Choose what you need:

“I haven’t published anything yet - I am no writer.”

"My notebook is filled with half-baked ideas.”

“I know I want to write, but I'm not sure where to begin.”

“I'm a 'serial starter' but not a 'serial finisher.”

“This has been written about so many times already - what is the sense of it?”

“Hitting a daily word count feels like a monumental task.”

Do you wanna write a book?

let me introduce to you:

THE CRY LOUNGE’s Writing Retreat

~ round #2

(April 28th - July 28th, 2024)

a three-month-long writing retreat that will help you stay accountable on your writing journey. No pressure of word counts and without feeling bad about your writing or yourself. a writer’s community ready to create wonder.

what's included

〰️

what's included 〰️

  • weekly co-writing sessions on Fridays at 8pm CEST (13 in total)

    • 1h co-writing sessions

    • 4pm EST{New York} | 10pm CET {Paris} | 9pm GMT {London} | 1pm PST {California}

  • 1:1 coaching availability

  • monthly group coachings

  • Slack group community

see more detailed descriptions of each feature below!

FLOW - 333€ or 2x 166.50€/month

  • Sunday to Thursday, we will meet for 60 minutes and write together. Everyone sets their own intentions for what they wanna work on, how long, how many words, why they wanna show up for that day. Light a candle, set the ambience and let’s write!

    At the end, we will wrap up with sharing how today’s writing felt like and maybe what we wish for next time or what felt good and wants to be repeated.

    • first workshop: October 30th 2pm EST

      • how to find your own gentle writing routine

      • get clear on what your goal is for this upcoming month

      • how to show up for your writing on high and low energy-level days

    • second workshop: December 3rd

      • reviewing & celebrating goals and writings

      • sharing best/challenging/sweet moments

      • how to continue to show up for your writing & yourself gently & compassionately

  • A private Substack only you, writers, are gonna get access that will be updated throughout the retreat with resources, writing prompts, replays of the workshops (all Notion friendly!), etc.

    This space is always open for suggestion, so it might be that Bonnie gets inspired by a question raised at our weekly group meetups (see FOUNTAIN tier) and share her perspective in a longer format.

  • Slack is going to be the space we all meet and hang out. All links can be found there and there’s the opportunity to connect with each other as well. Nature pictures from your walk or new favourite song can be shared there as well. It’s like a big family group chat :)

FOUNTAIN - 444€ or 2x 222€/month

  • We are coming together once a week to ask each other questions, discuss challenges, read from what we’ve written and where we might need feedback or motivation to keep going.

    Specific time will be voted once the group has signed up.

    • co-writing sessions

    • two workshops

    • invite-only access to private Substack

    • Slack community

STREAM - 888€ or 2x 444€/month

  • You and Bonnie are going to sit together for 90 minutes each week of this 5-week long retreat and talk about your writing routine, what makes you happy, what upsets you. Come with questions, scenes you wanna discuss to get inspiration or feedback. Anything is welcomed! Sometimes it feels better to know someone is waiting for you to write this (novel/poem/essay).

    Time will be discussed after signing up.

    • weekly feedback & reading group meetups

    • co-writing sessions

    • two workshops

    • invite-only access to private Substack

    • Slack community

First meetup for everyone joining is October 29rd, 2pm EST. We’re going to introduce each other, journal a bit about what we wanna experience in this retreat and talk about the schedule & answer questions <3

a financial hardship policy is available in form of discounted scholarships. please send fill out this form & we’ll be in touch with you for a link to purchase this retreat in a way that suits you best.

This is for you if you …

  • are a writer (of all levels & genres)

  • are eager to participate in NaNoWriMo this year without feeling burnt out afterwards

  • get away from the standardised pressure for writers

  • wanna write together with other writers who want company but no competitiveness

  • love small daily word counts

  • wanna dedicate more time to writing

  • wanna share their feelings about writing in a group

  • wanna share their wins while writing and get supported for it

  • wanna have someone that is on this journey with you, that knows exactly what’s going on for you

  • are a writer who knows dreaming is also part of the journey or are ready to hear about it

FROM THE DESK OF BONNIE ORBISON:

Howdy! Bonnie here 🤠 I am the creative brain behind THE CRY LOUNGE. I started writing down my daydreams into novels at the age of eight years old and haven’t stopped since then. Pursued traditional & indie publishing with my books and am always open to find new writers & listen to their aspirations. While my passion lays in seeking ways to bring my books to reader’s hands, I also interview creatives for my charting podcast Bonnie’s Legends & write the successful Substack (now in-print!) publication Howdy Bonnie!

Lexi from the Pretty Decent Café always asks “What do you secretly wanna do all day long?” Always, visions of writing endless hours and being surrounded by books and like-minded people comes into my mind. I now have designed an offer for eager inspired writers (and those who aren’t calling themselves yet writers) who seek out dedicated time for their writing with like-minded people. I want them to be satisfied and feel content in their writing journey (at whatever point they are) without having to run away from the pressure to hit daily word counts, without the urge to compare their writing routines to others (especially with NaNoWriMo coming up) or simply don’t feel good enough to write (at all).

“This retreat isn’t only for fiction writers.

I wanna invite poets, non-fiction writers, journalists, creatives who don’t call themselves yet a writer. I wanna invite people to join for their art, for showing up for themselves.

If you wanna join with the goal of dedicating time on your Substack, then come be with us.

If you feel the need of having more time for the research part of your writing project, come be with us.

If you wanna find out what you wanna write about next, come be with us.

And if you wanna write a novel, come be with us.

I’m not against the concept of NaNoWriMo, I just dislike the exclusion of so many creatives that don’t want to write a fiction novel and the burnout that almost always gets promoted on social media during these times. I want to see you writing happily and with the feeling of being satisfied.

If you’ve shown up and wrote three paragraphs in this next month, then you succeeded in NaNoWriMo.

50K words are not for everyone, certainly not if your whole word count of the year hasn’t been 50K (like me).

Since 2020, I’ve participated in the hype of November every single year. The first time I wanted to write a new novel, but never figured out what to write about. I felt so behind and lost. November 29th, I wrote the first line of my novel “It was her”. So right before NaNoWriMo ended and everyone posted about their successes, I had “only” found out what I want my next novel to be about. I published it this year. I’m wondering how many novels that have been written through the 50K-challenge are published now?

The success shouldn’t be about word counts or getting it published. The success should be what you want from it. Whatever success means for you.

2021, I had come in with a novel idea and was so eager to hit the 50K. School work and my mental health didn’t like this goal at all. I burnt out and lost the passion for that book.

Last year, I didn’t officially participate in NaNoWriMo, muted all accounts that posted about their daily word counts, I never dared to look at my own. At the end of the month I had written the most of my next-published book. It’s the foundation that I come back to whenever I feel like holding lost threads in my hands.

You don’t need a 50K word count/month, you need dedicated time to show up for your art and yourself with like-minded people who want to show up as well.

    1. Decide what tier you wanna join with! FLOW, FOUNTAIN or STREAM. Take your time.

    2. Choose which payment option is the most suitable for you right now: one-off payment or 2x payments broken off in half (one the day you join & one a month later).

    3. Select the option below, click “Subscribe” and you’ll be lead to the checkout page.

    4. After receiving your payment, I will get notified and add you to our email list & send an invite to our Slack community and you’re in!!

  • ABSOLUTELY! If you’ve written fifteen books or only started to write the other day, you’re welcomed and seen here. I wanna witness you writing and following your heart.

    Also please poets, journalists, non-fiction writers join us! I’m so excited to meet you!

  • After your payment arrived, we will add you to our email list aka the Substack. There will be links that’ll show you how to access everything & also during our first meetup, Sun October 29th, I’m gonna show you how to read it. But after joining, you’ll always receive the latest entries into the Substack into your inbox.

    If there are any technical issues, you can always email me or send me a Slack message as well.

  • At this point in time, I am not in a position to give out refunds. This purchase is final. With subscribing via the payment plan there will also be no option to cancel or refund it. Please respect your initial decision to join and my work as a service provider.

  • Here are the apps we are gonna use:

    • Zoom (for all meetings)

    • Slack (for our communication)

    Additionally you can choose to download the app of:

    • Substack (to always access replays & resources easily without having to scroll your emails)

    If any technical issues arise, my team and I are always available via the Slack group or email.

  • Yes! As part of a thank you for you joining this round of The Cry Lounge’s Writing Retreat, you’re gonna be able to rejoin at the same price you paid for this time. This even counts for joining another time on another tier: you’ll be locked in with the price of how much the tier costed this time.

FAQ