Summoned to the Mighty Summit

In the middle of September, I went to the Mighty Summit, which is best described as a networking and empowerment get-together conducted over wine tasting, campfiring, and hot-tubbing in the Russian River Valley, hosted by two of the biggest creative forces on the internet, Maggie Mason and Laura Mayes, - AKA @maggie & @lmayes.

I have to admit that I was wary about attending, and I found out many of my fellow summiteers also felt this way. 

As a theater geek and freelance writer, I rarely get invited to conferences and usually try to get out of them if at all possible. I am comfortable in late-night rehearsals in musty theaters. So going somewhere new - with mostly new people - actually seems kind of scary. And weirdly, even though I knew it was going to be all women, I still thought there would still be insurance salesmen and hookers and poorly mixed drinks and I would have to make small talk about how we make small talk. But I was off by a long shot of tequila.

There were a lot of dynamic women there, each with their own vulnerabilities and specialities. The women who looked like they had the amazing jobs wanted out. The women who were doing what they wanted wanted to be paid, or paid better, for it. The women who wanted to be further along were trying to figure out how to get there and define what that meant to them. And there were some women who felt they had already achieved more than they would have possibly imagined, which often lead to feelings of guilt, or embarrassment.  One woman’s perfect place was another woman’s jumping off spot, and one woman’s jumping off spot sounded enviable to those who had already experienced what it meant to leap into the great unknown known as quarter-life or mid-life growing pains (AKA making career, family, artistic, and balance decisions.)


During our perfectly planned weekend, we visited Moshin Vineyard in Healdsburg, California. While our guide explained to us about how his particular vineyard operated, I picked up on two important facts:

• Good wine can’t be made with lousy grapes.
• The practice of biodynamics wine making is young.

Good wine can’t be made with lousy grapes. The metaphor is all but spelled out there, isn’t it, Folks? I mean, I couldn’t help but think that I was surrounded by all of these striving women, who wanted good and better for themselves and would not accept the lousy, sour grapes of life. I know this is laying it on a bit thick, but pour yourself a glass of Pinot Noir and just enjoy it.


(Seriously, I was surrounded by survivors of death, divorce, business downturns, botched adoptions, dented minivans, and unsatisfied passions who all were embracing learning, sharing, and truckloads of laughter as a way of life. It wasn’t all hugging and crying on each other’s shoulders. There were no trust falls or damp tissues, though we did spontaneously build a pyramid in front of a Redwood tree.)


These women had goal lists, AKA life lists. But what I came to realize was that it wasn’t a matter of talent or education or connections to get these goals crossed off their lists, it was just a matter of time. And this leads me to biodynamics.

Biodynamics, as defined by our guide, is a relatively new practice. The Moshin Vineyard operates without pesticides or toxic chemicals as much as possible, which means spending a lot of time developing procedures that work for the benefit of their wine production. When the vineyard needed to find a way to fertilize their grapes, they turned to thistle, which isn’t a new practice. Wrapping thistle in sheep’s stomachs so that it would turn into a black goo to spread along the soil is new, and something they figured out to do...over twenty years of experimentation. The Moshin Vineyard wasn’t financed by a bank initially, it was financed by our guide and his wife...over twenty years of coming up with budgets and raising money themselves, until the banks saw that he had invested enough of his own time and money into his passion. The banks believed him, and let him borrow what he needed, after he spent time nurturing his passion. When our guide said that biodynamics was only twenty years old, I thought about the bloggers-entrepreneurs-writers-artists-lawyers-designers-photographers standing with me. We were also a new species with new techniques. We were also willing to experiment and figure out how our lives could grow and prosper the most for ourselves, our closest inner circles, and our audiences. We just needed time to figure out how to do it.

My biggest lesson-slash-question that came from the Mighty Summit was how do we, and how do I, use my time? How can I use it better? How can I make a difference and do the things I want to do? And if I had not had taken the time to go to the Mighty Summit, I might not have given myself the time to think about the importance of time. This is, and was, a true awakening and gift to me.

My birthday is right around the corner. I write all of this because I, too feel like I’m running out of time. I want to have my “creative life” in place, because I am scared to death of losing my creative life. I want a guarantee that I can have it 60 years from now. But a lot can happen between now and then and I’m not being very creative if I’m trying to control every single minute of it. It’s hard for me to take my foot of the ambition accelerator, but I’m going to have to lift it up if I don’t want to crash. I’ve been fighting what my creative life is and how it moves. It ebbs and flows, and has great moments of productivity and terrific sleepy stops. It’s time to stop fighting the openness of living a creative life, to  stop being scared of time feeling like it’s getting faster, because time happens, it’s happening right now, whether I’m ready for it or not.


I am reminded by the Mighty Summit that there are women older than me doing what they want, not worried about time, and women younger than me, worried constantly about time, and that somehow, I am in very good company watching my watch and clocking my days writing and creating.


Here’s a few more facts and ideas I learned this weekend that sparked my creativity and laughter and general weirdness:

• The dead don’t have privacy rights.
• Sometimes it’s better to elope.
• It’s okay to go off the grid.
• You can eat the rind off any cheese as long as you like it.
• A burnt marshmallow is different than a toasted marshmallow.
• Leave tiny tokens & gifts at unexpected times. They bring instant joy.
• Australia may not be all it’s cracked up to be, but I want to go there anyway.
• Women still want to wear tutus, they just do it in black with cowboy boots.
• Mothers also want to be non-mothers sometimes.
• Women want to build empires.
• I like wines with malolactic fermenatation, which translates to buttery and less acidic.
• Listening openly and closely to the story of a new person in your life will broaden your own life.
• I am not running out of time if I’m enjoying what I do with my time.

The Mighty Summit weekend was a parenthesis in my life and it reminded me to stay present and learn and be open to what others could teach me. I really forgot about time. When the weekend ended, I was surprised. It moved very fast and joyfully slow, like when I’m absorbed in a great play. Time can be tricky that way.

Thank you, Maggie, and thank you, Laura. 
And if you want to read more about other attendee's Mighty Summit experiences, go here:

Mighty Summit 1 - Maggie!

Mighty Summit 2 - Maggie!

Mighty Summit 3 - Victoria!

Mighty Summit 4 - Sarah!

Mighty Summit 5 - Stacey!
Mighty Summit 6 - Pamie!

And now, let us all go to bed (not together.) Good night.