October 15, 2024 • 26 mins
Rihanna Ring-Howell returns to our podcast, bringing with her a treasure trove of experiences and insights from her journey through writing and life transitions. Graduating from the Author Conservatory in 2024, Rihanna has honed her craft in fiction writing and business, culminating in the publication of her short story in the anthology "Voices of the Future." Hear firsthand how Rihanna's unique experiences have shaped her and her creative process, offering both challenges and rewards.
As Rihanna shares her journey, there's a strong emphasis on the importance of intentionality in building connections and the creative fuel these relationships provide. Her experiences offer valuable insights into maintaining authenticity in a world that often pressures conformity. Join us as we celebrate the triumphs and lessons learned along the writing journey, and discover how a community that uplifts can make all the difference in both personal and professional growth.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hi, this is Stephanie Schaefer and you're listening
to the North Star Narrative, apodcast from North Star Academy.
I want to thank you for joiningus.
I hope you're encouraged,challenged and motivated by what
you learned today.
Enjoy the story.
Hey everybody, welcome to thisweek's episode.
(00:22):
I'm excited to introduce well,actually not introduce because
she has been on the podcastbefore, but one of our alumni,
rihanna Ringhowell, and she hasa really cool story of what
God's been doing in her life andhas something in common with
another alumni that's been onrecently, caleb Rinnick, who
(00:42):
they've both gone through theprogram the Author Conservatory,
and Rihanna's had the privilegeof being able to be part of one
of their volumes of Voices ofthe Future, so I wanted her to
share her experience goingthrough the conservatory and how
she's been able to write for along time while she's at
(01:03):
Northstar and then now beyond.
And so, rihanna, thanks forcoming to share your story.
I know you've got some tips ofwhat life is like after high
school and then some tips maybefor you know students that are
now doing online school, and weknow education is changing a lot
, so just what you're learningin those areas I'm so glad that
(01:25):
you are here to share with ustoday.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Awesome, yeah, no, I'm really.
Yeah, I'm really excited to behere and to talk to you guys
about my experience and justeverything I've been up to.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
There's a lot of stuff that's happening and
hopefully you'll be able tolearn some things from this,
maybe.
Yeah, so you were on with acouple of other alumni about a
year ago, so tell us what's beenhappening this last year.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
So this last year I finished, I graduated from the
Author Conservatory with theirfirst graduating class in June
of 20, it's 2024 now, so June of2024.
I was part of their firstofficial graduation, um.
I'd been in the program forabout four and a half years, um,
and so this was really big um.
I did it part two-ish yearsthrough, um, north Star, and
(02:14):
then, well, I was in North Starand getting my degree here, um,
and then I took a two-year gapyear to finish, um, so yeah, so
that's kind of been the thebiggest's happened.
I decided to continue myschooling, which I never really
thought I would, and I'mcurrently pursuing an
associate's degree incommunications with the hopes of
(02:35):
transferring to get abachelor's degree in
communications and music.
Back to school, doing moreschool.
But I'm really excited about it, especially since I did.
I did online school here, andbefore that I was homeschooled,
and so I've never actually beento like an in-person school
before.
So that's really exciting.
And probably the announcementof the thing that I'm like the
(02:55):
most excited about is for theAuthor Conservatory, as a sort
of like capstone project, tokind of to tie together all the
things that we were learning inthe fiction, writing and
business, because that's whatthe school was teaching was
marketing um, business skills,and then the fiction writing
skills.
We I wrote a short story that isbeing published in anthology,
along with 11 of my classmates,um, it's called.
(03:18):
The anthology is called voiceof the future stories of um,
healing and home, um, and we'reso.
We all wrote the stories, wegot edits on them, um it.
They put it together in thisbeautiful book, uh, formatted it
.
We got to go through line edits, so all the like a scaled down
uh, it's basically like a scaleddown version of how like the
(03:38):
book publishing process works,of how, like you would submit
your manuscript and then you getedits on it developmental edits
and you get to fix the storythat way and then, um, basically
just fix like plot points, um,character arcs, things like that
, and then when that's finished,you get your line edits, which
is basically just fixingsentences, and then they
formatted it into a book for us.
And now what we're doing iswe're taking that book and we're
marketing it, and the book isreally cool because, um, all the
(04:02):
proceeds go towards um, 100 ofthe profits go towards a
scholarship fund, for, uh, thatbenefits a lot of my classmates
who are in the anthology,including myself, as well as
other students in the authorconservatory, and helps us
attend writers conferences sothat we can pitch our novels and
things like that to agents andeditors, um, and get those book
(04:23):
publishing contracts and thingslike that, um, because that's
what?
Uh, that's kind of like the thenext step, um, writers
conferences are a really greatway for us to be able to get our
writing out there, um, and makeso, yeah, and just get our get
our novels out there and getthem published, um, so yeah.
So this is this is a lot of fun, because we get to use all of
our skills that we that I'vebeen practicing for the last
(04:44):
four and a half years on a muchsmaller scale thing.
That's a lot less pressure thanactually like launching a book
all on my own, and also justgetting to showcase all the
things that I learned so thatpeople can actually finally read
my writing, which I'm reallyexcited about.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Yeah, I love it.
Incredible amount of experience.
I love it.
Incredible amount of experience.
Yeah, you're getting over thepast four years Really.
Really amazing to hear your andCaleb's experience with the
Author Conservatory and justyour passion and skills God has
given you for writing and nowjust learning.
Yeah, the business aspects socool.
(05:20):
So I want to jump back tosomething you said about it's
your first time to be like in abrick and mortar with people in
school.
So what is that like?
What's the difference fromonline, being at home and now
you know at this age, being withother people right around you?
Speaker 2 (05:37):
It's very interesting .
Yeah, I think it's kind offunny because when I was younger
, I always assumed that being inpublic school would
automatically mean that I wouldhave more friends or it would be
easier to make friends andbeing around people, and to an
(05:58):
extent, that's true, and maybeit's a little bit different with
high school, because whenyou're in a brick-and-mortar
school in high school, you'rethere with them eight hours a
day, whereas in college youprobably have different classes
with different people and you'reonly really there for an hour
and a half, maybe two hourclasses if you have early on
class, but all my classes areabout an hour and they're twice
(06:18):
a week and that's it not seeingthese people as often, and so
it's fun to get to like interactwith people face to face and
ask questions face to face andthings like that, but it doesn't
necessarily translate to likeautomatically having more
friends.
It makes it easier, and Idefinitely have been like making
friends and making connections,but what's really funny is the
(06:39):
skills that I learned throughonline school of learning how to
like seek out and maintainfriendships um, that are not
like just maintained for you,because you see them all the
time has actually been verybeneficial being in college
Because, again, like, even evenwith college, especially if
you're a commuter student or yougo to a community college or
something like that, whereyou're not living on campus,
(07:01):
you're not on campus 24, seven,um, which is like me I'm a
commuter student, I don't liveon, I don't live on the campus
or anything like that.
I just come for my classes andthen I go home.
Um, like, you do have to bereally intentional about like,
seeking, seeking opportunitiesto connect.
You have to, yeah, to seekopportunities to connect and
there's a lot if you look aroundfor them, but you do have to
take ownership of that and likeand do that for yourself.
(07:24):
Um, which I think was likesomewhat surprising, um, at
least to like younger Rihanna,who really genuinely thought
that, like you know,automatically being around
people meant having more friends.
That's not usually, that's notnecessarily the truth, um, with
that.
Um, that's true, yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Yeah, then, being intentional.
So that's what I was thinkingbefore.
You said the word intentionalwhile you're describing it,
because in an online environment, you have to be intentional.
You're not rubbing shouldersduring breaks before going to
the next class.
So I love that about North Star, though, because that
intentionality that we have, Ithink, brings really meaningful
(08:03):
friendships, and I know you'vekept some, I'm sure, after
graduating from Northstar.
So that's yeah, that's reallycool that you're getting so many
different experiences in somany different areas.
I love, I love hearing aboutthat.
Okay, tell us a little bitabout the Voices of the Future
and your short story.
Was it modeled after someone ordid you completely come up with
(08:26):
the idea on your own?
Speaker 2 (08:28):
My short story Grown Up Magic is.
Actually.
It took me two years to writethis short story, which is kind
of crazy to say.
I had an original short storythat used the same characters,
it was set in the same settingbut due to just some of the
themes that I was dealing with,I had to actually set it aside.
(08:49):
So to give you an idea of like,the level of like, critique and
feedback, like these shortstories, like we, they were
vetted and like there werepeople like me who wrote short
stories who weren't, thatweren't quite ready, and so we
went back and we wrote a new one.
So this is a new one.
Winna was Winna, my maincharacter.
She's somewhat inspired by me.
It's a little bit of a selfinsert into a story, a little
(09:11):
bit, because the short storythat I have is basically about a
little girl who, in her questto prove that she is grown up,
must decide if she can help,accept help from a unicorn, even
if magic is only for children.
And that's kind of like thevery short form of what it's
(09:31):
about.
And it was kind of inspired inpart by a quote from CS Lewis
who said someday you'll be oldenough to start reading fairy
tales again, and also in part bymy experience as a young girl,
um, who really loved fairy talesand fantasy and magic, who
carried around a rainbow dashwater bottle until she was 14,
(09:53):
who, you know, wore unicorns onher t-shirts and played with
dolls until she was 12, um, whowas kind of like told by the
people around her and societythat, like, liking certain
things made her immature or madeher, you know, childish, and
there was a lot of things that,like, I gave up or like hid or
felt ashamed about that Ishouldn't have, because there's
(10:16):
not anything inherently immatureor wrong with liking certain
things or believing in, you know, believing in fairy tales, or,
you know, thinking that, youknow, maybe dragons do exist or
things like that, or justenjoying things like, yeah,
enjoying magical talking,colorful ponies or things like
(10:37):
how to train your dragon oranything like that, and so, yeah
, so that was kind of theinspiration behind this story of
like this idea that, like Lewis, actually touches on this, that
the very act of seeing certainthings as being like like seeing
certain things that aren'tnecessarily, like you know,
harmful, like just enjoying acertain TV show or character or
(10:58):
story or whatever, like enjoyinga certain thing for yourself,
like seeing that as beingenjoying that thing as being
childish.
Like the very act of seeingthat as childish makes you
childish, which is kind of likeflips, flips things on its head.
Um, what we're told as kids,we're like you can't like these
things or enjoy these thingsbecause that makes you childish.
But the idea that that thosethings make you childish is just
(11:20):
like a marker for being like akid and being immature.
And as you get older, you kindof realize that like it's okay,
provided you're obviously youdon't want to, like you know,
hurt anyone or make anyoneuncomfortable or anything like
that.
But like enjoying those thingsfor yourself is fine and it's
good.
And we've lost a lot as we getolder.
We lose a lot of our child likewonder and imagination and like
(11:41):
belief in what's possible andbelief in like you know
imagination.
And like belief in what'spossible and belief in like you
know magic, whether that be youknow physical types of things or
if it's just like you know the,the magic of just the world,
because the world, like, nomatter what you believe about
magic, like the world is magicalin a lot of ways.
Um, it's just, it's really cool.
Um, I'd created a lot of like, alot of really cool and magical
(12:04):
things in the world, and whenwe're a kid we're able to see
that a lot of like a lot ofreally cool and magical things
in the world, and when we're akid we're able to see that a lot
more clearly than when we're anadult.
So yeah, so it's basically justthis coming of age story about
this girl who's like wrestlingwith the idea of like she's
growing up and getting older andlike not losing that sense of
like, wonder and awe when shesees the world and those like
hints of imagination and thingsthat like could be possible if
(12:25):
she just looks closely enough.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Yeah, I think about society today and how I feel
like kids are forced to grow upand not get to enjoy the
creative play, and so I thinkabout that in my own child.
Sometimes it's hard for him tobe creative and enjoy the world
and enjoy play because ofscreens.
Like kids are so much drawn toscreens and so they see other
(12:49):
people's imagination instead ofbeing able to imagine on their
own.
So I love that that you writeabout that.
Okay, let's talk aboutNorthstar a little bit.
So how did your journey atNorthstar influence your writing
?
Speaker 2 (13:03):
I think part of it was getting access to people
with a lot of differentbackgrounds and meeting just a
variety of a lot of differentpeople.
One of the really cool thingsabout Northstar is getting to
getting to meet people from allaround the world who grew up in
vastly different circumstancesthan you did.
It's not like it's like we'recompletely, you know, different
(13:27):
or whatever, but like there's alot of people where it's like
their experience like it's verydifferent from yours in a way
that, like you wouldn'tnecessarily see with you know a
brick and mortar school whereeveryone's from you know your
very specific area, and I thinkthat was really cool and that
influenced my writing, just likehaving having more people and
experiences to pull from.
And also, um, the students atNorthstar are really, really
(13:49):
supportive.
I have a lot of friends whoread some of my very early
writing, who are supersupportive of me.
They were supportive of me thenand they're super supportive of
me now.
Um, I still talk to them, um,they're really excited to read
the read my stories and thingslike that, that.
And they've just been, they'vebeen champions of me and my
writing and I think you knowthat is very much like comes
(14:11):
from a comes from being again,being intentional and like
reaching out and making thoseconnections, just like the
people here are great.
I have a lot of teachers that Icould say that like I 100% like
some of like you know whoinfluenced my writing and things
like that, especially some ofmy English teachers, like Miss
Myers and stuff like that, whoare just like I wrote short
(14:33):
stories and they were supersupportive and they were really
encouraging of things like thatand just and just basically all
the people who, like saw that Ienjoyed writing and who were
like, who were very encouragingof me.
Um, because writing we learnabout this a lot and like, when
you think about writing, youkind of think about, like I
don't know, a hermit living inlike a dark house, like writing
their great American novel andthen like going out and getting
(14:55):
it published and like, to anextent, writing is a very
solitary act Like you do ityourself.
No one can make you do it Likeyou do it.
You know you're usually doingit by yourself in a lot of ways,
but it doesn't necessarily haveto be that way and it shouldn't
be that way, and a lot ofwriters that succeed are because
they have a really goodcommunity of other people,
(15:17):
whether it just be, you know,people who are encouraging other
writers, readers, that kind ofthing.
Those people who are willing to, like a champion the book and
help you get it out there butalso just encourage you Because
it's hard.
It is hard to be a writer andyou experience a lot of
rejection and there's a lot oftime where you're rewriting
things and editing things andit's not always, you know, it's
(15:37):
not always pretty and it's notalways fun.
And just having those peoplethat you can lean on and be like
this is really hard.
And I don't feel like I'm a goodwriter and have those people
who are able to encourage youand speak against that, or just
people in your life who you know, even if they're not you're not
currently talking to them orwhatever.
I don't actively talked to a lotof my teachers, but I still
(15:58):
remember like what they said andlike their encouragement and
how they made me feel, and sowhen I'm feeling like I suck and
like I, you know I'm like, whyam I doing this?
I don't, you know, I don't knowwhy I'm doing this I can think
back to like I can reach out tothose people that I'm still in
contact with, and just thinkabout those people who told me,
like you know who who didencourage me and who who spoke
against that Um, and I think, Ithink that in a lot of ways, um,
(16:23):
aside from just you know, theeducation and like knowing how
to write well and things likethat, which I obviously learned
from our stars as well, but like, but just the, the community
and the people who who reallyencouraged and uplifted me, um,
especially when I was younger,um, cause that meant a lot and
it's still, it's stillinfluences, still influences me
to this day.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
That's so cool.
Yeah, I love you mentioned theglobal aspect and how so many
friends you get to meet fromaround the world.
And then teachers I love thatour teachers really do care
about our students and you'vebeen able to experience that and
the power of words, how thosewords ring in your head, the
encouragement and, yeah, theskills that you have to keep
pushing on.
So one of the questions I wasgoing to ask you is what
challenges have you faced inyour writing journey and how
(17:08):
have you overcome them?
And it sounds like the biggestone is the relationships that
you can rely on and the wordsthat you can go back to.
Are there any other things thathelp you?
Speaker 2 (17:18):
I definitely think that that is a really, really,
really big thing.
Um, because I am someone who'svery um, insecure and like
imposter syndrome is a realthing, um, so that's, that's
probably my 100%, my biggest tipand the biggest challenge I've
had to overcome.
I think the other thing is andit kind of goes hand in hand
with this a little bit iscomparison and perseverance.
(17:45):
Something that we talk about inwriting a lot is there's kind
of this idea that you know, withlike writing, you know you
should just kind of be able to.
You either have it or you don't.
And to an extent that's true.
There are some people who arenaturally gifted with words and
things like that.
But, like you know, when youlook at like a lawyer or
(18:07):
something, they have to go toschool for like 12 years before
they ever start making money orreally start like working on
their career, because there's alot of skills and things that
they need to learn and build inorder to be, you know, ready to
be a lawyer.
And in the same way, it's thesame way with writing.
They actually say that you needto write about.
I think they say something likethree or four novels before
you're actually ready to likebefore you'll actually have like
(18:28):
a novel that's like ready forlike serious like work and like
getting it ready for publication, that kind of thing, and that
it takes typically like sevenyears of you like actively
starting to like writeconsistently, that you'll you'll
be ready for that kind of thingand that your skill level will
be up to snuff and things likethat.
And so like it takes, writing abook takes a long time.
(18:51):
The publishing industry is slowand it takes a long time and it
takes a long time to.
It takes a while to build upthose skills.
Like there are skills that needto be taught and that you need
to build up in order to be agood storyteller, in order for
your book to be ready to bepublished and to be out in the
world, but also, like notgetting overwhelmed by that,
(19:18):
because it really does.
It takes a while and you have tobe able.
You have to, as one of mymentors says, you have to.
The goal of the game is to stayin the game until you win the
game, and so the goal is not toget there as fast as you can,
and that's kind of like whatwe're told.
Like you know, you want toclimb the corporate ladder as
(19:45):
fast as you want, to get thereas fast as you can, and that's
not.
That's not what you can do here, cause there's so many things
that are outside of your control.
You have to learn how to like,control what you can control,
and be perseverant and just likeand just stay in the game until
you win the game and be healthyenough to be able to stay in
this game for the long run.
Um, it's writing is a marathon,not a sprint.
Um and I think that's been oneof the other challenges that
I've had to learn, that, likesprint, um, and I think that's
been one of the other challengesthat I've had to learn that,
like I have to be, I have to beperseverant and I have to, you
know, just take things, takethings one day at a time, um,
(20:08):
and also know that the otherother writers and other people
like they're not, they're notyour competition, um, you know
people.
People have so many differentexperiences, and I think this is
just a good thing to know, forlife is like not to compare your
progress and your life to otherpeople's, because they are
probably doing life oncompletely different settings
than you are.
(20:28):
They don't necessarily have thesame past that you do.
They might've, you know, hadmore resources, resources,
whatever, like, their life looksentirely different from yours,
and so their results and wherethey are in life is going to be
different from where you are inlife.
And it doesn't help to compareyourself to other people,
because the only person that youreally need to compare yourself
to is like comparing yourself,who you are now, to where you
(20:49):
are, where you were in the past,and see if, like, if the
results are are matching up andeven if it's not, you know like,
are you happy with where youare as compared to where you
were in the past?
And if you're not, like how canyou change that?
And just don't think aboutother people, because that just
kind of leads to a lot ofbitterness and creating
competition where there reallyshouldn't be and just a lot of
(21:11):
unhappiness.
And I've definitely, I'vedefinitely seen that and I've
had to unlearn how to unlearncomparing myself to others and
just focus on, like, where I'mgoing and what I want to do, and
focusing on uplifting othersand encouraging them and
cheering them on, especiallyeven when I don't feel like I'm
where I want to be or thingsaren't going exactly where I
(21:33):
want them to be going, stillbeing able to be happy and
encouraging of other people andthe people in my life, the
people that I care about.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Yeah, that's really good and it's great advice, no
matter if you're going down thewriting journey or any journey,
and I just think it's soimportant, like you said, don't
miss the journey, because a lotof times we're always rushing to
the next step and you misswhat's happening today.
And so, yeah, that's reallyreally good advice.
Thanks for sharing that.
(21:59):
One last question I know withNorthstar there's a lot of
flexibility, and so how did thatflexibility with your online
learning shape your ability topursue your writing projects?
Speaker 2 (22:13):
That I could expound upon that for ages, but the
general principle is I neverwould have been able to do the
author conservatory or have anyhope of doing any writing
projects while I was in highschool if I weren't in, if I
weren't in Northstar.
That's literally the onlyreason I could do that program,
because that program was anadditional uh, 15 to 20 hours
(22:33):
per week of work and I didn'talways do that because I was.
You know, schoolwork came firstand stuff like that.
But I would not have had even aprayer of being able to do that
in in a public school.
Um, and the flexibility thatNorth star gave me, like I could
stop and go to critique calls,um, where I would get critique
on my writing instead of havingto be in school.
(22:53):
A lot of our critique callswere in the afternoon, so in,
you know.
So I'd take some time off fromschool and I would go do that.
Or I'd have the flexibility, ifI had a big writing deadline,
that I could focus on some of mynovel stuff and, you know, get
ahead in some of my North Starstuff and then focus on some of
my novel stuff.
I was able to go to conferencesand things like that.
Even when I was in school andpart of our training was, you
(23:19):
know, creating pop-up businessesand business working on
business stuff, which I was hadthe flexibility to do I did some
pet sitting as part of my, like, little pop up business, which
I, again would not have beenable to do without flexibility
of of North Star's flexibilityspecifically, and it being an
online school, a lot of it beingasynchronous really did allow
(23:42):
me to even do part of thisprogram, because otherwise, yeah
, otherwise, I would not havehad any time at all to do what I
did, and when I was in NorthStar, I think I wrote what I
wrote two novels and a novellawhile I was in North Star, and
it took a lot of work, but yeah,but that's what I was able to
(24:06):
accomplish while I was in myjunior, late sophomore, and then
junior and senior year and Iwas on student council and all
that kind of stuff too.
So, yeah, so I was doing a lot,but North Star Flexibility
allowed me to do all of that andpursue all of my various
passions, which was reallyreally, really great.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Yeah, you were always super active and just so
thankful for how you built upthe community.
You were part of the teamduring your time at North Star,
so thanks for doing that and Ilove that.
You are a lifelong learner andthat's how North Star students
are across the globe, and soit's so fun to see how they
(24:46):
pursue, you know and you'repursuing being an entrepreneur,
developing your skills.
And then I love the wisdom thatyou're learning and you're
pressing through really hardtimes and challenges, because
we're all going to havechallenges right All throughout
our life, every age, and it's ajourney for everyone.
So I'm so proud of you andencouraged by you and just your
(25:08):
discernment and wisdom, and justreally appreciative that you
would come on again and shareyour experience and your
continued journey with the Northstar community.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
This is great.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Yeah, with the North Star community.
Yeah, thank you so much forhaving me.
This is great, yeah, and we'llput the link down in the podcast
so that you can check out theshort story that Rihanna has
written along with the otherauthors in the Voices of the
Future.
It is volume three, yeah, andyou might be interested If
you're a writer and want topursue that.
You're listening today checkingout the Author Conservatory,
and you definitely be interestedif you're a writer, want to
(25:41):
pursue that.
You're listening today checkingout the Author Conservatory,
and you definitely want to goback a few episodes and listen
to Caleb Rennick's experience.
He is still in the AuthorConservatory and then he's even
got.
He's an entrepreneur too.
He's developed a course to helpyou right now in writing for
those that might be listening.
But we're praying for you,rihanna, that you're going to
have a great day and then justcontinuing on in your journey
(26:04):
with community college and allthat God is going to bring your
way.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Thank you so much for listening today.
If you have any questions forour guest or would like
information about Northstar,please email us.
At podcast at nsaschool, welove having guests on our show
and getting to hear theirstories.
If you have anyone in mind thatyou think would be a great
guest to feature, please emailus and let us know.
And don't forget to subscribeso you don't miss out on
(26:35):
upcoming stories.
Hi, this is Stephanie Schaefer and you're listening
to the North Star Narrative, apodcast from North Star Academy.
I want to thank you for joiningus.
I hope you're encouraged,challenged and motivated by what
you learned today.
Enjoy the story.
Hey everybody, welcome to thisweek's episode.
(00:22):
I'm excited to introduce well,actually not introduce because
she has been on the podcastbefore, but one of our alumni,
rihanna Ringhowell, and she hasa really cool story of what
God's been doing in her life andhas something in common with
another alumni that's been onrecently, caleb Rinnick, who
(00:42):
they've both gone through theprogram the Author Conservatory,
and Rihanna's had the privilegeof being able to be part of one
of their volumes of Voices ofthe Future, so I wanted her to
share her experience goingthrough the conservatory and how
she's been able to write for along time while she's at
(01:03):
Northstar and then now beyond.
And so, rihanna, thanks forcoming to share your story.
I know you've got some tips ofwhat life is like after high
school and then some tips maybefor you know students that are
now doing online school, and weknow education is changing a lot
, so just what you're learningin those areas I'm so glad that
(01:25):
you are here to share with ustoday.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Awesome, yeah, no, I'm really.
Yeah, I'm really excited to behere and to talk to you guys
about my experience and justeverything I've been up to.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
There's a lot of stuff that's happening and
hopefully you'll be able tolearn some things from this,
maybe.
Yeah, so you were on with acouple of other alumni about a
year ago, so tell us what's beenhappening this last year.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
So this last year I finished, I graduated from the
Author Conservatory with theirfirst graduating class in June
of 20, it's 2024 now, so June of2024.
I was part of their firstofficial graduation, um.
I'd been in the program forabout four and a half years, um,
and so this was really big um.
I did it part two-ish yearsthrough, um, north Star, and
(02:14):
then, well, I was in North Starand getting my degree here, um,
and then I took a two-year gapyear to finish, um, so yeah, so
that's kind of been the thebiggest's happened.
I decided to continue myschooling, which I never really
thought I would, and I'mcurrently pursuing an
associate's degree incommunications with the hopes of
(02:35):
transferring to get abachelor's degree in
communications and music.
Back to school, doing moreschool.
But I'm really excited about it, especially since I did.
I did online school here, andbefore that I was homeschooled,
and so I've never actually beento like an in-person school
before.
So that's really exciting.
And probably the announcementof the thing that I'm like the
(02:55):
most excited about is for theAuthor Conservatory, as a sort
of like capstone project, tokind of to tie together all the
things that we were learning inthe fiction, writing and
business, because that's whatthe school was teaching was
marketing um, business skills,and then the fiction writing
skills.
We I wrote a short story that isbeing published in anthology,
along with 11 of my classmates,um, it's called.
(03:18):
The anthology is called voiceof the future stories of um,
healing and home, um, and we'reso.
We all wrote the stories, wegot edits on them, um it.
They put it together in thisbeautiful book, uh, formatted it
.
We got to go through line edits, so all the like a scaled down
uh, it's basically like a scaleddown version of how like the
(03:38):
book publishing process works,of how, like you would submit
your manuscript and then you getedits on it developmental edits
and you get to fix the storythat way and then, um, basically
just fix like plot points, um,character arcs, things like that
, and then when that's finished,you get your line edits, which
is basically just fixingsentences, and then they
formatted it into a book for us.
And now what we're doing iswe're taking that book and we're
marketing it, and the book isreally cool because, um, all the
(04:02):
proceeds go towards um, 100 ofthe profits go towards a
scholarship fund, for, uh, thatbenefits a lot of my classmates
who are in the anthology,including myself, as well as
other students in the authorconservatory, and helps us
attend writers conferences sothat we can pitch our novels and
things like that to agents andeditors, um, and get those book
(04:23):
publishing contracts and thingslike that, um, because that's
what?
Uh, that's kind of like the thenext step, um, writers
conferences are a really greatway for us to be able to get our
writing out there, um, and makeso, yeah, and just get our get
our novels out there and getthem published, um, so yeah.
So this is this is a lot of fun, because we get to use all of
our skills that we that I'vebeen practicing for the last
(04:44):
four and a half years on a muchsmaller scale thing.
That's a lot less pressure thanactually like launching a book
all on my own, and also justgetting to showcase all the
things that I learned so thatpeople can actually finally read
my writing, which I'm reallyexcited about.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Yeah, I love it.
Incredible amount of experience.
I love it.
Incredible amount of experience.
Yeah, you're getting over thepast four years Really.
Really amazing to hear your andCaleb's experience with the
Author Conservatory and justyour passion and skills God has
given you for writing and nowjust learning.
Yeah, the business aspects socool.
(05:20):
So I want to jump back tosomething you said about it's
your first time to be like in abrick and mortar with people in
school.
So what is that like?
What's the difference fromonline, being at home and now
you know at this age, being withother people right around you?
Speaker 2 (05:37):
It's very interesting .
Yeah, I think it's kind offunny because when I was younger
, I always assumed that being inpublic school would
automatically mean that I wouldhave more friends or it would be
easier to make friends andbeing around people, and to an
(05:58):
extent, that's true, and maybeit's a little bit different with
high school, because whenyou're in a brick-and-mortar
school in high school, you'rethere with them eight hours a
day, whereas in college youprobably have different classes
with different people and you'reonly really there for an hour
and a half, maybe two hourclasses if you have early on
class, but all my classes areabout an hour and they're twice
(06:18):
a week and that's it not seeingthese people as often, and so
it's fun to get to like interactwith people face to face and
ask questions face to face andthings like that, but it doesn't
necessarily translate to likeautomatically having more
friends.
It makes it easier, and Idefinitely have been like making
friends and making connections,but what's really funny is the
(06:39):
skills that I learned throughonline school of learning how to
like seek out and maintainfriendships um, that are not
like just maintained for you,because you see them all the
time has actually been verybeneficial being in college
Because, again, like, even evenwith college, especially if
you're a commuter student or yougo to a community college or
something like that, whereyou're not living on campus,
(07:01):
you're not on campus 24, seven,um, which is like me I'm a
commuter student, I don't liveon, I don't live on the campus
or anything like that.
I just come for my classes andthen I go home.
Um, like, you do have to bereally intentional about like,
seeking, seeking opportunitiesto connect.
You have to, yeah, to seekopportunities to connect and
there's a lot if you look aroundfor them, but you do have to
take ownership of that and likeand do that for yourself.
(07:24):
Um, which I think was likesomewhat surprising, um, at
least to like younger Rihanna,who really genuinely thought
that, like you know,automatically being around
people meant having more friends.
That's not usually, that's notnecessarily the truth, um, with
that.
Um, that's true, yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Yeah, then, being intentional.
So that's what I was thinkingbefore.
You said the word intentionalwhile you're describing it,
because in an online environment, you have to be intentional.
You're not rubbing shouldersduring breaks before going to
the next class.
So I love that about North Star, though, because that
intentionality that we have, Ithink, brings really meaningful
(08:03):
friendships, and I know you'vekept some, I'm sure, after
graduating from Northstar.
So that's yeah, that's reallycool that you're getting so many
different experiences in somany different areas.
I love, I love hearing aboutthat.
Okay, tell us a little bitabout the Voices of the Future
and your short story.
Was it modeled after someone ordid you completely come up with
(08:26):
the idea on your own?
Speaker 2 (08:28):
My short story Grown Up Magic is.
Actually.
It took me two years to writethis short story, which is kind
of crazy to say.
I had an original short storythat used the same characters,
it was set in the same settingbut due to just some of the
themes that I was dealing with,I had to actually set it aside.
(08:49):
So to give you an idea of like,the level of like, critique and
feedback, like these shortstories, like we, they were
vetted and like there werepeople like me who wrote short
stories who weren't, thatweren't quite ready, and so we
went back and we wrote a new one.
So this is a new one.
Winna was Winna, my maincharacter.
She's somewhat inspired by me.
It's a little bit of a selfinsert into a story, a little
(09:11):
bit, because the short storythat I have is basically about a
little girl who, in her questto prove that she is grown up,
must decide if she can help,accept help from a unicorn, even
if magic is only for children.
And that's kind of like thevery short form of what it's
(09:31):
about.
And it was kind of inspired inpart by a quote from CS Lewis
who said someday you'll be oldenough to start reading fairy
tales again, and also in part bymy experience as a young girl,
um, who really loved fairy talesand fantasy and magic, who
carried around a rainbow dashwater bottle until she was 14,
(09:53):
who, you know, wore unicorns onher t-shirts and played with
dolls until she was 12, um, whowas kind of like told by the
people around her and societythat, like, liking certain
things made her immature or madeher, you know, childish, and
there was a lot of things that,like, I gave up or like hid or
felt ashamed about that Ishouldn't have, because there's
(10:16):
not anything inherently immatureor wrong with liking certain
things or believing in, you know, believing in fairy tales, or,
you know, thinking that, youknow, maybe dragons do exist or
things like that, or justenjoying things like, yeah,
enjoying magical talking,colorful ponies or things like
(10:37):
how to train your dragon oranything like that, and so, yeah
, so that was kind of theinspiration behind this story of
like this idea that, like Lewis, actually touches on this, that
the very act of seeing certainthings as being like like seeing
certain things that aren'tnecessarily, like you know,
harmful, like just enjoying acertain TV show or character or
(10:58):
story or whatever, like enjoyinga certain thing for yourself,
like seeing that as beingenjoying that thing as being
childish.
Like the very act of seeingthat as childish makes you
childish, which is kind of likeflips, flips things on its head.
Um, what we're told as kids,we're like you can't like these
things or enjoy these thingsbecause that makes you childish.
But the idea that that thosethings make you childish is just
(11:20):
like a marker for being like akid and being immature.
And as you get older, you kindof realize that like it's okay,
provided you're obviously youdon't want to, like you know,
hurt anyone or make anyoneuncomfortable or anything like
that.
But like enjoying those thingsfor yourself is fine and it's
good.
And we've lost a lot as we getolder.
We lose a lot of our child likewonder and imagination and like
(11:41):
belief in what's possible andbelief in like you know
imagination.
And like belief in what'spossible and belief in like you
know magic, whether that be youknow physical types of things or
if it's just like you know the,the magic of just the world,
because the world, like, nomatter what you believe about
magic, like the world is magicalin a lot of ways.
Um, it's just, it's really cool.
Um, I'd created a lot of like, alot of really cool and magical
(12:04):
things in the world, and whenwe're a kid we're able to see
that a lot of like a lot ofreally cool and magical things
in the world, and when we're akid we're able to see that a lot
more clearly than when we're anadult.
So yeah, so it's basically justthis coming of age story about
this girl who's like wrestlingwith the idea of like she's
growing up and getting older andlike not losing that sense of
like, wonder and awe when shesees the world and those like
hints of imagination and thingsthat like could be possible if
(12:25):
she just looks closely enough.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Yeah, I think about society today and how I feel
like kids are forced to grow upand not get to enjoy the
creative play, and so I thinkabout that in my own child.
Sometimes it's hard for him tobe creative and enjoy the world
and enjoy play because ofscreens.
Like kids are so much drawn toscreens and so they see other
(12:49):
people's imagination instead ofbeing able to imagine on their
own.
So I love that that you writeabout that.
Okay, let's talk aboutNorthstar a little bit.
So how did your journey atNorthstar influence your writing
?
Speaker 2 (13:03):
I think part of it was getting access to people
with a lot of differentbackgrounds and meeting just a
variety of a lot of differentpeople.
One of the really cool thingsabout Northstar is getting to
getting to meet people from allaround the world who grew up in
vastly different circumstancesthan you did.
It's not like it's like we'recompletely, you know, different
(13:27):
or whatever, but like there's alot of people where it's like
their experience like it's verydifferent from yours in a way
that, like you wouldn'tnecessarily see with you know a
brick and mortar school whereeveryone's from you know your
very specific area, and I thinkthat was really cool and that
influenced my writing, just likehaving having more people and
experiences to pull from.
And also, um, the students atNorthstar are really, really
(13:49):
supportive.
I have a lot of friends whoread some of my very early
writing, who are supersupportive of me.
They were supportive of me thenand they're super supportive of
me now.
Um, I still talk to them, um,they're really excited to read
the read my stories and thingslike that, that.
And they've just been, they'vebeen champions of me and my
writing and I think you knowthat is very much like comes
(14:11):
from a comes from being again,being intentional and like
reaching out and making thoseconnections, just like the
people here are great.
I have a lot of teachers that Icould say that like I 100% like
some of like you know whoinfluenced my writing and things
like that, especially some ofmy English teachers, like Miss
Myers and stuff like that, whoare just like I wrote short
(14:33):
stories and they were supersupportive and they were really
encouraging of things like thatand just and just basically all
the people who, like saw that Ienjoyed writing and who were
like, who were very encouragingof me.
Um, because writing we learnabout this a lot and like, when
you think about writing, youkind of think about, like I
don't know, a hermit living inlike a dark house, like writing
their great American novel andthen like going out and getting
(14:55):
it published and like, to anextent, writing is a very
solitary act Like you do ityourself.
No one can make you do it Likeyou do it.
You know you're usually doingit by yourself in a lot of ways,
but it doesn't necessarily haveto be that way and it shouldn't
be that way, and a lot ofwriters that succeed are because
they have a really goodcommunity of other people,
(15:17):
whether it just be, you know,people who are encouraging other
writers, readers, that kind ofthing.
Those people who are willing to, like a champion the book and
help you get it out there butalso just encourage you Because
it's hard.
It is hard to be a writer andyou experience a lot of
rejection and there's a lot oftime where you're rewriting
things and editing things andit's not always, you know, it's
(15:37):
not always pretty and it's notalways fun.
And just having those peoplethat you can lean on and be like
this is really hard.
And I don't feel like I'm a goodwriter and have those people
who are able to encourage youand speak against that, or just
people in your life who you know, even if they're not you're not
currently talking to them orwhatever.
I don't actively talked to a lotof my teachers, but I still
(15:58):
remember like what they said andlike their encouragement and
how they made me feel, and sowhen I'm feeling like I suck and
like I, you know I'm like, whyam I doing this?
I don't, you know, I don't knowwhy I'm doing this I can think
back to like I can reach out tothose people that I'm still in
contact with, and just thinkabout those people who told me,
like you know who who didencourage me and who who spoke
against that Um, and I think, Ithink that in a lot of ways, um,
(16:23):
aside from just you know, theeducation and like knowing how
to write well and things likethat, which I obviously learned
from our stars as well, but like, but just the, the community
and the people who who reallyencouraged and uplifted me, um,
especially when I was younger,um, cause that meant a lot and
it's still, it's stillinfluences, still influences me
to this day.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
That's so cool.
Yeah, I love you mentioned theglobal aspect and how so many
friends you get to meet fromaround the world.
And then teachers I love thatour teachers really do care
about our students and you'vebeen able to experience that and
the power of words, how thosewords ring in your head, the
encouragement and, yeah, theskills that you have to keep
pushing on.
So one of the questions I wasgoing to ask you is what
challenges have you faced inyour writing journey and how
(17:08):
have you overcome them?
And it sounds like the biggestone is the relationships that
you can rely on and the wordsthat you can go back to.
Are there any other things thathelp you?
Speaker 2 (17:18):
I definitely think that that is a really, really,
really big thing.
Um, because I am someone who'svery um, insecure and like
imposter syndrome is a realthing, um, so that's, that's
probably my 100%, my biggest tipand the biggest challenge I've
had to overcome.
I think the other thing is andit kind of goes hand in hand
with this a little bit iscomparison and perseverance.
(17:45):
Something that we talk about inwriting a lot is there's kind
of this idea that you know, withlike writing, you know you
should just kind of be able to.
You either have it or you don't.
And to an extent that's true.
There are some people who arenaturally gifted with words and
things like that.
But, like you know, when youlook at like a lawyer or
(18:07):
something, they have to go toschool for like 12 years before
they ever start making money orreally start like working on
their career, because there's alot of skills and things that
they need to learn and build inorder to be, you know, ready to
be a lawyer.
And in the same way, it's thesame way with writing.
They actually say that you needto write about.
I think they say something likethree or four novels before
you're actually ready to likebefore you'll actually have like
(18:28):
a novel that's like ready forlike serious like work and like
getting it ready for publication, that kind of thing, and that
it takes typically like sevenyears of you like actively
starting to like writeconsistently, that you'll you'll
be ready for that kind of thingand that your skill level will
be up to snuff and things likethat.
And so like it takes, writing abook takes a long time.
(18:51):
The publishing industry is slowand it takes a long time and it
takes a long time to.
It takes a while to build upthose skills.
Like there are skills that needto be taught and that you need
to build up in order to be agood storyteller, in order for
your book to be ready to bepublished and to be out in the
world, but also, like notgetting overwhelmed by that,
(19:18):
because it really does.
It takes a while and you have tobe able.
You have to, as one of mymentors says, you have to.
The goal of the game is to stayin the game until you win the
game, and so the goal is not toget there as fast as you can,
and that's kind of like whatwe're told.
Like you know, you want toclimb the corporate ladder as
(19:45):
fast as you want, to get thereas fast as you can, and that's
not.
That's not what you can do here, cause there's so many things
that are outside of your control.
You have to learn how to like,control what you can control,
and be perseverant and just likeand just stay in the game until
you win the game and be healthyenough to be able to stay in
this game for the long run.
Um, it's writing is a marathon,not a sprint.
Um and I think that's been oneof the other challenges that
I've had to learn, that, likesprint, um, and I think that's
been one of the other challengesthat I've had to learn that,
like I have to be, I have to beperseverant and I have to, you
know, just take things, takethings one day at a time, um,
(20:08):
and also know that the otherother writers and other people
like they're not, they're notyour competition, um, you know
people.
People have so many differentexperiences, and I think this is
just a good thing to know, forlife is like not to compare your
progress and your life to otherpeople's, because they are
probably doing life oncompletely different settings
than you are.
(20:28):
They don't necessarily have thesame past that you do.
They might've, you know, hadmore resources, resources,
whatever, like, their life looksentirely different from yours,
and so their results and wherethey are in life is going to be
different from where you are inlife.
And it doesn't help to compareyourself to other people,
because the only person that youreally need to compare yourself
to is like comparing yourself,who you are now, to where you
(20:49):
are, where you were in the past,and see if, like, if the
results are are matching up andeven if it's not, you know like,
are you happy with where youare as compared to where you
were in the past?
And if you're not, like how canyou change that?
And just don't think aboutother people, because that just
kind of leads to a lot ofbitterness and creating
competition where there reallyshouldn't be and just a lot of
(21:11):
unhappiness.
And I've definitely, I'vedefinitely seen that and I've
had to unlearn how to unlearncomparing myself to others and
just focus on, like, where I'mgoing and what I want to do, and
focusing on uplifting othersand encouraging them and
cheering them on, especiallyeven when I don't feel like I'm
where I want to be or thingsaren't going exactly where I
(21:33):
want them to be going, stillbeing able to be happy and
encouraging of other people andthe people in my life, the
people that I care about.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Yeah, that's really good and it's great advice, no
matter if you're going down thewriting journey or any journey,
and I just think it's soimportant, like you said, don't
miss the journey, because a lotof times we're always rushing to
the next step and you misswhat's happening today.
And so, yeah, that's reallyreally good advice.
Thanks for sharing that.
(21:59):
One last question I know withNorthstar there's a lot of
flexibility, and so how did thatflexibility with your online
learning shape your ability topursue your writing projects?
Speaker 2 (22:13):
That I could expound upon that for ages, but the
general principle is I neverwould have been able to do the
author conservatory or have anyhope of doing any writing
projects while I was in highschool if I weren't in, if I
weren't in Northstar.
That's literally the onlyreason I could do that program,
because that program was anadditional uh, 15 to 20 hours
(22:33):
per week of work and I didn'talways do that because I was.
You know, schoolwork came firstand stuff like that.
But I would not have had even aprayer of being able to do that
in in a public school.
Um, and the flexibility thatNorth star gave me, like I could
stop and go to critique calls,um, where I would get critique
on my writing instead of havingto be in school.
(22:53):
A lot of our critique callswere in the afternoon, so in,
you know.
So I'd take some time off fromschool and I would go do that.
Or I'd have the flexibility, ifI had a big writing deadline,
that I could focus on some of mynovel stuff and, you know, get
ahead in some of my North Starstuff and then focus on some of
my novel stuff.
I was able to go to conferencesand things like that.
Even when I was in school andpart of our training was, you
(23:19):
know, creating pop-up businessesand business working on
business stuff, which I was hadthe flexibility to do I did some
pet sitting as part of my, like, little pop up business, which
I, again would not have beenable to do without flexibility
of of North Star's flexibilityspecifically, and it being an
online school, a lot of it beingasynchronous really did allow
(23:42):
me to even do part of thisprogram, because otherwise, yeah
, otherwise, I would not havehad any time at all to do what I
did, and when I was in NorthStar, I think I wrote what I
wrote two novels and a novellawhile I was in North Star, and
it took a lot of work, but yeah,but that's what I was able to
(24:06):
accomplish while I was in myjunior, late sophomore, and then
junior and senior year and Iwas on student council and all
that kind of stuff too.
So, yeah, so I was doing a lot,but North Star Flexibility
allowed me to do all of that andpursue all of my various
passions, which was reallyreally, really great.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Yeah, you were always super active and just so
thankful for how you built upthe community.
You were part of the teamduring your time at North Star,
so thanks for doing that and Ilove that.
You are a lifelong learner andthat's how North Star students
are across the globe, and soit's so fun to see how they
(24:46):
pursue, you know and you'repursuing being an entrepreneur,
developing your skills.
And then I love the wisdom thatyou're learning and you're
pressing through really hardtimes and challenges, because
we're all going to havechallenges right All throughout
our life, every age, and it's ajourney for everyone.
So I'm so proud of you andencouraged by you and just your
(25:08):
discernment and wisdom, and justreally appreciative that you
would come on again and shareyour experience and your
continued journey with the Northstar community.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
This is great.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Yeah, with the North Star community.
Yeah, thank you so much forhaving me.
This is great, yeah, and we'llput the link down in the podcast
so that you can check out theshort story that Rihanna has
written along with the otherauthors in the Voices of the
Future.
It is volume three, yeah, andyou might be interested If
you're a writer and want topursue that.
You're listening today checkingout the Author Conservatory,
and you definitely be interestedif you're a writer, want to
(25:41):
pursue that.
You're listening today checkingout the Author Conservatory,
and you definitely want to goback a few episodes and listen
to Caleb Rennick's experience.
He is still in the AuthorConservatory and then he's even
got.
He's an entrepreneur too.
He's developed a course to helpyou right now in writing for
those that might be listening.
But we're praying for you,rihanna, that you're going to
have a great day and then justcontinuing on in your journey
(26:04):
with community college and allthat God is going to bring your
way.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Thank you so much for listening today.
If you have any questions forour guest or would like
information about Northstar,please email us.
At podcast at nsaschool, welove having guests on our show
and getting to hear theirstories.
If you have anyone in mind thatyou think would be a great
guest to feature, please emailus and let us know.
And don't forget to subscribeso you don't miss out on
(26:35):
upcoming stories.
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