Diana Friedman found an old journal recently. She was in her twenties when she wrote it, and somewhere in those pages she had noted — almost like a wish — that she wanted to someday run writing retreats for women.
That was 1987. Today, she runs retreats in the Basque Pyrenees of Spain, the Pocono foothills of Pennsylvania, and the mountains of Maryland. And they sell out every year.
What Does a Creative Writing Coach for Women Actually Do?
Diana and her co-founder Valerie Berton joined me on This Might Get Creative to talk about what they’ve built with KindWrite Studio — a writing studio that helps writers at every stage of the process. Diana works with people who are just getting started or coming back to writing after years away. Val comes in closer to the finish line: developmental editing, submission strategy, finding the right literary magazine for the right piece. Between the two of them, they go from the first page to the published story.
What comes through in the whole conversation is what their name says it should. They are kind. They take the pressure off. They make people believe — sometimes for the first time — that their voice is worth something.
There’s a story Diana tells in this episode about a client who came to her after a well-known author told her she was wasting her time at a retreat. Diana worked with her. The client has now been published more than once. That’s KindWrite in practice.
When the In-Person Connection Doesn’t Translate Online
We also got into the business side — which is where things got really interesting. Their in-person conversion rate is close to 100%. The moment someone meets them at a conference or a retreat, they want to work with them. Online? Different story entirely. They ran a Meta ad for one of their retreats, got over 2,200 clicks, and had zero conversions on a free lead magnet. Zero.
That’s not a marketing problem. That’s a brand strategy problem — and it’s the exact gap between who you are in a room and who you are on a website. If that sounds familiar, it probably is.
Listen to the full episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Not sure if your brand is doing its job for you? Take the free Brand Audit Scorecard at lyoncreatives.com/brand-audit-scorecard — 10 questions, 2 minutes, and you’ll know exactly where to focus.
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