Like it was, I thought that was super fun. The Ransom Note gave them ransom notes game was fun.'cause. It's, I don't know. I think games are good icebreakers because it doesn't have to require any like intimate personal details about you, but you still kind of get to know like people's sensitive humor and you know where their brain is gonna go and stuff. So that was also really fun and I think really helped

Ash:

at that.

Katherine:

bond.

Ash:

game.

Katherine:

I was,

Ash:

at

Katherine:

loved it.

Gino:

I

Katherine:

was so fun.

Gino:

I was surprised how many people, I think everyone participated in that when we were

Katherine:

Mm-hmm.

Gino:

much like game time was optional. You're not forced to

Katherine:

Mm-hmm.

Gino:

or anything.

Ash:

There was lots of games people could choose, all, like all writing themes. So this was still, this wasn't like a, and now we're not even thinking about storytelling anymore. Like they're all different types of like storytelling games that I found. And I have like

Katherine:

Mm-hmm.

Ash:

I found actually that I'm gonna bring to the

Katherine:

Yay.

Ash:

I thought people would like come select what game they wanted to play and like break off and go play it. Nope. Everyone was

Katherine:

Mm-hmm.

Ash:

play this as one big group, which was awesome. It ended up being so cool, which is also, that's

Katherine:

Yeah.

Ash:

It's literally like free for all. That's one of the evenings is it's our pajama party, evening and pajama parties and storytelling

Katherine:

fun.

Ash:

Yeah.

Katherine:

I will say, I think, at least for me, like. A lot of writers are living in lives where not a lot of people around them are writers, right? Like, it's not normally like a family thing or like you have a friend group that's all writers all the time. Like this is actually probably pretty rare that we're like friends like this. Like I didn't have writer friends until college and then it was like Ash

Ash:

Yeah.

Katherine:

then like it slowly expanded. So, and like two of the girls that came, they were friends beforehand, but everyone else was individuals. So I think a lot of writers out there are just not used to having like. Like-minded people. Not even necessarily like totally like-minded, but just like we have this thing in common, we share this thing. So like you put out a board game that's writing related or like would appeal to a writer and like that's not a game that would fly at like my family function. It's not something you get the opportunity elsewhere to do.

Ash:

all the ones I brought to this retreat I have owned for years

Katherine:

Yeah. And never played.

Ash:

with me'cause no one will play them.

Katherine:

Right. So I think it was just cool, like everyone saw the games. They're like, okay, this is my opportunity to like. Really have fun with this type of a game. Which again is, it's cool'cause like even if you're super introverted and you're like, well, I don't, I don't know if I wanna like be around people. It is still good to like, have that and feel like less alone, I guess, in like your hobby or the, the fun you wanna have. So

Ash:

Yeah,

Katherine:

that also was good.

Ash:

when you talk to people who aren't writers. Like I have noticed like there's like a moment of, wait, did you just like start talking about a completely like delusional, like

Katherine:

Mm-hmm.

Ash:

fantasy land, but to you it's so real. And when

Katherine:

Yep.

Ash:

writers, it's not like that. Other writers are

Katherine:

Yep.

Ash:

right. Completely acceptable.

Katherine:

Yeah.

Ash:

about this delusion of yours,

Katherine:

Mm-hmm.

Ash:

like.

Katherine:

Like define that. Okay, go on.

Ash:

Okay. Alright.

Katherine:

Yeah,

Ash:

I also have some, let's talk about

Katherine:

yeah,

Ash:

and

Katherine:

exactly. So I think, not that necessarily every single time everyone's gonna wanna do game night, but I do think there's like a sense of, wow other people here like wanna do the same kind of things I wanna do, and that's not something I always experience, so.

Ash:

Yeah.

Gino:

Yeah,

Katherine:

Yep.

Gino:

that one of my big focuses in hosting this was to, I'm glad everyone liked the optional. Parts of it, because that was kind of the thing. If you're coming to this retreat in the mindset of like, you need time away from your family and kid or husband or work or whatever, and. You just need to sit in a corner like

Katherine:

Like me.

Ash:

do

Katherine:

Mm-hmm.

Gino:

do that. You do not have to. We, I mean, the only thing we require is a wellness check. Once throughout the day,

Katherine:

Yeah,

Gino:

like, have you

Katherine:

you gotta nod when Ash walks by.

Gino:

Have you eaten at all today? Are you okay? Okay. But like you don't have to come out for meals and with everyone if you don't want to, you can take something. Go back to your little corner. So however you're coming into this, into these retreats if you're coming in to make friends and you want to, even during writing times, we have some in the morning writing times that is like strictly solo writing find. The area you wanna write in and solo right there. Um, quiet areas all over. There are some, you can talk areas, but it's not like group writing encouraged. And then we do have lots of period of times that you can choose whether you wanna solo write, find an quiet area and by quiet area, I mean enforced quiet areas. Or,

Katherine:

Structured fun.

Gino:

or. Or one of the group writing areas that are not quiet areas that are fully available at that point to sit there and just discuss your ideas with each other and run'em past other writers who, like Ash was just saying, well, both of you were just saying like-minded people. Like I could talk to my partner all day about, Hey, I have this great idea for this fantasy story, blah, blah, blah. And they don't really like to read and they're not really into fantasy, so they're like, yeah, it sounds great. I'm like,

Katherine:

Yeah.

Gino:

for this feedback.

Katherine:

Yeah,

Gino:

when you're

Katherine:

that doesn't help, but thanks for trying.

Ash:

helpful.

Gino:

yeah,

Katherine:

Yeah.

Gino:

when you're there with other like-minded people and writers and you're, you both decide to sit in the group writing area, so you're both open to discussion. You know, you could say, Hey, so I'm working on this part. And I was thinking, what if, you know, what if I introduced this character, this happens, and they

Katherine:

Mm-hmm.

Gino:

that would be great. I would add this, or, uh, I don't know that. Like, I don't really understand that. And you can work on that from there. So, and then like the workshops we had, I think we had one workshop, kind of a midday workshop that we had like four or five people come to and everyone else was like, no, we're in the zone. We're gonna

Katherine:

Mm-hmm.

Gino:

Um, but most of the other workshops people. Decided, and you'll know beforehand, so you can decide and, and you don't have to sign up for them either. So if you were like, oh, I wanna go to this one, but then you're like deep in the writing and you know you're in the trenches of it and you're like, okay, nevermind. I'm gonna keep at it, then go ahead and keep at it. Again, like the pajama party time we even had. One or two people who decided that they were gonna continue writing at that point, and they kind of left for a quieter part of the house and they pounded out some more, you know, so it's very much, I just, we want you to have a good time, feel comfortable and have a space to be able to be creative, to be able to write if you need that break, to just focus or to be able to like maybe more, as Carissa did, gather ideas and everything so that you're more prepared when you head back to reality, to sit down and get out what you need to get out.

Ash:

Whatever you need As a writer, we have tried to design the retreat so you can fill your cup at the retreat, whatever it is that you need, we can, we've tried to arrange it so we can provide that.

Gino:

Exactly. so our next one, if you haven't heard, is in PA October 16th.

Ash:

Pennsylvania,

Gino:

yes. So it's gonna be in Huntington, Pennsylvania, October 16th through the next days, four days.

Ash:

Yep.

Gino:

I'm good at math. So it'll be Thursday evening. It's not like all day Thursday. You come in the evening, we'll do dinner and our opening and everything and then you can write all day Friday, Saturday, head back Sunday. Again, you can meet some in people who might help you on your writing journey. We are looking into maybe having some more guest speakers this time. So we're always trying to improve and we're excited for this one and excited to see you there. So you can go to our website story are in studios to sign up. You can message us on Instagram or Facebook.

Ash:

book club or the script society, either one. Yeah. Or you can email us at contact@storiessirenstudio.com too if you want. We do have, on the website, we've got a whole page that's got like testimonials from people from the last retreat, not just Carissa. And some other like more specific details about, um, this upcoming retreat too, if you guys want. I will say every private room is booked this time, so we do, but we do have spaces left in, um, in the bunk rooms. And these are really nice bunk rooms. is a really gorgeous venue. The last venue was also gorgeous, but these bunk rooms are beautiful and

Gino:

We are gonna be surrounded by fall foliage. We've got.

Katherine:

Nice.

Gino:

Leaves trees all around us and it's gonna be October and central pa. So it's gonna be gorgeous and hopefully gorgeous weather, whether it's whether it's nice, cool, chilly fall weather or just cool fall weather. Plenty of opportunity to right inside or outside. This past retreat, a lot of people chose to write outside in Texas. We actually had pretty nice weather for that. Yeah.

Ash:

nice. Yeah.

Katherine:

We had a thunderstorm.

Ash:

was

Katherine:

Yeah, it was great. It was the perfect atmosphere, let's just say that.

Ash:

mysterious dog

Katherine:

Mm-hmm. Louisa may.

Ash:

Yep. Named her Louisa May. Yeah. And then, oh, also, um, so we've only had, I think one or two people from the last retreat, um, take advantage of it. But we also do have a page on the website where we're featuring any of the work that our, um, retreaters want us to, like anything they're working on, if they want us to share it out with our audience, we're doing that. And, um, this is sort of a segue, but I'm also in the process of opening a bookstore in Hudu, Texas, which is like an

Katherine:

Yeah.

Ash:

brick and mortar bookstore, which is really great. And my hope is to get to connect with some of the retreaters and maybe feature some of their work moving forward in the store too. I think that would be really cool. So it all kind of blends together. If you can't tell what my entire life is about, this is what it's all about. So that's cool. And you'll get to, uh, it's all about birds for Gino

Katherine:

Birds and books. What else do you need?

Ash:

Oh, that's cute. That's actually really cute. Anyways, so yeah, there'll be cool things, cool opportunities to sort of like spotlight what y'all are working on. If you're interested. You don't have to, but you'll definitely make connections with people. That's literally how I met Gino was at a retreat and now look like did not know

Katherine:

Now they're starting their own.

Ash:

and

Gino:

um, super cute goodie bags you'll receive.

Ash:

Yes,

Katherine:

right. Those were cool too.

Ash:

You guys, we do custom merch just for retreaters. You'll get artwork that's exclusive to the retreat, so only people at the retreat. I've also, I've started working on, um, if this is not your first retreat, but your second, because we do have people who are returning for this retreat from the last one. They're getting a new, they're getting some new exclusive merch so that they're not just getting repeat items. So like every retreat you come to, you'll get some cool new like retreat to

Gino:

So wag.

Ash:

be really cool. Some

Katherine:

Yeah.

Ash:

good swag, I promise. It's not just like a few

Katherine:

It's good.

Ash:

and a piece of

Gino:

And a Tet

Katherine:

Nope.

Ash:

Swag and a Tootsie Roll. it will be. At least you'll get a Tootsie Roll.

Gino:

Yeah.

Katherine:

Worth everything. Every penny spent on the way. Yeah.

Ash:

Just to go back to like why we sort of started writing retreats. Well, I think Gina was the one who was like, this is totally possible and doable. And I was like, no way for reals. Because I had been, my goal had been, um, like last year that I was going to find a writing retreat and go to a writing retreat, and that was like my New Year's resolution. I don't know if y'all know this. If you've looked into writing retreats out there, but they're incredibly expensive so this is kind of the solution for that. So that's why. tried to price it as low as we can price it to make it accessible for people. We're trying to find really cool locations, but you don't have to have a passport to get to them. And anyway, so that's kind of why we're trying to do this the way that we are. So just to put that out there for context, this is like the every man's or every woman's rather riding retreat.'cause right now it's all ladies. Although in the future we have dreams to do a co-ed retreats

Gino:

Yeah.

Ash:

we're growing and next year we're gonna start doing them quarterly. So you will have opportunities. If you can't make October 16th through 19th, you will have an opportunity to do another one and even maybe some international retreats in the future. For those of us who do want to go to a far-flung locale.

Katherine:

and new and do have passports.

Ash:

And who do in fact have, pat? Don't worry. You'll all have plenty of notice to get your passports. But yeah, so that's the idea. And you'll get to pick a quote, quote

Katherine:

that's right.

Ash:

all the attendees pick a quote that's gonna go on the back of your retreat t-shirt. So

Katherine:

That was very cool too. It's like small details that personalize it that are very cool. So it's, you feel like here's a unique experience only this group of people had, and that's kind of fun, so.

Ash:

There's no like rinse and repeat with anything.

Katherine:

Mm-hmm.

Ash:

gonna be completely different.

Katherine:

Right.

Gino:

So yeah, we hope to see you there at the next retreat and, I don't know how to sign off'cause we're combined podcasts right now, so

Katherine:

pinkies up and what is our

Ash:

see

Katherine:

extra

Ash:

page,

Katherine:

Yeah.

Gino:

woo.

Ash:

Excellent. https://storysirensstudio.com/retreats