The Introvert Writer Summit

The story behind mine and Lauren Sapala’s second summit together

A little more than 3 years ago, I connected with Lauren Sapala.

We found one another on Wordpress, where we hosted our respective blogs, and then connected on twitter.

At the time I was diving deep into introvert and personality-type stuff, and I really related to what that Lauren was writing on her blog. I felt a connection with Lauren through her blog, and I reached out over email... a little nervously asking if she'd be up for a video call sometime, thinking that she would be far too busy as a 'professional blogger' to make time to talk with me.

At the time, from memory, I was half-trying to build a content business and half trying to run a blog. I took the video call from a little room in a yoga studio I was a member of at the time, and Lauren from one of the meeting rooms in her office. Little had I realised, at that time Lauren was running her blog business on the side of a full-time office administrator role at a startup in San Francisco. We really hit it off and it was really nice to meet a fellow blogger so similar to me (in values, temperament and interests) who was doing what I wanted to do, albeit on the other side of the world.

What I also hadn't realised at that time was that that video call would play a significant part in my evolution as 'blogging for a hobby' to 'building a business around my blog'. Not long after that first video call, we had another call and Lauren suggested the idea of running an online summit together.

I was a little surprised and flattered... Lauren had been doing this blogging thing much longer than I had, was making some money from it, and she no doubt knew a bunch of other people more “qualified” than I was to run an online summit with her. I've awkwardly gushed and thanked Lauren on more than one occasion since, and each time she refuses to teaks any real 'credit' for inviting me to co-host the summit with her, instead insisting with a gentle smile that: “I just knew it had to be you. Don't thank me, thank the universe instead.”

Over a period of several weeks from late 2019 to early 2020, we recorded conversations with a bunch of fellow introverts and sensitive souls before the INF Summit officially went live in February of 2020. The whole experience blew me away. I had so much fun recording the 3-way conversations with Lauren and a handful of folks we had each invited to speak with us and share their stories and experiences. More than 2,000 people signed up for the summit and we received dozens and dozens of messages from folks around the world sharing how the summit landed with gem and expressing their gratitude for our running it.

That summit gave me a huge energetic boost in self-belief and confidence when it came to stepping into following my dreams to making money from my blog. I shall never forget it.

Lauren has become a combination of a trusted friend and mentor to me.

And on the eve of releasing our second summit to the world, one where I've gotten to meet some personal heroes of mine, and other inspiring folks who have bravely stepped into their writing and given themselves permission to be writers in their own unique and special way.

Folks like:

… as well as many other folks whom Lauren and I invited to speak with us – seventeen inspiring souls in all.

Wherever you are in the world, if you're interested in writing or publishing and you also happen to be an introvert... This summit was put together for you.

Each day from March 1st to March 9th, we'll be sharing two conversations with you, which you can watch (video) or listen to (podcast), at your leisure. We'll be keeping the conversations available to those who register for several weeks, as we know that seventeen conversations are a lot to consume.

Like with our first summit back in 2022, it's been a fair amount of work to make this happen, but it's also been a joy to put this summit together, and to take part in these conversations I’ve mentioned, working together with my good friend and co-host Lauren Sapala.

Lauren is the closest thing to a co-founder I've had, on two separate occasions now with each of these summit projects.

I can't wait to see how The Introvert Writer Summit lands in the world, and to sit back and tune back into these conversations this time as a listener rather than a participant.

by,

Jas

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📷 just one of many conversations I’ve enjoyed with Lauren in the last couple of years

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PS. As of January 2024, The Indie Writer is now 👥 INF Club. Join us there!