The NorthStar Narrative
The NorthStar Narrative
Revolutionizing a Writer's Journey: Storytelling, Business Skills, and Personal Growth
Ever wondered how the convergence of storytelling and business skills can revolutionize a writer's journey? Join us for an enlightening conversation with Caleb Renich, a NorthStar Academy alumnus and current student at the Author Conservatory! Caleb shares his post-graduation journey, diving deep into the unique dual focus of his program, which hones storytelling craft while equipping writers with essential business acumen. The strong sense of community, mentorship, and collaborative environment at the Conservatory are vividly brought to life, highlighting the dedication of instructors and the invaluable support among peers. Learn about the perseverance and commitment necessary to succeed as a writer, as Caleb recounts his childhood storytelling inspirations and emphasizes the importance of hard work and persistence.
We also explore Caleb's comprehensive nine-week essay writing course, which meticulously guides students from idea inception to the final draft. Caleb's passion for teaching shines through as he shares his methodology, including lectures, hands-on assignments, and peer review sessions. Students leave the course not only with a polished essay but with newfound confidence in their writing abilities.
Hi, this is Stephanie Schaefer and you're listening to the North Star Narrative, a podcast from North Star Academy. I want to thank you for joining us. I hope you're encouraged, challenged and motivated by what you learned today. Enjoy the story. Hey everybody, Thanks so much for joining us today.
Speaker 1:Another super great podcast, because we have a really cool guy here with us today who is a graduate of Northstar and he is not new to the podcast. This is actually his third time, so he's a pro now. And let's see the episodes. He was on before was number 87, where we had some other students who were talking about the NSA community, where we had some other students. We were talking about the NSA community. And then he was also on podcast episode number 127, where he talked about community through vulnerability, and so I cannot wait to talk to him again today and just hear yeah, how is that community going in his next journey? And so he is currently a student at Author Conservatory, and so he is currently a student at Author Conservatory. Can't wait to hear about that journey as well.
Speaker 1:It's a three-year program for aspiring authors. He's living in Nashville, Tennessee. Maybe he's seen some cool singers, artists We'll find out about that. He loves to write fantasy stories, goof around with his little sisters and tutor young people in essay writing, and he's actually created his own online essay tutoring class which he's going to share with us today. So, Caleb, super excited to hang out again. We're going to see each other at graduation, I guess by the time this launches. Yeah.
Speaker 1:We've already seen each other at graduation, but excited about that, that's true. Yeah, thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 2:I'm so glad to be here, so nice to be back. Nsa holds a very special place in my heart and so anytime I get to come back and interact with that community, hang out with you guys is always just such a huge blessing because I love it here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so excited to have you stick around and be an alumni with us and just go on that journey. So tell us about what's happened since you graduated and I'd love to know about the program you're in, what you're learning. And then, yeah, how have you continued to develop that community around?
Speaker 2:you Absolutely so. After I graduated from NSA, like you mentioned, I joined the Author Conservatory, which is a wonderful, amazing program, and it's honestly, it's one of a kind I don't know nobody else is doing. What the Author Conservatory is doing, and essentially what it is is they have created this program specifically for like genre fiction, young genre fiction writers. That doesn't just teach them, it teaches them two things it teaches them the craft of storytelling. How do we tell good stories? How do we, how do we do this thing well and not just like, oh, I'm just gonna like write a random book and self-publish it and like not do the work, I'm gonna not not digging on self-publishing.
Speaker 2:I know a lot of amazing self-help authors, um, but we're going to do this right. We're going to learn how to tell good stories and how to do it quality, how to learn story structure, how to develop stories that you can sell, stories that you can pitch to agents and publishers. And not just, I'm going to go write in my room for five years, write a good novel and then bring it to the publisher and be like, hey, I spent five years on this novel. They're like great, I love you as a writer. You're amazing. I don't think I can sell this right now.
Speaker 2:What else do you have? And so teaching them to like, do that the smart way and to develop their writing skills in a practical, effective way. And also, on the flip side of that, they teach you business skills, because being a writer, getting into publishing, there's a lot of like business savvy that you need to have, cause, like you got to sell your own books, you got to market, you got to have a platform, you got to be able to engage and connect with people, and so they also teach you how to live as a writer not just how to write well, but how to do the writer life well, which is something that nobody else teaches you how to do. Yeah, I love that. In all my research, they're the only ones who do that.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. Yeah, it sounds like an incredible place and you're learning so much.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:So tell us about community there Community.
Speaker 2:the community is amazing.
Speaker 2:It's again, it's an online community, it's an online school, and so it's it's very similar to NSA, like you've got a lot of people, um just kind of coming together.
Speaker 2:I think my favorite aspect of the community there is the instructor relationships, because we have lots of different.
Speaker 2:We've got business instructors and we've got writing instructors and they are so dedicated to pouring into these people and pouring into these young writers, um, and like the relationships and the connection and the good mentorship and encouragement that goes on there and like I've been able to like spend a lot of time with these people and it's it's really cool to see like christian mentors actively pouring in and giving their all to these students and it's just been it's been a huge blessing and to be able to do that. Alongside, like, I've got a lot of new writer friends, um from here and um been working with two of them on I finished a novel recently and have been working with them. All three of us have finished novels and so we're going and working together to critique and to pour into one another through this process. So we'll each read each other's novels and give feedback and brainstorm and work together and it's just been a really beautiful experience of just like being surrounded by people who are heading the same direction.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think there's a there's a really deep sense of community in that we want the same thing, we're going to the same place, and so you can journey together, you can walk alongside each other and kind of lift up each other's arms when you're not feeling strong and have your arms lifted up as well, because it's like, because I understand, I get it, we're going to the same place here, yeah, and I think it's really cool.
Speaker 1:So cool and I know you invite that community around you and it's contagious. Yay, I'm so glad you found that now and are in the middle of that. So do you want to tell us anything about your novel that you've written?
Speaker 2:Sure, this would be a good practice for me. Grief and wrestling with guilt.
Speaker 2:And his story is that him and his father have this illegal brand of magic and his father is killed for it.
Speaker 2:And at the very beginning it's not that much of a spoiler because it happens right at the beginning His father dies and he feels this immense shame and guilt of like my father died because of me, because I wasn't good enough.
Speaker 2:And in that very intense emotion he uses his magic to essentially bottle his dad's soul as he's dying, and save him, preserve that. And then he's like oh well, I need to atone for that, I need to make it up, I need to fixone for that, I need to make it up, I need to fix what I broke. And his journey over is like realizing and like coming to understand his father more and coming to understand what he went through, because what his father went through to save him, and starting to recognize that my father didn't die because of me, he died for me, because he loved me, and learning to accept that and learning to ultimately let go and ultimately accept the gift that his father gave him. And I didn't realize I was going to be writing a gospel story when I started writing this novel, but it kind of happened and I'm not mad about it, yeah that's amazing.
Speaker 1:So what are you learning about yourself in writing through your journey right now that you didn't know, maybe like while you were at North Star?
Speaker 2:Well, how much time do you have?
Speaker 1:Tell me in two minutes.
Speaker 2:I have been learning a lot, and one of the things about writing and one of the things that I love about writing is writing is truth telling. The act of being a writer is the act of observing something in the world and telling the truth about it. It's one of the reasons that I want to be a storyteller. It's one of the reasons why like even as like Christians, we can go and read something that was not written by a believer and still find these nuggets of truth and still find the reflection of God, because God created everything. If we're going to observe creation and tell about it, whether on purpose or on accident, we have to tell the truth. We have to talk about things that reflect God's nature and his character, and one of the things that, as a writer, you do is a lot of what you're writing, you're pulling from yourself, so it requires a lot of introspection and it requires a lot of soul searching and recognizing. Oh, this is two things like this is who I am in my fallen human nature, this is where I've fallen short, and also, on the other hand, this is who god created me to be and this is who he, this is who he sees in me that I can't quite see yet. And there have been like with writing this story.
Speaker 2:I remember I I was creating a character arc for Josiah, my main character, and I remember I was like just slaving over it and working so hard and nothing was working. And I don't. I was like I don't understand what's wrong. And so I brought it to a call with some friends and they have like brainstorming calls. You can go and just be like I'm having this problem, somebody help me. And so I came and I'm like I don't know why my character arc is not working, I don't know what's going on. And then one of one of the older students comes and this is a very good community moment. She comes and she's just like hey, like I don't. I don't know exactly how she said it, but she said I feel like the lord's trying to do something with this character and you're not letting him because it's exposing you wow oh wow, oh no, I was like great.
Speaker 2:And I got off the call and cried and it was true and like, I went and examined that story and I realized I I was writing about myself and my own flaws and I didn't want to and I wanted to make this character something else. So I didn't have to mess with all that. But God's like no, I'm going to, I'm going to take you there and we're going to explore that and I'm going to go there with you and we're going to dig deep into who you are and who I've made you to be writing a short story right now and again, talking with my instructor and she kind of bits his character, kind of struggles with a bit of imposter syndrome. And then on the call, I was struggling with a bit of imposter syndrome and she's like ha ha, there it is, Dang it, You're right. Wow, what incredible.
Speaker 1:What an incredible friend. Oh, absolutely yeah, to be truthful, and yeah, the vulnerability on both sides.
Speaker 2:Yeah, writing requires a lot of vulnerability.
Speaker 1:Here we are again community and vulnerability, community and vulnerability, full circle. I mean, that's the journey right In. So so many ways and yeah, wow, thanks for sharing all that.
Speaker 2:And yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Incredible journey you're continuing on and I know I couldn't wait to talk to you because I know it's going to be so fun. What's next?
Speaker 2:So if you're listening to, this.
Speaker 1:Go back and listen to 127. Find it Put in Caleb Rennick. And yeah, find it put in Caleb Rennick. Um, and yeah, find it, because I remember that podcast being so cool and just sitting here thinking how do we have, how does Caleb have that much wisdom at his young age and being so wise and and just fine, and yeah, it was really really challenging.
Speaker 2:Thank you for that. I often like to joke that, uh, wisdom isn't knowing a lot of things, wisdom is being well acquainted with one's own stupidity.
Speaker 1:And if that's wisdom, then I got it All right. So for those maybe students that are listening, or, hey, any adult we can decide to be a writer right at any point in your life. A story like I've got a story, I've got a book in me, so what does it take? What does it take to be a writer from what you've learned so far?
Speaker 2:It takes less than you think it takes. Well, it takes both less and a lot more than you think. There's a quote that I love by I'm going to find it so I can actually quote it properly but it's by Aidan Peterson, who is Andrew Peterson, the singer-songwriter, his son, and he wrote this article that I read. That really left a very deep impact on me. But he said and I'm stalling so I can find it there it is Um, the percentage of talent that it takes to be an artist is dwarfed by the percentage of work, persistence and commitment you need to actually make it happen. Um, and I think I actually I think that really sums it up Like a lot of people like they'll read my writing and I'll be like oh, caleb, you're so talented, you've got like you just have this natural ease with words, and I'm like, not really, not really. I just grew up reading the Hobbit and I loved it and I wanted to do something similar, and so I trained myself and I worked hard and I read a lot more, I wrote a lot more, um, and honestly, I I heard a statistic the other day that the average person says around I think it was around like 16,000 words a day which is enough to fill like a 54 page book. And so, like, the words are there. Though, you have the words, you have something to say, and I think so so often. Like, we have this image of a writer in our heads of oh, they have, they're this English degree graduate and they're often their writer, cabin on a typewriter working on their next bestseller. They've got a mug of tea and it's quiet and it's very aesthetic and nice and peaceful. Old-fashioned typewriter. Yeah, old-fashioned typewriter, all that jazz, and we have this super high ideal of like, oh, that's a writer. But when I think of a writer and this is something that I talk about in my essay writing class I think of myself.
Speaker 2:At six years old, I loved to talk. I could talk your ear off. I don't know how I didn't asphyxiate because all the air was coming out and no more air was coming in. I don't know. I don't know how I'm here today, but I love to tell stories and I love to ramble and just see what I saw and talk about it, and I would tell stories. I would just like I would make up stories for myself. I'd like imagine worlds where my stuffed animals were alive and they could talk and we'd go on adventures together or I was some. I was like I was a middle school boy, so of course I imagine I was some secret agent on a mission somewhere and just all of these things. I just tell stories to myself, to other people, and I feel like that's kind of a universal human experience, right Of like. I like to talk, I like to tell stories as a kid, I like to engage and connect with people over them, and that's what I think of when I think of a writer.
Speaker 2:A writer is just somebody who likes to tell stories, who likes to talk about what they've seen, who sees the world and tells the truth about it. Like that's what it takes to be a writer. And everyone has that, everyone has that capacity in them to just tell a story. And I think we miss that and I think we've missed out on a lot of life because we tell ourselves we're not writers, because we tell ourselves we don't have a story, because the stories are everywhere we are. We're living a story, like I think it's. I think it's telling that when everybody's on a journey and like when God created the handbook for how to understand his character, how to get close to him how to know his heart. He told a story, he wrote a book, and it's not a book of rules and like checklists, it's a narrative. It's the world's greatest epic fantasy and it's the greatest because it happened.
Speaker 2:And I think that imprint is on all of us as we all understand story and so, when it comes to being a writer, just tell the truth. It doesn't have to be fancy, it doesn't have to have proper grammar, like that'll come in the rules and all of the clutter that we've added on top of it. Like, sure it's important, sure, it's like. I'm a career writer. I want to tell stories. Well, I want to understand story structure and story craft, but not everybody needs that. Sometimes, like, being a writer for you is just, I have a story I want to tell. Maybe I'm just sitting with, like maybe I'm just a parent sitting with my kids at night coming up with this story, like that's being a writer. Maybe I'm just doing, uh, writing an article for a blog, that you're a writer. All of those things, all of those stories that you have to tell, all connect back into that and it's so much more simple than we make it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that's true, and I've learned that by all the interviews I've had on here, all the cool connections. Everybody's got something, everybody's got a story, something in them, a nugget of wisdom, and everybody's so unique and everyone's on a journey. I think it's just that we don't take time to look like we're just running, running, running, running and uh down the road or on that journey, and then we're not like looking at the beauty, we're not experiencing the community and the vulnerability.
Speaker 2:And that's what we would have to tell if we took the time to tell yeah, there's a line from a song that I like, but but it's essentially like back when speed would mean just how far you get now, it's just how quick you lose, and I think we like being busy and like rushing and not paying attention, but like it's just when you go slow and when you pay attention you start to see the stories and they're everywhere. Like one of the most common writer questions that I get is like how do you come up with your ideas? I'm like how do you not Like that's there's so many, there's so many stories, like you said, like everybody has a story that they're living.
Speaker 1:It's not like oh, there's a story in you that has it's like. Said like, everybody has a story that they're living. It's not like. Oh, there's a story in you that has it's like no, you are a story. You're made of story. You're in a story, god story. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, take the time to, like you said, get in, get into his narrative. Who are we in him? What has he created us for? What's coming? It's not just now what's coming, yeah, there's so so much okay, tell us about.
Speaker 1:So you've mentioned. I've talked about the class, your online essay tutoring class, if somebody wanted to take that. What are? What are they getting into? What are they going to receive?
Speaker 2:absolutely, um. So I have. I've essentially created this class with homeschoolers in mind, like, uh, it's, I've developed it kind of like. Looking at this need of like, you know how. There are those like middle or late middle school, early high school students, um, and they're they're being homeschooled and all of a sudden they hit this mark where they're like oh, I'm supposed to be writing essays. I've never done this before, um. And then you've got this, these parents who are teaching them, who are like oh, I want to, like, I want to give that to you, I want you to equip you to write well, but I don't feel confident, I don't have the time, I don't have the energy, I don't have the experience to give you these skills that you need, um, and there's like a lot of, there's like a very real fear and frustration in that of like oh, you need, you need to have this thing, and I don't feel like I can give it to you. And so that's kind of where I come and step in and I'm like hey, I'm a career writer, this is what I do for a living, this is what I love, this is what I'm passionate about, um, and so I kind of come and step in.
Speaker 2:It's a nine week long course and each week we unpack a step in writing an essay. So we start with, like finding an idea, finding an idea to write about, finding that, the seed of truth, that becomes that story. And then we walk through okay, how do you find an audience for this essay? How do you do research? How do you create a thesis? How do you structure? How do you get critique? And then how do you like edit, finish, polish this draft, and then how do you celebrate, how do you move forward? And how do you like edit, finish, polish this draft, and then how do you celebrate, how do you move forward and how do you like honor the work that you did and move on to the next thing.
Speaker 2:And so each step of the process they will I'll like give a lecture, explain kind of how this premise works, what this step looks like, and then I say, okay, go do it, go do it for yourself and like, get that experience. And so each week they will do that step, send it into me, I'll critique it, I'll give feedback, and then we move on to the next step. So at the end of these nine weeks they come out with essentially like a very solid essay that they've worked on for two months, that they've kind of perfected and gotten to the point where they're like I can be proud of this Like I don't consider myself a writer I never considered myself a writer before but now I see I can do this because I did this thing and it worked and it's really good and I'm happy with it and that's kind of the idea. That's the heart and soul of the course.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. All right, how does someone sign up?
Speaker 2:You can email me at crennictutors at gmailcom. I am also on Facebook and Instagram. You can find me, caleb Rennick or crennictutors, and that's Rennick, is R-E-N-N-I-C-H, and so email me and I will get back to you. I can send a registration link to get signed up for the course. I have a new class group every month, and so you can get payment details, signup info, timing, all of that from that form. So, yeah, shoot me an email. I would love to have any and all students in my class. It's really fun to teach. Honestly, it's one of those things that I'm just like I'm getting paid to do this. What? This is awesome.
Speaker 1:So cool. So it's kind of like a cohort. You can sign up and you'll get to interact with other students as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's the fun thing is like, when we have that bigger class group, you get all of the interactions. I have one lesson in the course that's specifically dedicated to peer critique, where I kind of go hands off and I'm like I've taught you guys how to give critique. You guys read each other's essays and let's talk about them and let's brainstorm them, and it's super fun. It's one of my favorite lessons in the course.
Speaker 1:So fun. Okay, everybody, I highly highly recommend this course with Caleb because I know Caleb and he is, like you can tell, so fun, so wise, so I know you would learn a lot and get to know him more.
Speaker 2:I'd love to teach any and all students and we have a great time and we get to learn a lot. It's cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so cool, so excited again for your journey and just sharing with us and, yeah, what else God's going to continue doing and all the people that are going to get to read your novel and just experience your vulnerability. And everybody got a sneak peek today. Yeah, behind the curtain. Yeah, all right, anything else you want to share with our listeners that we haven't covered?
Speaker 2:Anything else I want to share, Nashville anything going on Love. Nashville, nashville's very cool. Really love the work that the Rabbit Room is doing. I'm sure you're familiar, but that's andrew peterson's uh creative community he's built up. They've doing a lot of cool things for the artistic, specifically the christian artistic community here in nashville and it's it's really cool yeah, I'm heading there for a conference.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, what should I do while I'm there? What should I do while?
Speaker 2:you're here. Oh, that is a good question. I'm still a relatively new Nashvilleian so I don't know what I have to say. But if you get the chance, if you're into spicy foods the Nashville hot chicken, which is it's kind of like that, oh, you're going to Nashville, you have to try the Nashville hot chicken, um, which is it's kind of like the oh, you're going to nashville, you have to try the nashville hot chicken. In my experience, hattie b's has been my favorite. That's kind of like that, that's kind of the nashville staple um. So if you can get hattie b's natural hot chicken, that's. That's the good stuff right there yeah, I love some hot chicken.
Speaker 1:We got gus's fried chicken around here.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, uh-huh, that's so good.
Speaker 1:Yummy, all right, cool. Well, super excited about seeing you at Northstar's graduation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, can't wait.
Speaker 1:It's going to be lots of fun. Yeah Well, thanks so much for sharing today and joining us again.
Speaker 2:Thanks so much for having me. It's been a huge blessing.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for having me. It's been a huge blessing. Anyone in mind that you think would be a great guest to feature, please email us and let us know, and don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss out on upcoming stories.