The
Author Transformation Alliance
2020 Spring Writing Retreat
March 27-29, 2020 -- Marriott Suites -- Herndon, VA
A weekend dedicated to renewing your creative spirit, loving your writing, and prioritizing self-care.
Due to the COVID19 outbreak,
our retreat will be a virtual event this year.
The health and safety of our writers and their families was at the forefront of my mind when I made the very difficult decision to transition from an in-person event to a live, virtual event.
As much as we'll miss all the in-person epic-ness that happens at our retreats, it is crucial that we show our love for each other by preventing any spread of the virus to vulnerable people, whether our writers or their loved ones at home.
Making Lemonade...
Although I was heartbroken about having to cancel our event, I realized that this could actually be a good thing.
Why? Because many more writers will be able to attend and it's even more affordable as a live virtual event.
And, as my child's teacher uttered the warning about the potential for shuttered schools and virtual classes this morning, I realized that a lot of people might be staying home by the end of March and going out as little as possible.
Stuck in the house during spring = cabin fever, even for many of us introverted writers.
What better than an at-home writing retreat to have socialization and creative renewal without risking your or anyone else's health?!
Head HERE to learn more about our virtual event and how it can help your creative-renewal while also breaking through the inevitable cabin fever.
Hey, author!
It's time for our 3rd annual Spring Writing Retreat!
This writing retreat is a 3-day immersive experience with me, Audrey Hughey, the founder of the Author Transformation Alliance (ATA) and the online writing group Sprints and Spirits.
For this year's unique, small-group writing retreat, we're going to focus on:
-
Your writing...
-
Your author-business systems...
-
Your day-to-day life as an author...
-
Creating connections and forging lasting friendships...
So you can revolutionize your writing life and recenter on your goals and dreams for your author career!
Writing - Renewal - Inspiration
As with our previous two retreats, we'll have classes on writing, author business systems, marketing, mindset, and the heart of why we write.
Our previous retreats were powerful, moving experiences for all in attendance. Our authors learned new ways to unlock their creativity in their writing, advance their business practices, and create lasting bonds with new and old friends all while getting reinspired and reenergized about their creative lives.
We had the freedom to:
-- WRITE!
-- Get clear on our publishing goals
-- Develop our own unique paths to achievement
-- Find new ways of looking at the business of authorship
-- Participate in writing classes that inspired and motivated us
-- Enjoy mini-challenges that lovingly pushed us beyond our comfort zones and helped us explore greater expanses of creativity and grit within ourselves.
-- Discover new techniques and methods for sparking our creativity and improving our writing
We laughed, we wrote, and we even cried together--don't worry,
it was the good kind!
We moved each other in ways we hadn't expected,
engaging both sides of the brain and all of the heart.
This year, we're taking it to the next level.
We're going to buckle down on everything that made the first two so successful and uplifting for everyone and build it higher.
Light as a Feather
The theme is "Light as a Feather" and through that theme, our intention is to help you create an author's life that is wholistically easier, more enjoyable, and filled with freedom.
All of our workshops, activities, and group time will hold this intention and together we'll work on how we can make writing, publishing, marketing, and your day-to-day life as an author easier, more enjoyable, and furthermore fulfilling.
Freedom and Fulfillment
Our intention is to show you that you can:
- Have an incredible and positive impact on readers... even if you're worried about reviews.
- Make money with your writing... even if you've struggled to make sales in the past
- Continuously improve your writing... even if you've been writing for decades
- Overcome any of the creative, financial, and business obstacles you might face, even if these things have pulled you down before.
- Build author business systems that really work for your life even if nothing else you've tried has worked.
- Hit your goals to create freedom with fulfillment with your writing because you deserve to live a creative and fulfilled life.
Friendship
One of the most important things we will do during this retreat is strengthen our bonds with our fellow writers.
From dear old friends to new kindred spirits, we're going to be exploring what friendship means in the writing community. Our focus will be on supporting each other and uplifting one another in a way that can only happen during events like this, where lifelong friendships are forged.
Authorship does not need to be a lonely venture, thanks to the internet, and every once in a while it empowers and energizes us when we get to meet our writing friends in person!
Explore and Expand Your Writing Life
We're going to explore topics such as:
- Building efficient writing, publishing, and business systems to make your life easier
- Creating multi-platform advertising campaigns to reach new readers and convert them into buying, raving fans
- Setting up and tweaking your Amazon ads to maximize cost-efficiency and sales
- Developing Facebook advertising campaigns that reach more readers without breaking the bank
- The mindset of successful authors and how we can step into that mindset to harness the power of that success and confidence
- How to create and structure complex and beautiful worlds for your stories and series
- Methods for breaking through writer's block and unlocking your creative spark
The Location:
Marriott Suites Dulles
Click HERE to learn more about this gorgeous hotel and its stunning mountainside setting. After you purchase your ticket, you will receive instructions for reserving your room at our incredible group rate:
Standard King Suite (with pullout sofa in the living room): $89/night without breakfast, add $10/night for breakfast.
Double Queen Suite (with pullout sofa in the living room): $99/night without breakfast, add $10/night for breakfast.
What's Included
At our retreat, you'll have time to:
✍️Write, write, write, and.... um... Oh, yes! WRITE!
✍️ Reflect on your writing journey so far and get clear on where you'd like to take it
✍️ Finally get ahead on your social media posts or reader newsletters
✍️ Enjoy writing classes that spark your creativity and reignite your passion for sharing your stories
✍️ Learn about the business behind writing so you can grow your reader base without losing your mind or your wallet
✍️ Sit down with new writing friends to connect, exchange ideas, and get reenergized about your writing journey.
We all need to take the time to unwind, to reflect, to refresh, and to get in-person classes on writing and on how to improve the business aspect of our authorship.
This retreat offers you the chance to do exactly that.
Your retreat ticket includes:
✌️ 3 days of connection with other writers in a beautiful hotel with amazing "standard" suites
✍️ Multiple creative writing workshops to re-inspire your imagination
💻 A variety of authorship business classes to help you hit the next level
🙏 Morning and evening yoga sessions to help you relax
📸 Professional photos by our retreat photographer
🎁 Retreat welcome bag packed with themed goodies!
⛰️ Fun and camaraderie in a relaxing, friendly environment where you can unwind and reenergize your creative spirit.
What's Not Included
1) Your room. You must book your room independently through the hotel - but you can pair up with another attending author (or 2 in the double queen suite) and share a room to split the cost! 💕
2) Your transportation. You are responsible for your travel to and from the retreat location. Marriott has generously provided complimentary shuttle transport to and from the Dulles-Washington Airport (IAD) for our group. Parking in the garage is free.
3) Your meals. Due to the prevalence of allergies, dietary needs and restrictions, and food preferences, it is too costly to provide meals and snacks that will accommodate everyone. Adequate breaks will be provided and the hotel and the Worldgate Center complex has multiple options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner--there's even a Starbucks!
My goal is to keep this retreat as affordable as possible for everyone while being as impactful as possible. Therefore my focus is on creating a retreat that is thoroughly empowering, energizing, and transformational for all participants.
Bonus:
The hotel is part of a complex that includes many restaurants and even a sports center with a pool.
Marriott guests can receive a complimentary guest pass to visit the sports center and use the pool.
If you're a fan, there is also a Starbucks within the complex so you can have your favorite cup of coffee or tea each morning or afternoon.
The Investment
Your $225 Spring Writing Retreat Ticket includes:
-
Three days of classes and breakout sessions covering writing, editing, publishing, book sales, and self-care ($997+ value)
-
Printable welcome packet with class handouts ($29 Value)
-
Writer's Retreat Care Package ($25 Value)
-
Time to write, network, and make new friends (priceless!)
Can't attend live this year?
Get a virtual ticket!
We're providing a complete and supplemented virtual retreat experience this year. Click HERE for the Virtual Retreat ticket details.
What past attendees
say about the
ATA Spring Writing Retreat:
“ATA Spring Writer's Retreat was a great experience for me. Not only was I able to have some "me-time", so hard to find in today's busy lives, but the interaction with both the panelists and the other authors was a source of inspiration and motivation to persevere in an often isolating career as an author. Recommend it to anyone interested in writing.”
— Natalina Reis
Author of Dark Feathers
The 2020 Retreat Schedule
Thursday, March 26
5:00 PM - 10:00 PM Early check-in
6:00 PM - Early arrivals group dinner
Friday, March 27
6:45 AM - Morning Yoga with Taryn
8:00 AM - Author Photos/Breakfast
8:30 AM - Check-in, sign liability release forms, receive retreat bags
9:30 AM - Welcome session with Audrey; writing exercises
11:00 AM - Author Planning and Time-Management Class
11:45 PM - Break for lunch; author photos
1:30 PM - Breakout Sessions --
Finishing the first draft; Book Covers;
Self-Publishing; Editing
2:45 PM - Breakout Sessions -- Rotate
4:00 PM - Creative Cross-Training
9:00 PM - Evening Yoga with Taryn
Saturday, March 28
6:45 AM - Yoga with Taryn
8:00 AM - Breakfast / Photos
9:00 AM - Day intro and writing exercises/warm-ups
10:00 AM - Authenticity and Nuance in Artistic Endeavors with Kaaren
11:00 AM - Photos with Nydia / Lunch
1:00 PM - Breakout Sessions:
Writing Fight Scenes; Advertising and Funnels
Building Support Systems Diversity and Inclusion
2:30 PM - Breakout Sessions -- Rotate
4:00 PM - Mobile Photography for Authors
5:00 PM - Release for dinner and personal writing time
9:00 PM - Yoga with Taryn
Sunday, March 29
6:45 AM - Yoga with Taryn
9:00 AM - Day’s Intro; group photos; Inspiration with Rachel
10:00 AM - Writer Grit with Audrey
11:00 AM - 90-Day Strategy with Audrey
12:00 PM - Farewell and thank you, wrap-up
2:00 PM - Conference room closes
Your Instructors
Audrey Hughey
Audrey Hughey is the founder of the Author Transformation Alliance, a community dedicated to uplifting and empowering authors at all stages to reach their vision of success step-by-step with a powerful network of support to guide them. With social media and the current state of the internet, authors no long need to go it alone or guess their way through the ever-evolving landscape of modern marketing.
Mary Decker
Mary Decker is a software developer with over 30 years of experience in software development, software testing, and technical writing. She has participated in fiction contests for the past six years and her work is featured in several local and international anthologies. She has also worked as a journalist, editor and plot doctor on numerous projects over the past five years.
Nydia Pastoriza
Nydia is an innovative, creative, hybrid designer and businesswoman in Charlotte, NC. She follows her love for all forms of art: design, photography, music, writing and more. She pours that love into her work as a designer, photographer, and author. She continues to develop her skills to deliver effective designs, beautiful photography and hopeful stories. She debuted her first romance novel Candid in 2018.
Taryn Bromser-Kloeden
Taryn Noelle Kloeden is a lover of nature and all things furry, scaled, and feathered. She has practiced yoga for over a decade and is a certified instructor specializing in deep, restorative poses and guided meditations. She is especially passionate about helping her fellow writers and academics learn to unwind and refresh through yoga's physical and spiritual teachings.
Neece McCoy
K. McCoy wants to live in a world where the LGBTQA community is allowed to live and thrive in peace. As an Independent Writer, she has just finished her first novella, MAGIX, and is now looking for someplace sunny to celebrate before scheduling her next soap opera- and hallyu-infused story. When she is not baking or playing Cards against Humanity with her friends, you can find her writing down new ideas and concepts somewhere sunny or discovering new music on online.
P.A. Duncan
P. A. Duncan is a retired bureaucrat with an overactive imagination. A commercial pilot and former flight instructor and federal aviation safety official, she now lives and writes about spies in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia--when she's not cheering for the New York Yankees, watching NASCAR, or spoiling grandchildren.
