We’ve launched a podcast and our founder, Racquel Henry is the host! The Write Mindset Podcast is designed to teach and remind writers about the importance of mindset. A mastery of craft is essential, but a writer’s mind is the most powerful tool they have. You cannot have mastery of craft without your brain. The mind is where everything begins. This podcast will help writers strengthen their mindsets to increase long-term writing success.
Below, you can listen to the first episode or read an informal version of the first episode of The Write Mindset Podcast!
Here’s The Write Mindset, Ep. 1: Intro + Why!
Hi, all! My name is Racquel Henry and I am the founder of the writing studio, Writer’s Atelier in Winter Park, FL. I wanted to take this first episode to introduce myself and tell you a little bit about some of the work we’ve done at Writer’s Atelier and why I decided to start this podcast.
Writer’s Atelier started as an editing company back when I was in college. I used to edit my roommate’s essays for free, and eventually, word spread to friends of friends and I was then editing papers for pretty much all my friends in college. At the time, I didn’t know I wanted to be an editor. In fact, I was denying a career in writing overall. I thought that I wanted to be an optometrist. (Please don’t ask). When I was in my first English class, my professor made us write a diagnostic essay. When she finished grading them, she handed them back in class, all except mine. Then she said to me, in front of the entire class no less, “See me after class.”
Now, you know by this time my palms started getting sweaty and all I can keep thinking about is that she’s going to recommend that I go to remedial English. There’s nothing wrong with that if you need to start somewhere else, but I had already taken AP English and I was quite the overachiever, so that would have been heartbreaking for me.
So when she dismisses us, I let everyone clear out and I take my time packing up my stuff because the longer I can prolong having to talk to her, the better. Then she says, “Let’s step outside in the hallway.”
We step outside and she asks me what I’m majoring in. When I tell her I’m pre-optometry, she asks, “Why?”
And I’ll never forget the look on her face. Her brows were wrinkled and her face was completely scrunched up. The next part is really important, I told her, “I don’t know.” Because I didn’t know. I mean, I wore glasses, and I didn’t want to be a full-fledged doctor, but I had always liked the idea of being Dr. Henry. Optometry, in my head, was a way to get to that without all the intensity that comes with med school. And that’s not to say that optometry wouldn’t have been a lot of work, but I had checked out the requirements, and I knew I wouldn’t have to learn all the gory things that traditional med school students had to learn.
At this time I was also struggling with general chemistry and precalc trig and precalc algebra. I was writing my English papers in an hour or two and getting As, meanwhile, I studied math and science for hours and could barely get a C.
So then I thought, well, maybe I’ll study to be a lawyer. That involves words and it’s still a well-paying career. You see, I always thought that I couldn’t make any money as an English major unless I became a teacher. Again, that wasn’t my thing because I was also incredibly shy in my younger years. These days I speak in public and I lecture in front of students on a daily basis as a part-time English professor, but back then I would have been paralyzed to stand up in front of people. Now I do it all the time—though I still have to talk myself down from a ledge right before. I figured there was nothing out there for me if I took the English major route.
Then I went on to English II and I had yet another professor who encouraged me and further solidified my love for words and writing. It wasn’t long before it became a no-brainer: I was going to major in creative writing.
I’ll never forget the very first creative writing class I took at USF. (Go Bulls by the way!) It was an introductory class called Narration and Description. I remember the second day of class when we actually started to get down to work. The professor was going over stuff from the book, and we even wrote for a little bit because there were writing exercises too. He had already told us on the first day that we’d be practicing. At the end of class when he said, “Okay, that’s all for today,” I remember being stunned. I could not believe that an entire class period had passed. My eyes shot up to the clock on the wall, and it was indeed time to go. I felt all kinds of emotions: surprise, sadness. I didn’t want the class to be over. I wanted to stay and listen to what else he had to say.
That was my very first creative writing class. That semester it became my favorite class. Every class period went by like that. I realized that semester that all I wanted to do was write. I had to be a writer. I knew it was going to be a hard, long road, but I was going to stick it out until I got where I wanted to be. Needless to say, I double majored in Creative writing and criminology because I felt like I needed to have a plan B. Let me tell you all, I don’t use that criminology degree at all! If I had known that I’d be doing what I’m doing now, I would have chosen marketing or business as my second major. I was still very afraid that I wouldn’t find a job as a writer, or wouldn’t have anything to do to make a living after college in general.
Then I got into editing. I started to edit papers in college for my roommate who then told friends and before I knew it, I was the one everyone was bringing their papers to. I also discovered in my MFA program that I really enjoyed giving feedback on work. And that was how Writer’s Atelier was born. I did a lot of free work and I also did a ton of work at insanely low rates.
While I was getting my MFA from Fairleigh Dickinson University, I also got it in my head that I wanted to teach. If you’re a writer who is in a program or plans to go on to teach then you know that the requirements for those jobs can be over the top. It’s like this constant wheel of having to prove yourself. You have to get the MFA, even better if you have a Ph.D. Then you also have to publish a book. But it can’t just be any book. It has to be from a reputable press. And on and on. It’s really hard to get a job in academia.
Enter my bright idea about teaching my own classes. I was very stubborn. I thought: No one is going to stop me from teaching and spreading my passion for writing! I put together a series of fiction classes and I was going to promote these classes everywhere I could think of. But then I thought, wait, WHERE am I going to teach these classes?
Back then there weren’t a whole lot of options. There wasn’t all the flexibility that comes with office space. Literally everything was expensive. Then I stumbled on this local café that used to rent their conference room out for $20 an hour. I was excited! I had found a spot. But the thing was that it took a long time to get things off the ground. I sometimes had a few people sign up and then eventually I had a class and no one showed up. I ended up being out the money because the café could have rented the facility to someone else.
I remember thinking to myself, wouldn’t it be cool if I could open a writing space that writers could learn about the craft, network with other writers, and not worry about cost? So this was all while I was living in Tampa. Well, y’all, I did end up landing that teaching gig after all. And as it turned out, it was going to be closer to central Florida. Orlando was my hometown, and I had always wanted to go back. Plus, in terms of the arts scene, specifically the literary scene, I felt that it was flourishing more than it was in Tampa.
So, I packed up my things from my beautiful lakefront apartment, and I moved back to the city I had thought I wanted to get away from. I knew that dream of expanding Writer’s Atelier was still there. It was always in the back of my mind that I was going to do this. So then I thought, okay, how am I going to get there? I thought maybe I can start small. I can create a mini version of this space and then as we grow, I can always move into a bigger space. I had this huge vision for Writer’s Atelier. I wanted this massive facility with private offices people could rent and a café and a bookstore and a spot that looked like a living room. I had PLANS.
I figured that I should start looking around to see what a smaller space would cost. I wanted to have a number in my head, that way I could focus on working up to affording that kind of space.
You know how everyone always tells you to jump? How you shouldn’t overthink and just do it? Well, that’s exactly what I did. I didn’t have a solid plan. I had no business loan, I had no money saved up. Zilch. I actually paid the deposit for the space from my tax return money. Now, do I recommend going this route? Probably not. I definitely took the harder route. But you know what, I did it, and I’m really glad I did. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Plus, I think if I had waited, maybe I never would have taken that leap. I was scared shitless, but I did it anyway. I kind of knew in the back of my mind that I wanted this and wanted it bad. And I knew that it wasn’t going to be easy. It was going to be a lot of hard work. And I was okay with that.
And I’ll tell you, a lot of folks didn’t think I was going to make it. In fact, I remember going to literary events to try and spread the word about what I was doing and people would give me these puzzling looks. Like, “You’re doing what?” It was almost like they didn’t believe that I could make it work. It made me a bit sad, but my mentality was always: “Fine, I’ll prove you wrong.” That’s one of my secrets. When someone tells me I can’t do something, I go harder in the paint. I want to show the world that they were wrong about me. Now, here I am four years later.
And so that is exactly why I want to use this show. I want you all to see that with a proper mindset, you can achieve your writing goals. What I’ve noticed time and time again about writers is that they don’t have the proper mindset. Mindset is critical to writing success. Don’t let anyone tell you differently. Of course, you have to be a good writer, but I promise you that the main difference between you and that bestselling author, is the fact that they believed in themselves enough. They may never admit it, but they were probably crazy enough to believe that they could be a bestselling author.
You know how the saying goes: “If you think you can’t, you can’t. If you think you can, then you can.” That can so easily be applied to writing. You have to hold this immense belief in yourself and that starts with The Write Mindset.
I can’t wait to be alongside you on this journey. We’re going to talk about how we can keep and cultivate the write mindset throughout our entire writing careers. Be on the lookout for new episodes.
If you liked this episode, please remember to leave a review and subscribe. Keep up with Writer’s Atelier on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @WritersAtelier, plus via our website at www.writersatelier.com. And if you’d like to become a WA member, check out our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/WritersAtelier.
Thanks for listening!
