We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alida Winternheimer a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alida, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So, let’s imagine that you were advising someone who wanted to start something similar to you and they asked you what you would do differently in the startup-process knowing what you know now. How would you respond?
If I were starting over today, I would take some business management courses and learn about financial concerns for solo entrepreneurs. I grew up dreaming of being a career author before location-independent digital entrepreneurship was a thing. I earned my MFA in writing in 2012—not long ago, but forever ago in today’s world—and the traditional publishing dream was not only alive and well, I don’t think it had evolved in ages. I graduated with the idea that I would write books and agents would represent and publishers would publish and marketers would market and readers would purchase and checks would fly through the mail to me, so I could keep writing books. It took about a hot minute for all that to change. I had no idea when I received my graduate degree that I would be starting a business as an author, editor, teacher, publisher, and podcaster. But today, I can say I wear all those hats and more!
Being a writer, developmental editor, and story coach is comfortably within my area of expertise, it’s what I love to do. Becoming an entrepreneur has taken time and, let’s just say, it’s without my area of expertise. I do so many things for my business that have nothing to do with writing and require ongoing learning and experimentation. It can feel never ending, like I learn one digital system and it all changes. It can be frustrating, because it takes me away from my passion pursuit. It’s not just about the doing, it’s about the being. I have had to adjust my idea of who I am to see myself as a creative and a business woman.
For that reason, if I could do it again, I’d get some business training as a foundation for the many decisions I have to make and skill I have to develop as an author-editor-teacher-publisher-podcaster-entrepreneur.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m an author; developmental editor, writing coach, and teacher; and podcaster and speaker. All of which revolves around my lifelong passion for storytelling and literature. Second only to my love of story is my love for helping others grow in the pursuit of their dream—to write a book! My primary philosophy, both as writer and editor/coach is: put the story first and let it communicate what it needs and guide the process of its own creation. I believe that the stories we are compelled to tell make demands on us, and it is our privilege to meet those demands in order to reach the most people in the most authentic and compelling way possible.
When a writer says, “but” in this genre (or because of the previous in series, etc.), I need this thing or that character to happen here, we can work with that. There is always a way to tell the story that needs to be told while working with the writer’s goals. Sometimes, however, I’ve had writers miss the story they are writing for the one they think they want to write.
One woman, for example, insisted she was writing a thriller, and kept trying to insert thriller plot points into her story line. But in examining her draft, it was clearly not meeting the requirements of the thriller genre. I explained what she needed to do if she really wanted to write a thriller, and, more importantly, that what I saw on the page was something else, something better, because it was the story that was coming through her organically and originally. In her case, she was more concerned with her character’s arc and relationships than intense plot points. If we had to categorize it, the story would be contemporary women’s fiction with a suspenseful plot. The point is, if we don’t listen to our creative hearts, we can end up struggling to shape something that isn’t really our own.
So much of writing, of creativity generally, is listening and allowing. Stories have a life of their own and our role is to nurture what wants to be born.
I truly feel it is my privilege and honor to help writers develop their stories, whether fiction or nonfiction, in any narrative genre. The best part of my week is when I get to see people’s look of frustration or confusion turn to excitement, their eyes light up, and they smile. I can’t count how many times a conversation with a writing client ends with the words, “I’m excited to go work on this!” Whatever the writer’s goal, my purpose is to help foster that goal by sharing my expertise in story craft, experience teaching, and insights into their particular story. At the end of any exchange, whether it’s been a single call, a workshop, a months’ long coaching group, or a manuscript edit, my mission is first and foremost to help writers improve their writing craft. A particular manuscript is a single project, but knowledge and skill will be carried forward into everything they ever write.
My relationship with writers often begins before we ever meet. I offer several free resources: the Story Works Round Table podcast, conversations about craft; writing tips on my Youtube channel, Word Essential blog, and Substack newsletter; and a monthly office hour when people can drop in to ask writing craft questions, get to know me, and pick my brain. I have so much respect for writers who come to me for editing or coaching, because whether their skills are novice or advanced, they are writing a book, which is a huge endeavor that takes great commitment. These writers have dedicated themselves to writing their stories, and I’ve dedicated my career to helping them grow as writers.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
Asking friends and family for support has always been challenging, not only for me but also for my editing and coaching clients. As writers, time is the most precious thing we have. We need to let ideas stew and develop them before we begin the process of writing. It can be years before we have anything that resembles a book. I think, no matter how seriously we take our own commitment to the creative process, asking someone else to recognize and value it is a hard ask. If we want to be artists, literary or otherwise, then our creativity is not a hobby or pastime; it’s a passion, a calling.
In our culture, when we value something, we tend to put a price tag on it. It’s a little sad and frustrating that we think about so much in terms of dollars and cents, but I have found over the years that if I want someone else to see the value of my writing time, it helps if I am not being paid for it, to be paying for it. When I was in my MFA program, nobody quibbled over how many hours I spent reading and writing, because it was homework, and I was paying for the privilege of writing those assignments! As soon as a writer can attach their creative output to money, in or out, those boundaries get respect.
I’m not suggesting anyone go back to school in order to set boundaries around their creative process, but I have suggested writers assign a dollar value to their writing time, even if no dollars are actually spent. Because so much of how others get us relate to us and our goals has to do with how well we relate to ourselves and our goals.
It can be helpful to declare the amount your writing time is worth to you, say $50 an hour. Every time you sit down to write for an hour, you’re investing $50 worth of time in yourself, your creativity, your writing, your fulfillment. Every time you let something get in the way of your creativity, by squandering time or having porous boundaries around your priorities, you’re wasting that $50. If we get clear about what our time is worth to us as creatives, shifting how we treat our priorities and our time, then the non-creatives in our lives will sense it and take us and our writing time more seriously.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
I love how immersive storytelling is and how many processes and skills it engages. From the very beginning when an idea first takes hold of my imagination, through research, discovery writing, drafting, revising, and finally polishing and preparing to send it out into the world, I am creating and problem solving. I am building and developing. Sometimes, I think writing a book is like constructing an intricate, many-layered 3-d puzzle. Getting everything to fit seamlessly, to function as a whole, and to be appealing to others is a real feat! I find it incredibly satisfying.
Another particularly enjoyable part of writing long-form fiction is the way the characters turn into real people populating this inner world of our own, then, one day they populate the pages of the novel, and then the imagination of readers. The transference from an idea in one person’s mind to a whole, seemingly “living, breathing” world of characters and events in the minds of everyone who engages with the story blows me away. I think storytelling may just be the most powerful force in the world, because it has the power to change hearts and minds.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://wordessential.com/writingcoach/
- Instagram: @alidawintern
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alidawinternheimerauthor/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@wordessentialstoryworksbyw7543
- Other: https://alidawinternheimer.com
https://storyworkspodcast.com
Image Credits
2 images in floral print dress, Julia Fay Photography
2 images with typewriter outside in orange scarf, Jonah Catañeda Barry
other images by Alida Winternheimer