We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Paige Loehr Author. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Paige Loehr below.

Paige Loehr, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

As a creative, the goal is that every project we work on is meaningful. I knew that my life as an author had to be on my own terms so that I could remain authentic in my work. I remember in high school after discovering my love, passion, and excitement for writing and telling stories. Also upon finding out that I was actually good at writing, I decided to join every creative writing outlet the school provided. I joined the yearbook staff, the newspaper staff, and broadcasting class, and a creative writing class. I enjoyed each of them for what I learned and the skillsets that I gained, and I was very thankful for that. There was no contest though that one class was far more enjoyable. The creative writing class put no limitations on me. I got to write what I wanted, and learn new styles but it could all be about things that mattered to me. I felt free to write. In contrast in the other classes, I had to have topics approved, my work heavily scrutinized, and I was under deadlines and time crunches. That was a foreshadowing of the life that I knew I didn’t want. Pursuing writing on a more confined path was not going to work for me. And heaven forbid that I write with the pressure of my financial future on my back. This lesson was beyond helpful for me in being able to design a future that made the most sense for me. I became an entrepreneur in my early 20’s. I focused on creating an income for myself so that I could “buy my time back”. In doing so what a gave me was the option to write what I wanted, when I wanted, for whatever audience I felt needed it the most. I gave myself the opportunity to only work on projects that were meaningful to me. I released a book in April of 2021 called The Roots in a Woman. That project was meaningful but it becomes infinitely more meaningful every time a woman reaches out and lets me know that my story brought her hope and healing.
I am fully of the belief that the projects that I work on now and in the future will be meaningful to me and others because they don’t have to go through any filters. They aren’t on deadlines and they are not scrutinized by marketing people and picked apart based on what will sell. There is nothing wrong with any of that, that is just not the machine that I wanted to be apart of.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I have been writing my entire life. The writing was my escape from the world and the way I processed my feelings. We all have challenges we face in life. So I know that my story is not unique in that sense. I just know that dealing with the trauma of having a drug addict father was in fact what drove me to put pencil to paper to find peace. When I began writing as a child it was mostly journaling and then that led to poetry and short stories. When I was 19 I published my first book The Diary of a Sha Girl. This book was a series of short stories and poems that I put together with a best friend. That would technically be my first leap into writing but that was followed by several years of putting writing on hold. What I found was I had a lot of healing needed in my life still and that was a necessary process to becoming the woman that I am today and the writer that I wanted to be.
I began writing my book The Roots in a Woman about 4 years ago. I released it in April of 2021. It has been such a fun and exciting time. I have been able to serve so many women with this book. I have had countless testimonies pour in and that has made it all worth it.
The most important thing you need to know about me as a writer is that I express my faith fully and freely. My goal is though not to ever come off as an expert but to fully relate as a human. A healed person, helping others heal, not an educated person trying to fix you with my knowledge. I want to tell you how I found hope, with the goal being that you too could find it too.
My next book is of the same nature, I am simply sharing stories of different freedoms I have found in my life. If it helps you to find freedom great, if it helps just to make people feel less alone, that is enough too.
My career as an author has one goal, to make an impact in the lives of all that open my books and begin to read.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

What a beautiful question. I have actually been thinking about the concept of being resilient a lot recently. I have my fair share of personal life stories that I could share with you, stories of how I overcame traumas as a child and traumas as an adult. Stories of how I found balance and boundaries and learned to thrive regardless of what life threw my way. But the one story that I want to tell you matters most to my journey as an author.
When I published my first book at 19 I thought that I was on the fast track toward success. I was working with a publishing company that I enjoyed and I felt lucky to have had my manuscript even excepted. My publishing company which is no longer in business was very helpful. They brought my book to life and if just seeing a finished copy of my book was all they ever did, that would have been enough. It was a dream come true. They did though also provide me with some marketing materials and a little bit of coaching on how to go about getting my book out there to the public. I saw through only rose-colored lenses at the time. I took their advice and did the work. I had 2 book signings! One at a local boutique which was mostly flooded with family and friend support. Then the second was at a Christian book store. That was mostly me trying to interrupt customers that were in a rush to tell them a little bit about my book. Not a ton of traffic or books signed but I was still just so excited. The I emailed ALL the youth groups in my area. I probably missed a few, but hundreds. This began the season of suck. I got no responses. No one wanted me to come minister to their kids, or share my testimony, or heck even just let me set up a booth at their youth night. This was just followed by a season of what felt like rejection until I put everything on hold for a season. I was bummed. It felt like the community that should be supporting me most, didn’t care at all.
When I made my great debut in the spring of 2021 it was as a self-published author, because I knew the work it took and didn’t need the help of a publishing company to put it all together. So why try to write again after feeling such defeat? I never let on to people how disappointed I was by the outcome of my first book. I didn’t point fingers and place blame on others or myself. I just trusted my voice and the plan. This time around I have been overwhelmed because there have been more doors opened than I could really keep up with. And what is funny is for basically the first year people weren’t doing in-person events. I didn’t have a huge book launch, no book signings at bookstores. I was able to do some small group book clubs but the Roots in a Woman has been a full-on grassroots approach and it has been incredible.
How many would have decided after that first book that writing just wasn’t their thing? How many gifted authors are out there right now still looking at the perceived failure of their first or second attempt?
Being resilient is the only way that I will continue to write and that is a must.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My mission in all that I do is to make people feel less alone in this world. Although writing is my focus, recently I began painting. I found that my mission in everything creative I do is to create things that speak to people. I may not know why or how but even painting for enjoyment has led to me giving away all my pieces because they spoke to someone. I just want that more than anything. I want to connect, to relate, to communicate in hopes that I can impact people. I want the infectious love for life and beauty to translate to others. I want people to feel joy instead of despair. I want others to read my work and feel like I was reading their mail, not because I want to make anyone uncomfortable but because I know what it feels like to think to myself, “I thought I was the only one”. I am a fan of being unique but I am not a fan of people living through this human experience of feeling alone. My faith is important to me and I will always talk about my faith in all of my work but I never want that to feel exclusionary to anyone of any belief. I speak of love and its benefits, so all our welcome, and I believe all would feel wanted. If you yourself have felt lonely recently, just know I am here for YOU!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thecharliepaige@gmail.com
• Instagram: @paige_loehr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thepaigeloehr
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3BwdywcDeIx0Z9wXOvHfEQ

Image Credits
TaShonda Freeman