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The Writer's Retreat of San Buenas: John

2/28/2017

by Will Viharo

You probably recognize the face if not the name of veteran actor John Kapelos. He’s starred in so many iconic films and television shows, from The Breakfast Club (Carl the janitor) to Seinfeld (Jerry’s “sniffing accountant”), that you’d think he’d have no need to attend my humble workshops at The Writer’s Retreat of San Buenas down in Costa Rica.

What could I teach him?

Well, it was a symbiotic relationship. We learned from each other. That’s what retreats are for, at least ideally.

Meet the real John Kapelos. I did, and it was a refreshing, revelatory experience I will always cherish.

6 Best Tools for Successful Facebook Marketing

2/27/2017

by Ben Russel, Guest Contributor

Social media is one of the largest marketing and advertisement tools currently in use. Not only does it expose your business to millions of people around the world, but also gives you an opportunity to interact with your customer at a personalized level. In recent years Facebook has become a major advertisement platform. It has one of the largest numbers of users in the world and thus a very broad reach. However, posting something about your business or brand does not necessarily mean that you have nailed it at advertising. It requires strategy and proper execution to ensure that you reap full benefits of putting your business on Facebook. That said, there have been several tools that can be manipulated to offer you the best results from advertising on Facebook and other social media platforms.

The Writer's Retreat of San Buenas: Dustin

2/23/2017

by Will Viharo

Never judge a book by its cover, they say, whoever they are. Of course, these days, creating a seductive cover for your book is a must from a marketing standpoint.

But from both a humanistic and creative point of view, dismissing either a stranger or strange experience out of hand with a presumptive summation based purely on superficial attributes will backfire on the beholder. It will also limit and even damage your scope as an author.

Southern gentleman Dustin Thompson, one of my pupils at the Writer’s Retreat of San Buenas, both taught and learned this lesson down Costa Rica way…

The Writer's Retreat of San Buenas: Zach

2/21/2017

by Will Viharo

Last month I took a trip I never remotely anticipated to Costa Rica, instructing at the first Writer’s Retreat of San Buenas. I was honored and flattered, but didn’t expect much practical benefit for myself, frankly.

I was wrong, of course. On at least a personal level, it was a revelation. And that’s primarily due to the people I met, much more than the beautiful scenery and fantastic food.

Case in point: young San Francisco poet Zach Roz…

How To Overcome The Ad Blocker

2/20/2017

By Ben Allen, Guest Contributor

The internet is full of different websites that get their revenue through different sources. Some sites sell products, while others get their money from ads. This includes nearly every news site, and includes plenty of other content providers.

A problem though, is that people are sick of ads. Advertisements have flooded the world and are becoming a constant interruption in our lives. So it’s no wonder that people are looking for ways to avoid ads, like recording a program and fast forwarding through ads, paying for a premium service to avoid ads, and installing an ad blocker on their web browser.

Digital Tools Help Us (When We Let Them)

2/16/2017

by Mary C Long

Technology improves our lives and jobs in numerous ways, yet some organizations still resist change and are wary of adopting new technology.

While it makes sense to carefully consider any new investment, embracing the three technological disruptions below will make things easier inside your organization — and will help you keep pace with forward-thinking competitors.

The Writer's Retreat of San Buenas: Ray

2/16/2017

by Will Viharo

Sometimes we think we know it all, have read all the books we need to read, have travelled everywhere we need to go, have met all the people we need to meet.

That’s exactly when you stop growing as both a writer and a person. This often lonely literary lifestyle of ours is an ongoing odyssey that takes you to unexpected places, doing surprising things, and engaging us with strangers that enrich both our common experiences and our common humanity.

Meet Ray Aguilera, a career journalist whose talent and wit have been honed over a challenging lifetime, so he needed little refinement from me. But just by making the trip, he finally found a forgotten part of himself in Costa Rica…

The Writer's Retreat of San Buenas: Tom

2/14/2017

by Will Viharo

Writers, like human beings, are a varied bunch. We come in all shapes, sizes and sensibilities, with varying backgrounds. That’s what makes books, and life, so interesting – and relatable.

During my recent stint as an instructor at a writer’s retreat in Costa Rica, I had the honor of meeting several strangers that have since become my friends, bonded not so much by common experiences, but by our love for writing. And life itself.

Meet Tom Shaw, a career musician who rediscovered his literary craft, and so much more…

The Writer's Retreat of San Buenas: Michelle

2/9/2017

by Will Viharo

During my recent trip to Costa Rica where I was hosting writing workshops, I led a dinnertime discussion where all my pupils shared their personal journeys as authors.

One of the people that happened to be sitting at the restaurant table with us was a councilman from San Isidro. After we all finished sharing, he chimed in and told us our stories reminded him a lot of his wife, also an aspiring author.

It’s this kind of serendipity that I hope will resonate with readers of this blog. Here’s the story of Michelle Halverson…

Top 8 Live Chat Software Systems of 2017

2/8/2017

by Jason Grills, Guest Contributor

It’s no wonder that live chat solutions increase sales while cutting down expenses – being of great convenience for customers and agents alike, helpdesk automation proactively taps into customer pain points, thus ensuring a competitive edge. In fact, “44% of online consumers say that having questions answered by a live person while in the middle of an online purchase is one of the most important features a website can offer.”