2025 Retreat Rundown

Summary

Books (and True Crime) With Your Besties: Episode Summary – "2025 Retreat Rundown"

In the "2025 Retreat Rundown" episode of Books (and True Crime) With Your Besties, hosts Emily and Ashley provide an in-depth recount of their recent retreat experience in Scottsdale. This episode offers listeners a behind-the-scenes look at the planning, execution, challenges, and memorable moments that defined the event. Through their engaging dialogue, Emily and Ashley share personal anecdotes, interactions with sponsors and authors, and valuable insights learned during the retreat.

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Arrival and Initial Setup

Emily and Ashley kicked off the retreat by arriving early in Scottsdale, aiming to set the groundwork for a successful event. [00:11] Ashley recalls, “Last week at this time we were in Scottsdale physically building bookcases. I was supervising,” highlighting their hands-on approach. Despite a minor hiccup with their live retreat recording being interrupted, they remained optimistic, attributing the disconnection to good karma protecting their private moments with friends.

Upon arrival, the duo faced typical travel challenges, such as navigating the vast Phoenix airport and managing hefty luggage. [02:07] Emily shares, “My luggage was 65 pounds. Yours barely made it at 49 and a half pounds.” Settling into their hotel room, they swiftly connected with Lauren, their event planner, who had been instrumental in organizing their shipments to Arizona.

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Challenges Faced During the Retreat

The retreat was not without its obstacles. One of the initial challenges involved scheduling manicures to boost their confidence during the busy week. [03:27] Ashley reminisces, “I love to support local businesses… but this place was physically dirty, and it gave me…I felt scared the whole time.” Both Emily and Ashley were disappointed with the unprofessionalism and unsanitary conditions at the nail salon, leading them to question the safety of the experience.

Logistical issues also arose, particularly in transporting an overwhelming number of books and swag items. [06:29] Ashley notes, “Second story, no elevator,” underscoring the physical strain of moving 800 books and numerous swag bags without adequate assistance. Thankfully, two young men generously offered their help, demonstrating the supportive community spirit that permeated the retreat.

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Sponsors and Their Contributions

A significant highlight of the retreat was the invaluable support from various sponsors. Emily and Ashley extend heartfelt gratitude to companies like Skin by Lovely, Lagoon Pillow, Midi Health, K. Smith Design, and Simon and Schuster, among others. [14:19] Ashley emphasizes, “None of what we did would be possible without the sponsors. So thank you very much.” These sponsors not only provided financial support but also contributed products and discounts that enriched the retreat experience for all attendees.

Emily highlights specific sponsor contributions, such as Mix and Wick Candles, which added a delightful aroma to the event spaces, and Oliveira Skincare, ensuring participants felt their best throughout the weekend. The collaboration with sponsors was pivotal in managing costs and enhancing the overall quality of the retreat.

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Social Events and Interactions with Authors

The retreat featured numerous social events where participants could mingle with authors and fellow book enthusiasts. A standout moment was the dinner with authors like Cara Ruda and Lucinda Berry, where laughter and camaraderie filled the evening. [19:05] Ashley shares, “We were laughing so hard because...we were talking about, not romance books, but the, like, hardcore, smutty… just as women being like, I don't… that doesn't do it for me.” These interactions provided valuable insights into the book industry and fostered meaningful connections between authors and attendees.

Another memorable event was the author panel, where authors shared personal stories and answered engaging questions beyond their writing processes. [22:26] Emily reflects, “The panel went so well. The authors were just so open to answering questions that weren't just about their writing.” The panel not only entertained but also educated participants, making it a cornerstone of the retreat's success.

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Personal Reflections and Emotional Highlights

Throughout the retreat, both Emily and Ashley experienced a range of emotions, from stress and frustration to immense pride and joy. [09:05] Ashley admits, “I was crying because...this is a big moment,” capturing the emotional significance of seeing their hard work come to fruition. Emily echoes these sentiments, expressing how the event’s success was rooted in their genuine desire to serve and uplift their community. [24:54] Emily states, “The reason that I think the event is successful is because you and I both want to be servants to others.”

Feedback from retreat members further affirmed their efforts. [23:33] Emily shares a touching moment when a member approached her, saying, “I feel like I'm gonna get teary here, but you have to know how amazing this is, what you've done.” Such testimonials reinforced the positive impact of their dedication and meticulous planning.

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Logistical Hiccups and Creative Solutions

No event is devoid of unexpected challenges, and the retreat was no exception. On one occasion, delayed lunch orders led Emily and Ashley to improvise with espresso martinis and wine during a live podcast recording. [25:13] Ashley explains, “Our lunch turned into, on stage, espresso martinis during our live podcast recording.” Despite the setback, they managed to turn the situation into a humorous and memorable moment, demonstrating their ability to adapt under pressure.

Additionally, Emily faced significant travel disruptions while returning home, grappling with a severe snowstorm that caused flight delays and cancellations. [34:41] She candidly shares, “I couldn't stop crying at the airport. I just kept crying because I just wanted to be home with my kids.” This personal account highlights the emotional toll of event management and the resilience required to navigate unforeseen circumstances.

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Travel Back Home and Final Reflections

Emily's journey back home was fraught with emotional and logistical challenges due to an unprecedented snowstorm. After multiple flight delays and a supportive encounter with a compassionate airline staff member, she safely arrived in Portland. [37:35] Emily reflects, “I was so emotionally drained from the retreat. I could not stop crying at the airport.” Her resilience shines through as she overcomes these obstacles to reunite with her family.

Ashley, too, shares the stress of locating Emily during her travel ordeal. [38:42] She recounts, “I kept telling myself not to make it about me… Thank God you texted me.” Their shared experience underscores the deep bond and teamwork that Emily and Ashley maintain, even amidst personal and logistical challenges.

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Conclusion and Future Plans

As the retreat concluded, Emily and Ashley took time to debrief and plan for future events. They acknowledged areas for improvement, such as better managing food and beverage logistics and increasing staff for book sales to handle high demand. [39:54] Ashley notes, “We need to have more people working at book sales because apparently our people like to purchase and read books.”

Looking ahead, they expressed enthusiasm for the next year's retreat, aiming to implement the lessons learned to enhance the experience further. [40:03] Emily invites listeners to join future retreats, emphasizing the growth and continuous improvement of their community. “We will announce first on Patreon where our besties hang out, when and where and retreat details,” she encourages, underscoring the importance of their dedicated listener base.

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Behind the Scenes Insights

Towards the end of the episode, Emily and Ashley shared charming behind-the-scenes tidbits about their operations. They revealed that they share the same login information across all platforms, managing their online presence collaboratively without distinct individual accounts. [28:23] Emily explains, “We are literally all us on the same thing for every platform. So for Instagram, for TikTok, for our email, for our website, it's just both of us.” This streamlined approach allows them to efficiently manage their community engagement and maintain a unified voice.

Additionally, they recounted instances where early podcast recordings from past retreats weren’t used, ensuring that only high-quality content was shared with their audience. [27:55] Ashley proudly states, “We waited because we just knew it didn’t feel right.” This commitment to quality underscores their dedication to providing valuable and authentic content to their listeners.

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Final Thoughts

The "2025 Retreat Rundown" episode offers a comprehensive and heartfelt narrative of Emily and Ashley's retreat experience. From overcoming logistical challenges and fostering meaningful connections to learning valuable lessons for future events, the episode encapsulates the essence of their dedication to building and nurturing a vibrant book-loving community. Through their transparent and engaging storytelling, listeners gain a profound appreciation for the hard work and passion that drive Books (and True Crime) With Your Besties.

Transcript

[Emily]

Hi, I'm Emily. I'm Ashley and this is Books with youh Besties.

[Ashley]

Are you ready?

[Emily]

Yeah. Okay, bestie. So we taped live retreat recording. Then we lost connection. It stopped recording. We didn't notice.

[Ashley]

I noticed the first time it happened and I like awkwardly re signed us back in and then I don't know when it kicked us back off again. But I think it was before you told the story we said we'd never tell in public. So maybe it was the Lord being with us and it was our good karma protecting.

[Emily]

Well, that one was just for our 250 retreat goers. That was just a just us and our friends. It felt right.

[Ashley]

It felt right in the moment. They needed to know. Everybody needs to know how to stay safe at retreat. And also just watch your back because you never know. So today we're going to get into retreat because we had the absolute best time. Emily. Today I woke up and I was like, how has it already been a week? Last week at this time we were in Scottsdale physically building bookcases. I was supervising.

[Emily]

You were supervising? I actually had a alarm go off on my phone that reminded me to do something in Arizona yesterday. And I was so sad.

[Ashley]

Did your alarm just say panic? Panic and run around.

[Emily]

Check the list of 9,000 items? That's what it said.

[Ashley]

Should we just start? Let's go day by day. Right? I think especially Wednesday when no one was there except for us and people just don't even know what it looks like and what it takes to pull this thing off.

[Emily]

Yes. Okay. So Wednesday we showed up early. We got to the Scott by 11:30am after flying in and immediately luckily got into our room right away. What did we do, Ashley? I don't remember. I blocked it out.

[Ashley]

So we a of all, let's back up. We landed in the Phoenix airport, which is massive. Emily realized she had to take a different train to get to my terminal. And we met there, got to the hotel, it was cold that day. I remember thinking, oh, I'm still in my down coat, I'm freezing. My luggage was 65 pounds. Yours barely made it at 49 and a half pounds. Right?

[Emily]

Yeah.

[Ashley]

We went to our room and pretty quickly we called Lauren, our event planner who had been getting all of our shipments to Arizona. And she kind of warned us like I, I have some stuff but I honestly don't think I was ready for the amount of stuff that she had for us.

[Emily]

I know. Okay, so here's all the things we did Wednesday A I realized I had forgotten my Computer charger. And I went through. I had one suitcase and one carry on. Okay, it was a big suitcase, but still. And I went through everything, and I was like, I vaguely remember thinking, I'm gonna take it out and put it in my carry on. And I must not have. And so we walked to the Apple store and I paid 100 for a charger because I needed to have my computer charged for the event and work all week. So we did that. We returned to the hotel, and then I found my charger in my suitcase.

[Ashley]

And then here's what we did. Now I'm remembering. So we decided. We decided we were going to be working our tails off so in advance that we would plan on getting manicures, which you and I don't really do. We're not big manicure pedicure people. But I just honestly feel more confident and, like, I would mess with my hands less if my nails looked nice. So we decided to get a manicure. You and I found a great spot that was rated really highly.

[Emily]

Thank you for taking partial credit. But we. It was.

[Ashley]

I wasn't gonna say you.

[Emily]

It was me. In fact, you just said you and me. No, just me. Just Emily. Emily found the nail spot. I get all the credit.

[Ashley]

And it. We're not. I'm not gonna be a Karen. That's the thing. But here's the thing. I love to support local businesses. I love to shout out good places. I don't usually share if I have a bad experience, but I. This place was physically dirty, and it gave me. And I felt scared the whole time.

[Emily]

It was awful. First off, it smelled rotten, like someone had cooked broccoli and then also let it left it out to rot. It was horrifying smelling. It was physically dirty. The employees were, like, eating and on their phones and, like, clearly completely unprofessional, just sitting around chewing gum. They had, like, all the nail colors that you could pick. All these boards. They were, like, dirty feeling. Like, you could see. See grime on them. And they were just in a giant pile, like, in a box. Like, pick your color. What? It was bad enough that both of us are, like, we would never say anything to anyone. Like, I will let a server bring me something I'm allergic to and be like, oh, it's okay. I don't. I don't mind. And we both were like, should we leave?

[Ashley]

Someone could give me $1. No. Someone could owe me $20 in change and give me one. And I would just be like, bye, have a good day. I would never know you forgot 19. But we kept looking. And here's the thing, it just felt unsafe. I'm like, I think I'm gonna get an infection. I don't think this is right.

[Emily]

No. And they cut off all of my cuticles to the point that I was like, ouch.

[Ashley]

So that was, that was fine. I mean it was an experience. And then we had an Uber driver who was absolutely insane and we both had to just stare in a straight line because we thought we were gonna be sick. That was a tough start. Heather came Wednesday.

[Emily]

Yes.

[Ashley]

I think we did Postino and Sumo Maya in the same day.

[Emily]

Right. Because as soon as we got back from the nails, Lauren showed up and we had, she had a car load of boxes of books. I mean we are talking. Here's the thing is we had 450 books or so that we had to get from Lauren's house to our hotel room that were for sale, that people had pre ordered or were for sale on site for the authors. And then we also had 350 books that were giveaway books that authors had sent or publishers had sent us to give to our members. So we had 800 books that came in boxes, plus two bookcases to build all the swag bags, 250 swag bags full of stuff and all the swag that came that we needed to pack. And, and we had to get that all from Lauren's car in three different trips to our hotel room with no elevator. And we were on the second story.

[Ashley]

Second story, no elevator.

[Emily]

There were two like 20 year old men who were, who were doing an event, like bringing in chairs for a different event. And I said, when you're done with that, we're going to need your help here. And he was like, I'll help you. And I was like, no, no, no, I'm just kidding. That was, you know, you're really sweet though. And they were like, you can use our dolly. And so we took and used their dolly. So that was helpful. And then they started helping us carry boxes up the stairs. And so we tipped them a big tip. But we were like, you don't have to do that. And they didn't even want to take our money. But what did they say, Ashley? One of them said, I don't remember.

[Ashley]

What did they say?

[Emily]

I wouldn't want my mom carrying all these boxes.

[Ashley]

I forgot. We were like these nice young men and then we're old enough, I wouldn't want my mom to carry these boxes upstairs.

[Emily]

Which is true. We could have been their mothers. So thanks thanks guys.

[Ashley]

So if you've listened to the podcast long enough. We interviewed Heather Vassar. She is our friend. She's come to all of our retreats. She came into town Wednesday. She's always helpful. She helped a bunch. Lauren stayed and helped. And then here's the cool thing about our event planner now slash other best friend. Lauren who came, she wasn't planning on going to dinner with us. And we were like, you should come. And she was like, okay.

[Emily]

That was great.

[Ashley]

All went to Sumo Maya.

[Emily]

Yeah, that was really fun. It was a great hangout. We just had a lot of like bonding and talking time all of us, while we built bookcases, while we like stuffed swag bags. And then Thursday Lauren brought another load and we did it all again and we just kept working. We actually only built one bookcase on Wednesday cause it was getting late. And so Thursday we spent the day working.

[Ashley]

Thursday we made swag bags. In like an old school, we'd do 10 sets of swag bag stuff at a time. Stuff the bags. And we did that for 250 bags. And we never found the broken candle.

[Emily]

No, I. Somebody probably had it and like cut their hand up and went to the emergency room.

[Ashley]

I'm so glad we have insurance.

[Emily]

I know. So sorry about that. No, and actually we never left the room until 3:30 when we had to go down to the lobby to meet people to give them pre orders. And then we went and we took a couple of the authors, Cara Ruda and Lucinda Berry out to happy hour. And then we met up with Stacy Willingham and Heather Gooden Coug at the Poison Pen bookstore.

[Ashley]

That event was so fun, so wonderful. It was so well organized. The desserts were just absolutely gorgeous. And we got to meet our new favorite non book club members, Heather sisters.

[Emily]

Oh my gosh. Heather Gutenkof's sisters, Jane and Molly, who we just love. They were fun.

[Ashley]

They were super fun. It was so fun to see our authors or not our authors. Our members who know that Poisoned Pen is this like iconic people come to Scottsdale just to go there. So for our members to get to go have an event there with Barbara and see the space and be a part of it. I just, it was the first time I felt the tears coming that I think are happy tears. As someone who doesn't cry a lot, I was like, oh, this is a big moment.

[Emily]

It was really, really something special. And yeah, it's iconic. As you said, Poison Pen brings in all the authors that Barbara wants to ever bring in and she's iconic And a big part of it, and just to be welcomed by her and the Bookst. Hopefully, we'll partner with them in the future.

[Ashley]

And the Killer Author Club did their first live event with us there. And I just can't tell you, they are so funny and so endearing and so dark.

[Emily]

Oh, my gosh, the authors have the best personalities, which isn't surprising. It's not surprising, but it is just. It was so fun to watch them and just laugh hysterically. I just loved them.

[Ashley]

I did, too. And I loved that some of them brought their families with them. Like Heather's sister Cara brought her husband, who came to support her at Poisoned Pen. It was just so fun to see. And we do have male members. We are primarily females, but one of our male members, Sean, actually won a giveaway at Poison Pen. So that was super fun to see. Like, look, you're one of our men, and you showed up and you won something. See, Sean, it's worth it.

[Emily]

I went up to meet Heather Goodenkopf's sisters, and I introduced myself to Molly. I said, hi, I am Emily. I am from the creepy book club. And she's like, I'm Molly. And she. You could tell. She just was like, what do you need from me? Kind of. She was like, I. I'm so. I'm Molly. And she goes, I'm. I'm not Heather. Like, thinking that I was mistaking her for Heather Gudenkopf. And I was like, I know. And she. We laughed so hard because I feel like I was like, I'm the same. Nobody knows who I am in the creepy book club because they all know you, Ash, and are so excited to meet you. And she was kind of feeling the same thing. And we just hugged and laughed and loved our little role as the back. You know, the back side of the house.

[Ashley]

I told you. You know, we stood right in front of them while the authors were speaking, and just like siblings would do, they were just ribbing Heather the whole time. She would say something, and they'd be like, I don't really know if that's true. Under their breath, I'm like, oh, they're siblings no matter what. Like, your sister is this famous insane author, and you're just like, she's just our sister.

[Emily]

Totally. So I just loved them. They were so wonderful.

[Ashley]

So that was also one of our first missed meals, because by the time we left Poison Pen, it was late and we were tired and we just needed to go to bed. So we just went back because we knew Friday morning, we hit the ground sprinting at 6:30. Whenever we. I think, I think sick.

[Emily]

I know. Lauren. Lauren got there. I actually, I don't think we had to go down Friday till like, I mean we got up really early so that we could get in a workout and then had computer work to do to try to get in before just because we have to keep up with like customer service and all of those things. And Heidi came. Mary.

[Ashley]

Oh yeah. I was mixing as we did the whole time we were there. I was mixing Friday with Saturday. You're right. Friday we had a little bit more chill of a morning workout. We had good breakfast in our room.

[Emily]

Y.

[Ashley]

And then you're right, all of our helpers came and that was the exciting day. All of our members started to come and we were doing check in and I just. The rest of the weekend is fun, but I love the personal experience of meeting each person or seeing them for the first time face to face.

[Emily]

Yeah, that, that was cool. I definitely was floating more doing like stocking shelves and. But so I didn't get to meet quite as many people. But I had such a nice time. And then we had such an amazing happy hour kickoff event. And here's the thing, okay. We promise. We under promise because we always would rather over deliver, right? So we were gonna host some light bites and people were like, the food was fantastic and there was plenty of it. We had little mini cheeseburger sliders and chicken and little vegan burritos and a huge cheese display. And it was all delicious and wonderful food. And then we also, thanks to sponsorships, we were able to also have pass wine and Prosecco.

[Ashley]

I also love that the servers and the community at the Scott were so aware that at a certain point in time, did you know, they pivoted and they started putting out less white, more red and more, more Prosecco.

[Emily]

I know, I love that so much.

[Ashley]

People were just.

[Emily]

People were so happy.

[Ashley]

Yeah. I had warned some friends, I will not say their names. I was like, take one glass. Like that's, that's what there's enough for. And they were like, the wine just kept coming. I'm on my third glass. They're like, I'm going to take one. Every time I see it. I know.

[Emily]

I think people were really impressed by how much they got for their ticket price. And I was like, yes, we could have just used your ticket price. Right? Like and just paid for stuff with that. And hotels are really expensive, you know, paying for space and all kinds of things like that. All of everything, everything costs like to have Chairs costs money, so we could have just done that. But we also had incredible sponsors. Ashley, let's just take a minute to thank them now as we're talking about this, because I think it's so important that they are well recognized.

[Ashley]

So we had a handful of sponsors that both donated literal money, like monetary support. We just said, you know, this happy hour is something we really want to offer our community. Is that something you'd be interested in sponsoring? And we had people sponsor that way. And then we had swag bag sponsors, which you saw in your bag. So we had a company called Skin by Lovely who sponsored. They helped with the happy hour and the brunch. And they also dropped a gift card in your bag if you're local for $150 off and then a 20% off coupon to use Maple Boutique, which is local here. Just super cute clothes.

[Emily]

Local to Portland, Oregon.

[Ashley]

Yeah, sorry, local to Portland, but you can shop them online. And they have super cute home decor clothes, candles, so they helped. And they're incredible. We had Lagoon Pillow, which, you know, are my absolute favorite pillows. So they have pillows customized to kind of how you sleep. And they also have night bites. So if you're old women like us, it's good to have magnesium. So he put magnesium in chocolate, so you can eat a piece of chocolate before bed and feel like that's great. We had Midi Health, which is a company for women going through perimenopause and menopause to meet with someone and chat about your symptoms to see if hormone replacement therapy might be a good fit. We have Kate from K. Smith Design. Oh, my gosh. Her website that she designed just for us. You can go. And she will help you decorate your home. But just doing it online, like, here's what my space looks like. Here's what I want it to look like. She is incredible. We had Lovejoy, that's Jessica. All of the stickers were her company, but she also does custom T shirts. Super fun stuff. Simon and Schuster sponsored Ever Skin Care Safely, which is safety devices aimed at women to use, like tasers, other handheld devices to feel safe. And then a company called you like, which is a laser hair removal device. And then lastly, Rodan and Fields and someone who donated sunglasses, but he's not positive his company would be happy about it. So we're not saying their name.

[Emily]

Oliveira. Did you say that?

[Ashley]

Yes, I didn't. You're right. And we had Oliveira Skincare, which is our friend Maisha.

[Emily]

You can find all of these sponsors linked on our retreat [e-mail] and when you click on any of the logos, it takes you directly to their page. And I'm telling you, you should go look at some of them. They are really interesting things. I. I actually am looking at that laser hair removal device.

[Ashley]

Oh, and mix and Wick candles. I didn't want to forget her.

[Emily]

She.

[Ashley]

Here's. I'm sorry I interrupted you, but I couldn't forget her. She didn't have her website up and running, and our. Our book club helped her be like, I'm gonna do this. So those delicious candles are from Mitchell and Wick, and she now has a website. And if you came to retreat, we posted the codes for you to get discounts at every single one of these companies. So go tell them thank you by shopping with them.

[Emily]

Yes. Super cool stuff. By the way, you just called those candles delicious, which you are now on the list of people to be deported.

[Ashley]

Oh, no.

[Emily]

According to that lady. And I agree with her, and you.

[Ashley]

Agreed with her, too, but they do smell delicious. They smell like some sort of baked good fragrance. I don't know. Damn it.

[Emily]

I've just been trying to get you sent away for years, Ashley. No, I'm just kidding. That's. They are really great products, and I've been eyeing so many things. I'm going to do a bunch of shopping. I just haven't gotten to it since debriefing the retreat.

[Ashley]

Yeah. So this. None of what we did would be possible without the sponsor. So thank you very much.

[Emily]

Yes. Thank you all.

[Ashley]

So Friday, we have the bomb happy hour.

[Emily]

Yep.

[Ashley]

And then we go to dinner with the authors. Yes, We.

[Emily]

We took the. The authors to dinner. Had so many laughs. It was really good to get to know them a little bit. We learned a lot about the book industry from all different angles and sides. Right. So we have never written a book, obviously, so we don't know about agents or publishing houses or things like that. And that was really cool to get some good insight from the authors and hear about. They also talked about other reader conventions that they have been to which we are really proud of ours. You should come. It's super enjoyable. And they actually said they really enjoyed ours. I mean, maybe they were all lying, but they've told us quite a few times.

[Ashley]

We also learned about other space.

[Emily]

Sure. We should even mention that.

[Ashley]

I'll just say I was laughing so hard at one point in time. I was crying and Lucinda fell over in her chair. Physically, she was laughing because. We can talk about this part. We were talking about, not romance books, but the, like, hard core, smutty, I'm sorry, porn level of romance books. And just as women being like, I don't. That doesn't do it for me. I don't like reading that. And just. We were laughing.

[Emily]

Geneva Rose was telling us about a convention she had been to, too, for romance and what they're like. And we just. We were laughing so hard. She was very funny in that whole conversation. And, yes, Lucinda Berry fell over, and I did one of those, like, delayed laughs where I couldn't get it out. I was laughing so hard it didn't even come out of my body. It was just so funny.

[Ashley]

It was fun to see the authors talk, too. I know they spend some time together at this awesome thing called Thriller Fest that's really made for them. But to see their personalities, I think it was especially cool because we've been with Lucinda before. But to really get to chat with Stacy, she's just absolutely delightful. That's the only word I can think of. And she's funnier than you would think. I just really liked getting to know her. And Geneva, hilarious.

[Emily]

Me too. I mean, I can't say more kind things about all of them. Heather Gudenkopf is one of the nicest people I think I've ever encountered. She's so kind and genuine and authentic. And Stacey Willingham is fun and sweet and delightful. And Geneva Rose is absolutely hilarious, as you would expect.

[Ashley]

And Kara didn't come to dinner with us because she's so awesome that her son was in town with his band and she was like, I can't come to dinner. I'm going to his concert.

[Emily]

I know. Which I'm actually bummed because I. She was the one that probably surprised me the most. She's so hilarious. Her comedic timing is just brilliant and genius. I. I recommend everyone go and watch the YouTube that Barbara is going to put up of Killer Author Club or the podcast that Killer Author Club puts up of their event at Poisoned Pen. I mean, Kara had me absolutely rolling. I just. I could hang out with her all day. She's so funny.

[Ashley]

I could, too. And I love that she was asking our advice. Like, we're not closer in age to her than to her son. When she's like, do you think it would be embarrassing if I wore a hat with his picture on it? We were like, we think you should do it. That's your job as his mom.

[Emily]

I know we're the wrong people to ask about that because we were, like, all on Kara side Poor Dylan. No, he seemed happy and they are so cool. Honestly. Kara and her husband Harley are just really neat people. And then Lucinda Berry, we just love, you know, we've. We got to know her last year. It's so fun to be with her. She's just an. A friend.

[Ashley]

Then we had to make ourselves go to bed. I think we got back at what it was like 10:30, 11, because the next morning we had to be up and ready for our beautiful breakfast outside on the panel.

[Emily]

I know that the whole day Saturday, I don't even know how much we need to recap. Hopefully you can capture some of the stuff on social media where you get to see we some video of the beautiful breakfast. We had an author panel that was just phenomenal. We had the authors walk in to turn down for what they had to have a fun walk in song. And then author signing at five different tables. We took some cool pictures of that that we'll share on our socials. That went well. And people got to take photos with them and get all their books signed. And then we had. We did a live podcast session.

[Ashley]

That day was such a whirlwind. The panel, the panel went so well. The authors were just so open to answering questions that weren't just about their writing. Right. Like personal questions. And they're all such good storytellers. I felt like they each got the right amount of kind of time to talk. And it was really interesting, I thought, to learn about who each person had read their first draft of their book and it was someone very close to them. We'll let you watch the recap when the video drops. But I just found it fascinating to be like, who's the person you trust that does the first read of your book? I will say the one I was surprised about was Geneva being her. Her father in law, because I would never.

[Emily]

It's probably the best person to do it, right. Because like he's probably brutally honest with her in a good way. It's cool. Yeah. That she has that relationship.

[Ashley]

Did you. So Saturday, just before we move on to talking about the podcast, didn't you just feel warm and fuzzy and proud just walking around the Scott. I saw our members just being together and inviting other people into their little horseshoes and circles and it just felt like the best place to be.

[Emily]

I loved the hoppy vibe. I will say Jordan on Sunday told me that she felt like the same vibes as when she went to the eras tour. So the Taylor Swift ERAS tour just felt that happy and I just was so moved by some of the moments, Kizzy, also, one of our members came up to us, do you remember, at the happy hour? And she was like, I feel like I'm gonna get teary here, but you have to know how amazing this is, what you've done. Like, this is really incredible. And I just felt like so much had gone right. Enough that I was so emotional Saturday. I was so emotional. It was so hard not to cry. Walking in first thing in the morning, just seeing just how happy people were. Because here's the thing, Ashley. The reason that I think that the event is successful is because you and I both want to be servants to others. And so even in all of our planning, our concern is how are the authors going to feel and how are the readers going to feel? How is this going to come off to them, not to us? It. This was about. Truly about them in our planning, and I think it reflected. So I'm just really proud of that. And I'm proud of you for being so focused on the needs of others. And I'm proud that you convinced me to also. No, I'm just kidding. Oh, well.

[Ashley]

The one thing we did not do well on Saturday was our lunch. That was the one hiccup. We ordered lunch well before time. It didn't come. So then our lunch turned into, on stage, espresso martinis during our live podcast recording. If you don't know, the espresso martini is the unofficial drink of creepy book club retreat.

[Emily]

Correct. And here's the thing is, we ordered lunch and an espresso martini, and then we thought, you know, it would be a cute prop. All these people were outside drinking rose in the sun. And so we told people, bring it inside for the podcast taping. And we would have rose on stage, too. Well, the food never came, but the espresso martini and the rose all came at one time. So we just looked like we had a ton of alcohol.

[Ashley]

Can I tell you a story about one of the people, and she said I could share this. Who came up to the stage to ask a question.

[Emily]

Oh, please.

[Ashley]

So one of our members, Kelly, who's just delightful, said she had a question, but she lied. She didn't. She just came up and basically said, thank you for creating this community. You don't know how many people need this, how many friends we have made, how many people were super brave and traveled alone and left with two or three new friends. So that was my third cry. But she is the person who so thoughtfully reached out to us to see if we needed a ride from the Airport. And I wrote back to her once, and then, you know me, an email. I did not follow up. And I was like, kelly, I'm so sorry. And she goes, I. I thought maybe you thought I was crazy. And she goes, then I thought I could send you my fingerprint and you could look me up. And she goes, but I thought then I'd seem super crazy.

[Emily]

That's so cute, Kelly. For the record, we will totally take you up on a ride in the future.

[Ashley]

Yeah, she was just lovely, and I just love how introspective she was. She's like, I thought that would make me seem a little more crazy to give you fingerprints.

[Emily]

I know it was that part recorded because I feel like that's an important behind the scenes. Actually, I was thinking, okay, there were two behind the scenes things. One that we shared and one that you brought up. Actually, after that, in a different situation. You brought up yesterday when the Katherine Green interview, actually.

[Ashley]

Yeah. Which one was it?

[Emily]

So you brought up something we didn't share at the live taping that I thought should be shared. Okay, here's a tidbit. We met for two weekends away for two nights each weekend, actually. One of them was three nights, I think, in Lake Oswego and one in Eugene. And we got hotels or Airbnbs. And our entire intention and goal for the whole weekend was clearly work, work on retreat, work on all our usual stuff that we have, you know, figure out, book of the month stuff, all of that. But it was to do it was to start recording podcast episodes, and we recorded multiple episodes on both of those weekends. We recorded snippets, we recorded behind the scenes. We recorded full episodes both of those weekends, and we did not use a single thing from any of it because we realized afterward that's not how we want it to go.

[Ashley]

When I told that story last night on the Call, it, I. It made me super proud of us because it would have been really easy to be like, we are super antsy to get this podcast off the ground because we feel like it has a lot to offer our community. And we waited because we just knew it. It didn't feel right. I don't know what it was. I think the quality of it just the. I can't even pinpoint why it didn't work, but it didn't work, and we waited until it did.

[Emily]

I know, and I'm proud of us, too, because I think that happens in most places, and people just have no idea. Like, the first podcast you hear is actually the 15th that we made. Okay. But here's the other tidbit we shared that I think is funny. This is our behind the scenes is that we have the same login info and we use the same account. It's not like Emily at the creepy book club and Ashley at the creepy book club. It's literally all us on the same thing for every platform. So for, For Instagram, for TikTok, for our email, for our website, it's just both of us. And we will literally tag team stuff. So one time it might be me commenting, Emily, and one time it might be Ashley commenting. And we'll do the same in emails. We might have an email thread back and forth with a publisher or with somebody that's 15 emails long. And I will have written seven of them and Ashley will have written eight of them. And you don't know who you're getting because we, we don't want people to know we're doing that always, right? So we, we made a joke and we shared. Here's a tip of how you can tell who you're talking to in email. If it says, good morning, Jennifer. Thank you so much for reaching out. Best Emily, right? With whatever content or. Best Ash, it's me, it's Emily. But if it says K, sounds good, Ash, that's Ashley, right?

[Ashley]

Did you see? I screenshot and shared them on Patreon and people were like, oh my God. Seeing it in writing. Mine just says done, exclamation point. And yours is like, hello, I'll take care of that.

[Emily]

I know Ashley will be like, can you, can you actually send more of those? And I'm like, ashley, that is too a publisher. You need to write. Thank you so much. Matthew, would you mind please adding 20 more copies? We appreciate it. Best Ashley. But instead Ashley's like, okay, can you add 20 more? That's it.

[Ashley]

I actually had an idea today I thought was great. And I was like, I'm gonna text Geneva. And then I was like, that's not right. You go to email, you write to her publicist. Just because you have it doesn't mean.

[Emily]

You use it, right? You, yes, you, yes, you do not text Geneva. I think you could write Geneva directly on email, but you still could should write, hello, Geneva, we hope you had good travels.

[Ashley]

Say, hey, girl.

[Emily]

Actually though, she would know. She would know. Okay, that's Ashley.

[Ashley]

So then we ended things. We had did the podcast super fun, changed our clothes super quickly and went to the wine and art walk, which we decided was a fun group event, but not necessary. Could have maybe been just as fun. To stay on property and have drinks and hang out. But the Wine and Art walk was just a fun way to get out, talk to members more, and have a good time as a group. And then it had gotten hot. So we went to the Wine and Art walk, had fun, and then somehow, Emily, we got invited and weaseled our way in to dinner with Heather and her sisters and all the authors and husbands.

[Emily]

It was so special. It was so special to get to be with them all. I tried to invite us to Molly's family vacation, but she said we wouldn't want to come.

[Ashley]

You did try to.

[Emily]

You.

[Ashley]

You did a hard sell on getting an invite to that. But here's the thing. All of the authors independently used words to us like, this was the best book event I've ever been to, and if you're doing it next year, I want to come back. It just felt. It felt like they had a good time and they came to stuff that they weren't contractually obligated at all to come to. I think our members are just freaking awesome and people like spending time with them.

[Emily]

Agreed. No, they really did. And I think they were being authentic in it. And I. I love it so much. And I hope it. I hope that in the author world, when they share with each other their experience, that more authors will want to come next year and that we just can help continue to grow this. Because we had so many readers who want to come, we had to cut off tickets this year. It'd be really cool to open it up to more folks, right then.

[Ashley]

We crashed hard that night. Finally slept because we hadn't been sleeping because we were having nightmares of everything. I can't believe, technologically nothing went wrong. Knock on something for that. That. But we decided to stay Sunday and kind of have a day, just the two of us, and debrief, which we never do. And instead of doing that, we spent half the day planning for the next year.

[Emily]

Yeah, we even toured properties. But it was fun. But we. I was so tired. I was wearing boots that weren't comfortable enough. And so at 1:00, we were like, we're done. And we went to the pool and it was amazing. We had a Margarita and had 20 minutes with your friends from Portland with Rachel and Ashley. And then we hung out with, like, there was like, Jordan and Bri were at the pool and Aggie. Just a lot of our members. We were able to just chill out and have a good time.

[Ashley]

And if people don't know the Jordan and Bree story, they became best friends via The Internet. And I wish I could say it was because of our book club, but it was because of a podcast that they listened to. But they met for the first time in person coming to our retreat and they shared a room. We were like, that was ballsy.

[Emily]

No, it was awesome. Because it turns out they're both awesome people. So I am happy for them that they did that because. And it worked out well. I would hang out with them anytime too.

[Ashley]

I would too. We went to JoJo's Coffee House and you did a coffee tasting and then there was live music there and the guy played Stand By Me. And you guys told me that those are called winks. Like when you're someone who has passed on, sends you a wink. And did you see me? I just stared into my coffee because I thought if I looked up I would just start heaving uncontrollably. So I just stared in my coffee.

[Emily]

But I think, no, it was a wink. It was a moment. I think Lauren taught us that wink.

[Ashley]

Yes. And she told the funny story about how when their dogs, when somebody farts, they say it's a wink from their dead dog.

[Emily]

Yes, the kids do.

[Ashley]

And then that night, you and I treated ourselves to an actual. We finally tried the bruschetta at Postino's. We had so much good wine. We people watched like crazy. And we were asleep by 10.

[Emily]

It was great. And then we, by 10 we had lights out in our room at like 8:30. We watched Netflix. We put our phones down and didn't look at our phones again. And I think we were literally asleep by like 9:15, 9:30. But I didn't even look at my phone after 8:30. It was amazing.

[Ashley]

No, we just watched Netflix, went to sleep and then I don't think we had to be up the next morning till 6:30. I think we slept a hard, long night.

[Emily]

I know then I had. Travel was all right.

[Ashley]

Do you, do you want to get into that or not?

[Emily]

Today I'll share it just briefly. We went to. We went to the airport at 7:30am and it was a long day, we'll say, because my flight, we had a winter storm in my area that is like unprecedented biggest storm since 2017. And before that it was like, I don't know, the 80s or something like 1980s. Anyway, we don't get a lot of snow. We never get more than a few inches and it's always a dusting. And then it goes away. It melts by the middle of the day. And this was big time snow. The flight was delayed Delayed, delayed. We sat on the plane, we waited on the plane. They told us were going to go. Then they were like, no, never mind. We're going to wait 30 minutes. Now we're going to go. And then they were like, now we're delayed seven hours. So they offered me to get on a flight that night to come to Medford. And I was like, there's no way it's going to go if this flight can't go. Like, it's not going to get better at nighttime when it's freezing. So I said no. And they offered me the same flight the next night so I could have stayed in Phoenix and tried to go the next night. I am so glad I did not. I think flights have been canceled for like three, four days now. It's snowing right now here. It's still snowing. And I ended up flying to Portland. I got in at 5pm to Portland and I got a rental car and I drove to Roseburg, like three hours south. And I stayed the night in a hotel. And it was actually the best decision because I was going to try to go all the way through, but the roads had been so bad they had closed part of i5 that I had to go on like that during the daytime. But it had not been snowing for quite a few hours. So I thought if there was enough traffic on it, like, it'll clear it out. There was snow pack, it said, breaking up on it. There were spots of ice. I waited and it was, it was so great. The people who worked at the hotel, it was these women who were just awesome, were like, don't go tonight. You know, go in the morning. There's a ton of people here doing the same thing as you. There are people whose flights were literally canceled and they flew into Portland or Eugene and drove here and are staying here waiting in the morning. I got up early and I just went down and there were these two men who were talking to the front desk lady and I talked to them and they were like, we were here all day yesterday because we just had to wait because we're trying to get down south even further than I was. So we look, everybody decided it's go time. And I hopped in the car at 7:30am and made it totally safely home in the perfect window before more snow came. So it was a. It was a good ending. It was a really hard 24 hours because I was so emotionally drained from the retreat. I could not stop crying at the airport. I just kept crying because I just wanted to be home with My kids. I also really love being in the snow. And we get it so infrequently. Here I was like, I am missing my kids snow day. Like, they got released early from school. Now we're on day four of snow days, ready for a thaw any time now. You know, this is only fun for about three days. I. I'm grateful. I'm grateful I made it home to get to hang out and play with them. I. I also was just frustrated by little things, like they couldn't figure out what was going to happen with my checked bag. And we had huge bags, right? Because we had brought so much, like, so many materials and all this stuff, so we couldn't just carry on our bags for the retreat. And they were like, you have to go back down and try to claim it. And this lady was like, absolutely. I started walking up to her to ask her. Her. Her question. She was like, not having it. She did not want anything to do with me. And I was like, I'm sorry. I'm so confused. I didn't request my bag. I just want it transferred to the plane. But he told me I should come down here and get it and then recheck it. And she's like, well, then you requested it. I'm like, no, I didn't. And she's like, she was getting frustrated with me. I go, I'm sorry. I'm so confused. And she goes, okay, calm down. And I go, I'm sorry. It's just been a really hard day. And I just started crying. And she was amazing. She just took pity on me. She picked up the phone. She's like, I don't know if I'm supposed to be calling you about this, but let me ask you about this lady's bag. I was like, I love you. So it. It worked out. It was just one of those where I couldn't tolerate much more at some point.

[Ashley]

I love helpers. That was so stressful. And I kept telling myself not to make it about me. Like, your location wouldn't. It didn't fucking fix. I'll bleep that word. So it just kept saying Scottsdale. And I was like, my person is driving in the ice in the middle of the night, and I can't see where her car is. So thank God you texted me, like, I'm at this exit. Because I was like, where is me?

[Emily]

Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. I. I don't know why, but yes, I was getting texts from multiple friends and family members like, where are you? Like, you're fine, my friends, is not working. The one time I need it to work, it wasn't working. So, yeah, I was telling you what exit I was at so that when you guys tried to find me, if I, you know, disappeared off the side of a cliff, it would narrow your search. You could be like, I know she passed exit 71.

[Ashley]

I was like, I know she's not in Scottsdale. Why did say that?

[Emily]

I have no idea why that happened. Of course. Of course.

[Ashley]

So that was retreat and now retreat. Huge. I mean, now we're just steamrolling into 2026.

[Emily]

Yes. We hope you will join us. We are really excited about how much we learned and the mistakes that we made. We should really be telling about some of that. Like, we can't throw anyone under the bus. The hotel was amazing. Everything was good. But we will just tell you that serving a meal at a hotel was very expensive for a small business. And so we learned some things about how we might manage food and beverage minimums differently and apply them in a way that was as effective as possible for our members. I think it was wonderful and the sponsors really helped us to manage it this year. But it'll just be cool for us to be able to do it hopefully even a little bit better next year.

[Ashley]

Agree. And I do think that we learned too, that we need to have more people working at book sales because apparently our people like to purchase and read books.

[Emily]

Yeah. Did we not see that coming? I think we'll have that.

[Ashley]

We. We needed more people because that line was absolutely bonkers.

[Emily]

Yeah, we'll have that dialed in better.

[Ashley]

So we will announce first on Patreon where our besties hang out, when and where and retreat details. So if you want to know all of that stuff, you got to join us over there because they will know first and have first dibs on all the things.

[Emily]

Yep. That will be wonderful. And hopefully if you are an author or you are someone who wants to sponsor us next year at our retreat, we will be thinking about those things in the next month. So feel free to send us an email through our website or info at the creepy book club dot com.

[Ashley]

All right, guys, thanks for coming. And if you didn't come, come next year.

[Emily]

Yes. Bye.