We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Valerie J Runyan. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Valerie J below.

Alright, Valerie J thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The most meaningful projects I’ve worked on of late have been: re-igniting my virtual writing retreat as a membership, adding an attached read and critique membership, while creating a continuing space for my core writing tribe. Here is the backstory for all of these components, that make up my location-free niche business.
First, the niche of writers I serve are fifty-plus years of age, whom have been over-looked by mainstream ‘Writing Programs” because their narratives go far beyond “Memoir.”
Second, I live in a city with a HUGE population of “Active Seniors” who wish to do more than the usual and they have the time, energy, money and interest to keep not only their bodies but minds active.
Having spent two years, talking with them in person at several of their gated “age restricted” communities and via ZOOM, I learned that they were excited to share their life journeys but also anxious to write their legacies.
Hence, the re-opening of my INK DROP SPACE VIRTUAL WRITING RETREAT as a membership, along with the all important INK DROP SPACE SALON Read and Critique membership, for those wishing to hone and polish pieces for publication.
INK DROP SPACE WORDSHOP is for my core writing tribe, because I have ALWAYS provided a virtual space for them to gather- as writers we tend to write in solitude, but we love to share our pieces in community, not only for valuable feedback but for sheer connectivity.
Being of service with my gifts and constantly evolving talents toward my fellow aspiring, and dyed- in- the- wool writers means EVERYTHING to me- it is my love life and very breath I breathe.

Valerie J, 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?

The year I turned fifty I napalmed my ENTIRE life- house job spouse and state, it is also the year I decided to take my writing seriously. I read books, I listened to podcasts, I read newsletters, and I listened to audiobooks ANYTHING and EVERYTHING that had the word “Writing” in its title- I was on it!
For an entire year I did nothing but breathe, walk, read, write, heal from my second divorce and think about what I wanted my “Second Act” to be and feel like.
When I returned to the state that I spent three decades- working, raising children, divorcing, remarrying and divorcing again in, I decided to take a course to become a Life Coach.
I had already been cruising around the “Personal Development” universe for about a decade, and I was a consistent member of a local Read and Critique group, I realized I really loved writers but a lot of them needed major help with their mindset toward themselves and their writing.
My Life Coaching niche was literally a “no-brainer” and so was Independent Publishing, for me writing exactly the way I wanted to meant freedom like I’d previously never known on the page.
When COVID-19 shut the world down, people who normally don’t mind solitude really minded not being able to share their writing in community, so I created INK DROP SPACE VIRTUAL WRITING RETREAT for myself and for my friends- at first.
Fast-forward three years, I have restructured my retreat into a membership space, now I serve my fellow half-centurions who are wildly excited about being catered to for writing their legacies in all kinds of ways, besides memoirs.
I am beyond thrilled and proud to service this niche of aspiring writers, these varied narratives may reside in gated communities but their enthusiasm for learning and giving back knows no bounds.
My “WHY” for creating INK DROP SPACE VIRTUAL WRITING RETREAT has not changed, in fact it has grown even stronger because these fifty-plus individuals have PLENTY to say, and I am ALL IN with providing them with wide open spaces to do just that!
I now sit quite close to sixty, and I couldn’t be happier- I started a company that aligns with my gifts, talents and values of being of service toward my fellow human beings, INK DROP SPACE VIRTUAL WRITING RETREAT is my brand and my brand is me- alive flourishing and completely in love with life!

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

The mission driving my creative journey right now, is that people who are fifty-plus write their legacy! What I mean by this is that, half-centurions like myself have narratives that contain a great deal of wisdom, practical know-how and a lot of humor.
By championing the voices of these individuals who have been overlooked, ignored or just shushed, I’m giving rise to some un-tapped power, that we devalue at our own peril.
My INK DROP SPACE VIRTUAL WRITING RETREAT and its accompanying INK DROP SPACE VIRTUAL SALON Read and Critique memberships, welcomes these aspiring writers with open arms and hats off!

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I can share the “Cliff Notes” of how I had to pivot my life, that turned out to be for the better for several people. Eight years ago when I turned fifty, I burned EVERYTHING in my life to the ground everything was- job, house, spouse, state of residence.
I moved to another house, another time zone and with other people, where I did four things- think, walk, breathe and write- I wrote toward my future, I breathed a sigh of relief for choosing myself, I walked back from a ledge of despair, I thought better of staying there any longer.
Upon returning to my three decades long second hometown, I pivoted my life toward the unfamiliar and unknown world of entrepreneurship, all alone- at first.
I became a student once again- I read a lot, I listened a lot, I talked a lot- if knowledge is power, then I was POWERING UP!
I have come to LOVE pivoting, because it turns me into a student yet again- learning lifts me up and knowledge powers me up.
In the years since that mid-life meltdown, I have pivoted into a flourishing business-person, I have pivoted into being a much better friend, and even pivoting into being a very happy senior citizen!

Contact Info:

• Website: theinkdropspace.com
• Linkedin: Valerie J Runyan@ linkedin.com
• Other: [email protected]