The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Divine Turbulence: Navigating the Amorphous Winds of Life by Gary Lee Price, Bridget Cook-Burch

Episode Date: June 5, 2023

https://amzn.to/3WSkWuW Yourinspiredstory.com In Divine Turbulence, little six-year-old Gary loses his mother and stepfather to murder-suicide on a U.S. Army base in Germany. Shipped back to the States, he’s launched from the frying pan into a fiery den of torture, abuse, and enslavement. Can Gary, a victim of unthinkable evil, become better instead of bitter? The answer places the rising artist and sculptor on a miraculous quest to fulfill Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl's dream with a symbol of responsibility at a time when the world seems to need it most. Gary Lee Price’s memoir proves that even amid tragedy and terror, choices upon choices shape our destinies. A greater call resides within each of us. The only question . . . will we answer it? Written with New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling author Bridget Cook-Burch, this unforgettable story reveals how remarkably the past shapes the present but does not have to dictate the future of any life . . . or that of the planet.

You wanted the best. You've got the best podcast, the hottest podcast in the world. The Chris Voss Show, the preeminent podcast with guests so smart you may experience serious brain bleed. The CEOs, authors, thought leaders, visionaries, and motivators. Get ready, get ready, strap yourself in. Keep your hands, arms, and legs inside the vehicle at all times because you're about to go on a monster education roller coaster with your brain. Now, here's your host, Chris Voss. Hi, folks. It's Voss here from thechrisvossshow.com, thechrisvossshow.com. Welcome to the the big show my family and friends we certainly appreciate you

guys being here thanks for coming to the big circus tent in the sky the giant podcast as it were that encompasses uh pretty much around the world i mean people listen to this darn thing all over the world i don't i don't even know why because half the time do they even understand what i'm saying i i'm i'm waiting for like someone to approach me in public someday and go i lived in mao china and like mao china is not even a city that's an old leader but i just made it up so i'm going with it uh and uh and i learned uh american english because of you and and also because of you i i can't speak it well either uh so anyway guys uh we have an amazing show an amazing author and some of the cool stuff that

she does on the show so we're gonna be talking to her um but until we get to her i want to remind you that the chris fa show turns 14 years in uh august i think it is august or september we're trying to get the date out of uh of when that was exactly there's somewhere it's somewhere it's written down but we're gonna turn 14 years old damn it, we're a goddamn teenager and we're going to act like it. And we're going to get bratty and, and, uh, Henri and say, uh, Hey man, we're putting two to three podcasts out a day. We are like a radio show. We, we just pound out the podcast. We just had the Tom Clancy authors on recently. Uh, there's some other cool, amazing stuff. And we have another amazing author on today. The Brilliance Minds. And they're going to make you smarter

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She is the author. One of the newest books has come out May 31st, 2022. Bridget Cook Birch is on the show with us today. She is a co-author of the book with Gary Lee Price, Divine Turbulence. This sounds like a Jack Ryan movie with, who's that guy, Han Solo? Didn't he do a movie about, was that the presidential one where he's in the plane? Anyway, I'm just joking around. The title of the book is called divine turbulence navigating the amorphous winds of life did i pronounce that right amorphous amorphous amorphous yes divine

turbulence navigating the amorphous winds of life bridget is on the show with us today you can hear in the background they're chiming in about how I mispronounced her book name. And her clients call her the Book Whisperer. There you go. She is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, mentor, humanitarian, and speaker known for riveting stories of transformation. transformation her powerful work has been showcased on oprah dateline netflix discovery plus a and e cnn gma npr and in people among many others now she's on the tcvs show the chris fosh show all the acronyms there there you go go. There you go. As the CEO and founder of Your Inspired Story, she hosts inspired writers retreats, group coaching, executive coaching, and more.

Her greatest passion is helping you discover the importance of your story and to become leaders in your own communities and worldwide. You can find out more at her website at yourinspiredstory.com. Welcome to the show, Bridget. How are you? I'm so good, especially after talking to you. I love your high energy. We have a lot of energy. It's the coffee or it's the cocaine. It's not sure. No, don't do cocaine, folks. That's a joke. We don't do drugs in the Chris Foss show. We just do really higher power coffee. We should get a plug-in for your Inspired Retreat. You want to give that.com out?

Sure. It's just simple, inspiredwritersretreat.com. And do you have any other place you want people to find you on the interwebages in the sky? Just that, yourinspiredstory.com is the perfect place. It encompasses just about everything you would want to know. There you go. So welcome to the show, Bridget. You've actually been here for a while, but I thought I'd throw that in there.

You've written quite a few books, actually, haven't you? I have. Stories of Transformation, all true stories at this point, although I'm working on a little fictional series in all my spare time. But I have loved writing stories of transformation. So former skinhead who changed his life. Now he teaches kids to stay out of gangs. The daughter of a serial killer and how she overcame that skeleton in her closet.

The 19th wife of 65 women. That book is called The Witness Were Red. And it's about Rebecca Musser, who was able to put warren jeffs behind bars for life for 20 years and then divine turbulence wow okay there's a there's a lot to go there uh the the 19th wife of what was it 19th wife of 65 holy crap well good for preventing that dude away i've i i when i was in was in Utah, it was before his time, and I think I knew it wasn't the Allreds. Well, it was the Allreds and then his family, and he was the son,

and I think we knew the father through construction and stuff. Anyway, this is pretty awesome. So we're going to be talking about the book today, Divine Turbulence, Navigating the Amorphous Winds of Life. Talk to us about what was the motivation behind this book? Well, it was fascinating, actually. Gary and his wife, Lisa, came to my Inspired Writers Retreat. And Lisa, his wife, has an incredible book. And yet, as the weekend progressed, we realized Gary had such an extraordinary book and something that needed to be told to American society and actually worldwide society right now.

It took us a few years to create it and draft it and really make it good and COVID, you know, all of that. But it's really wonderful because it's about no matter what you've been through that you have the power to reach down and to lift another person and in this culture that we've had lately where people just destroy one another it is so refreshing to have some beautiful accountability and responsibility for our own lives and then you you know, to, to be our brother's keeper. So that was the impetus when I heard that story, he comes from a lot of, um, well, you know, you've read about it, but he comes from murder suicide mother and stepfather in Mannheim, Germany on an army base.

And then was sent back to Montpelier, Idaho from the frying pan into this like fiery den of torment and abuse. And no one knew because the adults were all working at night. And so he had to survive some pretty intense torture for quite some time. And then he had his own liberation day, his own emancipation, and he had to decide what he was going to do for the rest of his life. So he found God, and he also found art, and it became his savings grace. It's really awesome. Wow.

Now, how old was he when the, his parents had a murder-suicide? This is kind of, I've got to put my head around this. He was six years old. Wow. He was a young kid, and, you know, had a little baby brother, and all of a sudden they were bereft,

came back to live with with parents in Montpelier and Ketchum Idaho and they were half half siblings so then they were separated and there's a whole incredible saga with that too that has to do with responsibility because you know what do you tell what do you tell if you're a grandparent what do you tell your grandchild that happened to your mother and father when there was a murder suicide and so they did the best they could but they told something that was not the truth so the two brothers meet later in life and they've got two different origin stories holy crap this is like one of those movies or something maybe it should be a movie yeah so does he know that i mean i i don't want to give away parts of the book if you want to, you know, make them teasers to, you know, people that go by the book that got to read it.

But does he know that at the time when he's six that what's taken place? Actually, it happened in front of Gary when he was sick. But his baby brother didn't, you know, didn't witness any of it and was too young. So he just took that whole story hook, line and sinker until he was an adult. Wow. Yeah. I mean, what a thing to have to find out later, you know, you got to explain to somebody else who, uh, who didn't know. Um, so.

And very even, sorry to interrupt. He, he even, um, asked the military for a a police report because he's like, am I crazy? Did I remember this right? I was young. Did I remember this wrong or differently? And the police report not only verified, but gave them more details, you know, to understand, but still was heartbreaking for his brother. But then he goes to, I think you said Idaho, right? Mm-hmm. And is he being adopted, I think you said Idaho, right?

And is he being adopted at that point? Is he going through? His mom's first husband is the one who took him in. Okay. Yeah. And just showed up as a beautiful father to him, but he worked nights and he had remarried and his wife had a son. that that half-brother of Gary's turned out to be his nemesis Wow situation so torture and abuse and

enslavement and and so he suffers through this and uh out of it he he when does he when does he break through when does he find uh you know that the uh uh getting out and rebuilding you know what what semblance of a life you can yeah well at first um you know he didn't know what to do and he just had to go along with the abuse but his brother was seven years older than him and he actually ended up getting married right out of high school and left home and all of a sudden after all these years of abuse Gary was free Wow and it was for high school for him was this time like Who am I what am I all about his whole life had been relegated since his mother's death, you know? And then all of a sudden he's like getting to explore and decide and ask questions about God, ask questions about life.

And he had some teachers that saved his life because he was suicidal even in third grade. But there were incredible teachers at A.J. Winter's elementary School and then other teachers that believed in his art when he was in high school. And he became regionally very famous for his painting. And then when he found clay and was able to start to put the worlds in his mind into something three-dimensional, it's just magic. Like his work is in the hong kong library outside the vatican and multiple churches cemeteries arboretums space the space um museums all kinds of things it's wonderful wow and so he basically turned all i mean just a very dark uh beginning of his life and it's something beautiful that he can share with other people that they can also be inspired by the beauty. Absolutely. And, you know, his very true story

has ups and downs as the best ones always do. What we call the trifail cycle, where you're trying to overcome something and then you have, you know, some lessons to learn until you finally can rise. But his, wow, you know, just the parallels to Viktor Frankl's story and some of the most important lessons that any of us can learn during this lifetime of how to take responsibility for our own lives. It's really quite incredible. Yeah. I'm looking at some of his sculptures on his website, and these are amazing.

This is a beautiful one i think of ben franklin or maybe george washington maybe no well i know he has a ben he probably has a george washington too but i know he has a bench with benjamin franklin yeah that's benjamin franklin okay yeah i'm pretty good see i flunked second grade but i still uh yeah look too chris can i can i share with you he found out that um less than 20 percent of the united states outdoor statues contained women so all on his own he created a woman series so he's got like mother theresa and harriet tubman and jean d'arc and several other really amazing women that he created these large life-size sculptures for so he's he's quite

a contributor if that makes sense there you go well this is amazing you know i when i was a child uh there was a guy who lived on our street who was a sculptor and uh my parents were ultra religious ultra cult ultra religious i have my own scars from childhood. Can you tell? And everyone's like, yeah, we've seen him. But he had issues with nudity and different things like that. And so I would go mow his lawn. I think he paid us to mow his lawn or something.

And he had this expansive, spacious yard. It was Southern California. yard it was it was southern california and it was just this art it was when you walk in this yard you go an artist owns this home like i don't know what he does but an artist owns this home that the home was like it was just beautiful and so uh we used to play through his whole yard it was like an adventure but he would he would take us into his studio and we we get to you know he talked to us about sculpting and and uh and and he would show us like the artwork he did and it was beautiful and you know a lot of a lot of his stuff were nudes but he would he would talk to us and teach

us about how you know we'd be like oh that's bad you know our parents said that's bad and he'd be like no the the the frame of the woman is beautiful you know this is you know it was kind of like uh getting taught early then by uh you know uh whoever uh whoever sculpted the david this you know the david sculpture and things and he talked to us about the beauty of of you know uh of of uh the human body and the shape of it and and and life and and stuff like that and so we were just, we got a whole different perspective of him looking at the sculptures that he would do and kind of get an appreciation for art. He kind of taught us that appreciation for artists, kids, and, uh, and, and a different side, of course, of what we were being brainwashed with.

And so, uh, that really helped us. It really helped us a lot because we were getting told some interesting things from the cold. Yeah, it was a fascinating story how an artist was able to help you to expand your perspective of life. It did. Yeah, because we were told, hey, naked people are dirty. It's dirty to see people naked. It's bad. And he taught us how the frame of humanity is beautiful.

And I don't know if he influenced any sort of upper frame in us. I don't remember much. But I remember looking at the things, and he would show us how he would work with the clay and all this stuff. So this is really beautiful. And an inspiring story, I think, probably in much of a way where he can help people see his journey and learn from his story. Definitely. We talked in your bio about how one of the things you help people do is tell their stories. Why are stories important to people in your words?

Oh, my goodness. And, well, I have seen through my 20 years of working expressly with story how words and stories can change the world and how they do. And, you know, even, you know, we've been talking about these last years where sometimes people will tell stories and they tear each other down. But through centuries, we had stories that helped build each other up. We had stories that helped define roles and understanding of things. And now as we're in a much more free culture, we have the ability to tell really powerful stories. And the most powerful storytellers are the ones who are changing the world. So, you know, Bill Gates, he had talked about how he was a lousy, he was a great businessman and inventor, but a lousy in certain things until he learned how to tell story. And then all of a sudden,

his whole career took off. And there's several people, I love this quote by Harold Goddard, who says, the destiny of the world is determined less by the battles lost and won than by the stories it loves and believes in. And so for each individual, we have stories we love and believe in, but sometimes they're stories of limitation. Sometimes they're stories of great victory and possibility. And so I love to bring those out, to be real and raw and authentic about the lows that every human experiences, but then also to take readers equally high. And when people have an opportunity to see that in themselves, it is really powerful. I was with one of my clients this morning. He's like, I am finally seeing the worth of my soul and my story because I took the time to be reflective and write

my past. And I got chills all up and down because I was like, right? And he's doing this in his early 40s. And most people won't even try to dig into this until they're 60 or 70, but there's so much power at whatever age we come to, to be reflective and to recognize, wow, I have been on my own heroes or she was journey. And I have come back from different cycles with beautiful gifts to share with the world. And it is worth celebrating.

There you go. The hero's journey. I was going to talk about that. It's a common narrative archetype or story template that involves a hero goes on adventure, learns a lesson, wins a victory with newfound knowledge, and then returns home transformed. You know, we love these stories of the hero's journey.

We love these stories of the phoenix, the rising from the ashes, the going through, you know, trials and tribulations. I don't know anybody in life who goes through a perfect run of life. I think I tried to to expose that to my young niece and nephew when they were graduating high school that the stuff's going to happen you you think kind of when you're young you're like i'm gonna do things perfect and and it's going to be a perfect run and there's not going to be any rain on my parade well you're in for you're in for surprise um and and these are the stories that really inspire us.

We often talk on this story, my audience is probably, he's going to do it again, where stories are kind of the owner's manual of life. And that's how we learn from each other about life, you know, and they're the history telling, they're the griots of life. And that's how we learn. But it's also how we keep, you know, I don't talk about this much often. You know, hope springs eternal. And a lot of times we need that hope in life. You know, we need those stories in life because sometimes that helps us realize we're not alone. And it helps us get through the journey. And we need that bump in life

you know my my way of keeping hope eternal is i is if i got depressed i sit down and watch cops for two hours then when i got done i'd be like hey you know my life's pretty freaking awesome i'm not getting arrested today you know maybe tomorrow but uh i'm not getting arrested today i'm not the guy in the wife beater on the couch who takes his shirt off and gets in a fight with the cops. My life is doing really good. There you go. There you go. I still live in a trailer home, but that's another story.

But, you know, I watch cops and I'm just like, wow, I feel really good about myself right now. But no, Hero's Journey is just so awesome. And so you help people shape and tell their stories with what you do in working through your company, right? Yes, absolutely. And just because most people have a tendency to play small. You know, we've been taught, you know, don't poke your head up. Don't have a big head. Don't do these things. But if you do really epic storytelling, you're not only vulnerable about the lows of your life, but then you also are going to give yourself credit for the epic rises too.

And that's what people need to know because when they open a book, they're looking to go into another world, to be transformed by that character, to understand what it might take to find the hero or shero inside of them. And so, you know, if you do the little squeaky thing, like, oh, I don't want to make it sound like I'm too great. But I also don't want to show any of that, you know, skeletons in my closet. And then there's just a flat story. But when there is that deep level of beautiful vulnerability that makes each human understand one another, because our situations are different. Like I write a lot of extreme stories, obviously. But somewhere in that pendulum of humanity, we can find ourselves and understand that author.

But then also when they rise, just go, wow. If she can overcome being the 19th wife of 65 women, and she can go on to testify more than 20 times in a court of law. And she can, you know, wear red every time because Warren had outlawed the color red. And here she comes sashaying in and a little bit of red. And the last time she saw Warren, he said to her, I will break you and I will train you to be a good wife. Well, now she comes back in sashaying in that forbidden red and it's her way of saying you did not break me. And there's just so many elements that we all have in our own story. So I teach the epic storytelling. I teach the best-selling.

And it doesn't mean that you stray any strand from the truth. It's about letting your own light shine to such a glorious degree that it actually can assist other people on their journey. Yeah. Do you find that most people are kind of dismissive? Like they're like, I don't know, I had some things happen. I didn't be inspired by them. Do you find that people are kind of that way about some of their stories? Yes, especially in public and in groups.

Privately, nine out of ten Americans think that they have a story that would be worth publishing. It's just less than 3% get it done. So we're about, hey, take a step in the courageous. That's what we do in the inspired register treat it's like let's come and be courageous and really explore this all the way to the other side and then see you know who actually would really want to hear your story listen to your story be inspired by you it's actually humanity is you know everyone has a certain segment of the population that they can reach and we you know we want to we population that they can reach. And we want

everyone to buy our book, right? We want to be New York Times bestseller, have millions of copies sold. I go door to door. There you go. I can see that, Chris. I can see that. That's a good idea. When we narrow it down to who can I serve with this story, it becomes really personal. That's where I've seen the miracles happen. That's how Oprah happened. That's how Dateline happened. That's how, you know,

one woman was able to help, you know, disperse an organized crime unit in the name of God. Right. Where they were trafficking young girls. It's like just choosing, choosing to show up and to be of service to, to do something better for humanity. It's like just choosing to show up and to be of service, to do something better for humanity. There you go.

It's cool. What's the old line? I think it's from Shakespeare. We're all players on the stage. We're all actors and players in the stage, the world stage, and we inspire each other. Something along those lines. I clearly functioned.

We are merely players. The whole world is a stage, and we are merely players the whole world is a stage and we are merely players there you go uh so you know i i i we have so many great authors in the show uh are you listening to the show people it's two or three shows a day gotta get my kind of get the guilt trip in there um but uh i remember i had one uh author on the show and she talked about how, I think I asked her, you know, how do you, how do you break through, you know, writing and writer's block and things of that nature? And she says, you know, sometimes I used to have problems writing or what I was going to write about or getting motivated to write or writer's block. And she said, one time I was at

a book signing and this gal came up to me and she told me a story about how she had been in prison. And they had my book in prison. And it was a women's prison, of course. And they had all started reading the book and doing group readings of it. And they were using it to inspire themselves and make themselves better and try and better their life. You know, for whatever whatever put him into prison they're like hey you know we should probably you know not not do this again and come back here again let's let's all go make better lives and and so she told this story and she was blown away and she didn't know that you know there were there were people in prison that were using their their stories to

inspire them and so she says she keeps now a picture of of this lady who uh it and it's a picture of her in a yellow jumpsuit or orange jumpsuit from prison and she keeps that picture on her desk so that when she's ever in you know needs some motivation or inspired to write she writes and i remember when i was in editing in my book and i was at the point where i was ready to throw out the window right there's There's always that thing. And all my writing friends are like, dude, dude, when you're ready to throw out the window, burn it and just go do something else. You're, you're almost there just to push through. I'm like, fuck you people. And, uh, and one of my friends in, uh, in England, she says, Hey man, I want to talk to you and i go okay what and she goes she

goes listen there's somebody who needs your damn book man there's somebody who needs it you don't know who that person is you're probably never going to meet them but they need this book they need whatever the message whatever the story that's in there they need this and you're probably never going to meet them you're probably not going to know but you're going to touch them and you're going to move them and you're going to change their life and they need your book so you got to get this thing written and i was like all right well okay cool let's do this um and so those are two great stories i think that that really were amazing and uh i think that's wonderful and i'm glad that they you know you were three feet from gold you've heard that before but they didn't let you give up have you heard that um winston churchill quote on writing a book no what oh my gosh you're gonna

love this because you'll you'll you reflect that but he says writing a book is an adventure to begin with then it is a toy and an amusement but then it becomes a mistress then it becomes a master and then a tyrant and the last phase is just as you were about to be reconciled to your servitude you kill the monster and fling him to the public my whole journey through editing yeah I don't I don't ever tell people that when they're first starting but the people who are in the editing phase and it's like just keep on keeping on because this is where the rubber meets

the road this is where you get it out to where it makes a difference the editing was the hardest part but yeah just getting through it and I finally right before publishing I reached the cathartic moment where I just said I was you know I've been telling my stupid stories like agree up verbally forever finally right before publishing i reached the cathartic moment where i just said i was i was

happy you know i've been telling my stupid stories like agree up verbally forever and people like he's going to tell the same story again um you know people listen to the podcast know this and uh uh it was so nice to be able to get the book written because i don't have to tell the stories anymore in fact it's funny i don't i don't ever tell the stories i'm like just go read the fucking book and uh and uh so so i got to the end and it was like one or two days before publish date and i was like oh you know i'm gonna buy this book and i reached a point where i just had a cathartic moment i said you know what i don't give a damn if anybody buys this book i don't give a damn if anybody reads it i wrote my. I finally got this thing done after 10 years. The problem with myself, I get it done.

These are my stories. I have memorialized my life in, I don't know, however long Amazon's going to be in business printing that stupid thing after I die. But I did it.

I crossed the mountaintop. I beat the dragon. I won. It's going to be published. I don't care if anybody reads it. I just don't. I don't even care. I'm not even going to sleep over it.

If people want to write a horrible criticism about it, I do not care because I wrote it. And all this shit in my life, a part of my life is moralized forever. So screw it. I guess a couple people like this. There's that. Let's talk about your retreat that you do. It looks like you have it coming up in October 5th through the 8th in 2023. Yes, at this beautiful place right on the Utah-Idaho border called Bear Lake.

Yeah, beautiful lake. Is it still naturally blue? Yes, that gorgeous turquoise blue. It's crazy. It's crazy. And so how long have you been doing the retreat there or anywhere? I've been doing retreats for about 10 years. Wow.

And up at Bear Lake for about six. It's just such an idyllic setting and very inspirational. It's people let down their walls faster and their joy up faster whenever it's a natural setting. So I love to do that. There you go. And so what do people do on their retreat? How does it work? Well whenever it's a natural setting. So I love to do that. There you go. And so what do people do on their tree? How does it work? Well, it's pretty intensive.

It's three and a half days and three nights. And so food and lodging and incredible food, by the way, is all included. So everybody gets to hang out together, but there's plenty of space to write and to go out and do things. We do a lot of experiential learning so learning you're going to take with you for the whole rest of your life so if you're in a classroom on a scale of one to ten you usually will retain about two if you do experiential exercises it's closer to like five six seven if you write about it then you're that 10 or 11 and i love to hit master 11 whenever I can.

So it changes people's writing because all of a sudden they're like, oh, you know, my reader cannot see or hear or taste or smell or feel anything until I put it on the page. And it just it comes home. And so we do a lot of that. We help break through imposter syndrome and the three greatest fears that that most people have in writing completing and then also being visible in the launch of their book so we work through those things they have time to write and um a lot of immersive things as i was saying a lot of uh intensive instruction too like we have a full day on the business of your book because as a businesswoman you know I don't have time to mess around with stuff I want to know the best ways for me as an individual to publish to get things out

and so I I give people like here's what's happening in publishing so whether you're traditional publishing and here's large medium small if you're gonna self publish you need to know these things if you-publish you need to know these things if you want to indie publish you need to know these things and then what's wonderful is i get pros and cons of all of them because they all have them pros and cons and so oh and we um recently introduced our own inspired legacy publishing uh imprint and that has been taking off like wildfire so i really love that so i have some clients with books in New York. I have some who are like, I'm going to be speaking on a stage in four months and I want

to have a book. And so we work with them to get their books out. And, you know, some people may have said to you, you know, well, she doesn't do the expensive business cards. And that's true. I don't believe in just having an expensive business card like you you fill age yourself like a fish Chris out on paper for everyone to read right it might as well be something that could create such an impact that 50 years from now it's still inspiring

people there you go that's what I believe in creating something that leaves a legacy and so we have so much fun at those retreats. And it's really cool because we, like this last one that was in May, we had people from Saskatchewan, Canada, from Michigan, from Florida, from Texas, from Colorado, from Washington, all, and Utah, all came together in one place. And now they're like this tight and they're texting each other and they're, you know, how's your writing coming this week? And they're talking to one another.

It's really beautiful. That's one thing that helps writers is, uh, have an accountability, uh, group too. Yeah, it really does.

Cause oftentimes it's a solitary thing we're doing, you know, squirreled away at home or wherever on our laptop. And then to have someone to say, Hey, can I run this by you? Hey, how are you doing? You know, did you get your chapters done this week? home or wherever on our laptop and then to have someone to say hey can i run this by you hey how are you doing you know did you get your chapters done this week and accountability is great yeah

and then they hit you if you don't like a like one of those catholic nuns right there's no hitting people no um no hitting no yep yep yep uh The location looks idyllic. It's beautiful. It's got an overflow. I mean, if you can't get inspired at this place, and then it's overlooking Bear Lake. You can't get inspired here. And the food is excellent. I'm looking at some of the food.

Do you bring in a chef for that and stuff? Oh, we do. We always have two on staff. And so if you have gluten-free needs or whatever you might be and it's it's very healthy fair but there's also comfort food like they made the most delicious chocolate cake at the last one that i was orgasmic right it was just that good and everybody else is like their eyes are glazing over i'm like oh they're loving this too so the reward at the end of the day for a lot of of you know. And we have prizes and other things when people stretch.

Because you're writing a book, you're stretching. And different things are stretches for different people. And so when we have one great big lovely grand prize that has to do with story and storytelling. So it's just really fun, amazing. It's usually called life transforming and book changing like people just love it it doesn't matter if you're just starting or if you're three quarters or 90 all the way through the process there is something there for all writers to learn there you go three and a half days and three nights it'll be coming up on october 5th through the 8th 2023 you can do

that and of course if you're watching the videos 10 years from now, you can probably catch whatever is going on there. I'll be doing this forever. There you go. There you go. Just check our website at inspiredwritersretreat.com. You know, it's funny, people. We had to quit putting the price on reviews and different things.

And that's why we quote the dates on books because people write us and be like five years from now and they'll be like that book didn't come out this year and it's like five years old it's ten cents on Amazon now and you're like dude seriously look at the day of the video so we have to make those

disclosures because it's crazy what people put in comments on YouTube. So this is really great. Anything more you want to tease out about what you do and how you do it? The only thing that I would say is that if you go to look on the Internet how to write my book, whether fiction or nonfiction, I'm particularly good at nonfiction, but we also have fictional authors that come to our retreat and get a lot out of it. And also in our executive sessions. What I will say is that

I'm not one, I have a lot of systems, but there is not one formula. There's not one size fits all. And so, you know, whether you go to me or you go to someone else always make sure that number one your voice is what is honored at the end of the day your ideas your word selections you know other things people can give you all kinds of beautiful advice but at the end of the day you want it to be your story there's nothing more heartbreaking than getting editing or ghostwriting or anything else and you're not in your own book. So number one, just own your voice. And number two is to enjoy the journey because book writing is a journey. It's not something that happens overnight. And if it did, you know, you either downloaded it and God bless you. I think that's

awesome. Or it came quick and now the time for the magic is in the rewrite. And a lot of really good authors will rewrite their book five, six, seven, 12 times until it is beautiful and magnificent piece of art and something that truly can do something. So get someone who's going to honor your process. process and if you know like gary if you if you come from a background where you have intensive amounts of healing to do then write for yourself first forget about writing to the world write for yourself first because you'll have more compassion and understanding and you'll like you better now it's a very cool process and then when you go to write the second draft and the third draft, then in that magical rewrite, you already know what you have to say now. Now direct it to your avatar, that one person that you could have an intimate conversation with that will truly benefit from what you have to

offer. That's how you reach millions, is that depth of intimacy. And reach yourself as well, like as you just said. I mean, sometimes you learn, you know, I'm 55, and you live a life where you start forgetting stuff. You're like, you know, you forget some of your accomplishments, you get some of the things you did, some of the lessons you made, some of the mistakes you can share, and then you sit down and you go, what happened? And, you know, you start finding stuff and you're like, Hey, that, that was actually, I'm really not that horrible person.

I'm actually, I am, but don't worry about that. Uh, let's put that aside for now. Um, but humor, I hope that's all throughout your book. Yeah, we do. We try. Uh, and, but you know, it's, it's the thing where, um, you know, people, people, uh, you, you, you get to know yourself better and it's, it's almost a healing journey. I mean, I've written most of my life, but not written in book format. And if I could go back, I probably would write more in book format. I mostly run on Facebook and people like, shut up, you're stupid. Uh, but that's Facebook. But, um, you know, being able to write and talk about things and put your things down.

I mean, a lot of successful people journal, and so that's kind of their writing. And so, you know, kind of helping you work through cathartic moments and stuff. And then what's great is you go back and you look at some of the stuff you wrote, and you're like, I was a real idiot 10 years ago. And you're like, thank god I learned that lesson thank god I learned and then they write some more stupid crap on Facebook anyway it's been wonderful to have you on the show

Bridget give us your dot coms wherever you want people to look you up on the interwebs please sure so for my retreat it's inspiredwritersretreat.com and my main website is yourinspiredstory yourinspiredstory.com and find me on Facebook dot com and my main website is your inspired story your inspired story dot com and find me on Facebook

find me on Instagram known as the book whisperer love to see you on there the book you should be the book screamer maybe that'd be better you could be the book screamer hey if I was the screamer then you wouldn't have your voice right I just whisper loving things

sometimes corrective. Right. I don't know. You could be one of those yelling coaches. Kind of like, who's that comedian, Sam Kinison? You could be like Sam Kinison where you just scream at people. Write your book, damn it! I don't know.

I'll be the accountability. So here's good cop, right? Good cop and bad cop. Here's bad cop. Get your book done. The whole head goes around. Oh, my husband will tell you that happens all the time. We're good. Well, there you go.

So order up the book, folks. Wherever fine books are sold. Divine Turbulence, Navigating the Amherst Winds of Life by Gary Lee Price. Bridget Cook Birch as well. Thank you very much, Bridget Cook-Birch as well. Thank you very much, Bridget, for being on the show. We really appreciate it. It's been a pleasure, Chris. Thank you so much. There you go. And thanks for tuning in.

Be sure to go to goodreads.com, Fortress Chris Voss, youtube.com, Fortress Chris Voss, linkedin.com, Fortress Chris Voss. Subscribe to the big LinkedIn newsletter and the big 130,000 LinkedIn group over there and follow us on TikTok Because we're trying to be cool And I don't know the kids over there

Are like who's this old dude Anyway thanks for tuning in be good to each other Stay safe and we'll see you guys next time And that should have us out