We recently connected with Debra Engle and have shared our conversation below.

Debra, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Covid has brought about so many changes – has your business model changed?

Our company, Story Summit, actually was born during the pandemic. Story Summit is a writing school, and the first event was a retreat aboard a Caribbean cruise ship in late February 2020. The cruise ended the day the world started shutting down, and before long, we knew we wouldn’t be offering in-person gatherings for a while. So we took Story Summit online, offering classes and events via Zoom to reach writers who were feeling more isolated than ever. Our mission was to create a true sense of community among people who had never met before. We did it by making all our classes live….no recorded lectures. We brought in faculty members who were noted authors and screenwriters, and we created free events in which writers could get to know each other and feel a sense of belonging. We just celebrated our fifth anniversary—now with 4,000 Summiteers—and the unique blend of craft and community we began during Covid is still our guiding light.

Debra, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’ve worked in publishing my whole career—in book editing, marketing, as a freelance writer, and as an author and writing mentor. My books and much of my teaching are spiritually based. In 2019, I was fortunate to meet David Kirkpatrick, who founded Story Summit the following year, and I served as a mentor at the first Story Summit retreat. Later that year, I became co-director of our online writing school, and now I’m executive director of Story Summit. We offer online classes and in-person retreats to help emerging writers develop their careers, find their voice, and share their stories. We believe that storytellers change the world and can be a positive force for humanity. I’m proud of the fact that so many of our Summiteers are getting published and getting movies produced. This is due to their commitment and talent, and to the world-class faculty we’ve brought in from publishing and entertainment.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Years ago, when I was working as a freelance writer and hoping to write books someday, I found myself journaling this: “I am here to witness miracles and tell about them.” Honestly, that has become my life’s work in everything I do…in the books I write, the classes I teach, and my leadership of Story Summit. Witnessing miracles means seeing a shift from fear to love, and I’m grateful that I truly do experience that every day.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Within Story Summit, we talk about how difficult it can be for family members to understand the work we do as writers. How can we sit in front of a computer for hours at a time with nothing but our imagination as our companion? For me personally, my imagination has always been my favorite destination. It’s so much more interesting than much of the world around me, and I think this is true for many creatives. Writers have a unique ability to make connections that others miss, to find meaning in the smallest details of life that others overlook. When we see the world through the lens of our imagination, it becomes a much more interesting and significant place.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.storysummit.us
• Other: https://storysummit.substack.com