The NorthStar Narrative
The NorthStar Narrative
Rhianna Ring-Howell: Embracing Individuality through Writing and Community
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.
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, welcome to this week's episode.
Speaker 1:I'm excited to introduce well, actually not introduce because she has been on the podcast before, but one of our alumni, rihanna Ringhowell, and she has a really cool story of what God's been doing in her life and has something in common with another alumni that's been on recently, caleb Rinnick, who they've both gone through the program the Author Conservatory, and Rihanna's had the privilege of being able to be part of one of their volumes of Voices of the Future, so I wanted her to share her experience going through the conservatory and how she's been able to write for a long time while she's at Northstar and then now beyond. And so, rihanna, thanks for coming to share your story. I know you've got some tips of what life is like after high school and then some tips maybe for you know students that are now doing online school, and we know education is changing a lot, so just what you're learning in those areas I'm so glad that you are here to share with us today.
Speaker 2:Awesome, yeah, no, I'm really. Yeah, I'm really excited to be here and to talk to you guys about my experience and just everything I've been up to.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of stuff that's happening and hopefully you'll be able to learn some things from this, maybe. Yeah, so you were on with a couple of other alumni about a year ago, so tell us what's been happening this last year.
Speaker 2:So this last year I finished, I graduated from the Author Conservatory with their first graduating class in June of 20, it's 2024 now, so June of 2024. I was part of their first official graduation, um. I'd been in the program for about four and a half years, um, and so this was really big um. I did it part two-ish years through, um, north Star, and then, well, I was in North Star and getting my degree here, um, and then I took a two-year gap year to finish, um, so yeah, so that's kind of been the the biggest's happened. I decided to continue my schooling, which I never really thought I would, and I'm currently pursuing an associate's degree in communications with the hopes of transferring to get a bachelor's degree in communications and music. Back to school, doing more school. But I'm really excited about it, especially since I did. I did online school here, and before that I was homeschooled, and so I've never actually been to like an in-person school before. So that's really exciting. And probably the announcement of the thing that I'm like the most excited about is for the Author Conservatory, as a sort of like capstone project, to kind of to tie together all the things that we were learning in the fiction, writing and business, because that's what the school was teaching was marketing um, business skills, and then the fiction writing skills.
Speaker 2:We I wrote a short story that is being published in anthology, along with 11 of my classmates, um, it's called. The anthology is called voice of the future stories of um, healing and home, um, and we're so. We all wrote the stories, we got edits on them, um it. They put it together in this beautiful book, uh, formatted it. We got to go through line edits, so all the like a scaled down uh, it's basically like a scaled down version of how like the book publishing process works, of how, like you would submit your manuscript and then you get edits on it developmental edits and you get to fix the story that 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 fixing sentences, and then they formatted it into a book for us.
Speaker 2:And now what we're doing is we're taking that book and we're marketing it, and the book is really cool because, um, all the proceeds go towards um, 100 of the profits go towards a scholarship fund, for, uh, that benefits a lot of my classmates who are in the anthology, including myself, as well as other students in the author conservatory, and helps us attend writers conferences so that we can pitch our novels and things like that to agents and editors, um, and get those book publishing contracts and things like that, um, because that's what?
Speaker 2:Uh, that's kind of like the the next step, um, writers conferences are a really great way for us to be able to get our writing out there, um, and make so, yeah, and just get our get our novels out there and get them 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've been practicing for the last four and a half years on a much smaller scale thing. That's a lot less pressure than actually like launching a book all on my own, and also just getting to showcase all the things that I learned so that people can actually finally read my writing, which I'm really excited about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love it. Incredible amount of experience. I love it. Incredible amount of experience. Yeah, you're getting over the past four years Really. Really amazing to hear your and Caleb's experience with the Author Conservatory and just your passion and skills God has given you for writing and now just learning. Yeah, the business aspects so cool. So I want to jump back to something you said about it's your first time to be like in a brick and mortar with people in school. So what is that like? What's the difference from online, being at home and now you know at this age, being with other people right around you?
Speaker 2:It's very interesting. Yeah, I think it's kind of funny because when I was younger, I always assumed that being in public school would automatically mean that I would have more friends or it would be easier to make friends and being around people, and to an extent, that's true, and maybe it's a little bit different with high school, because when you're in a brick-and-mortar school in high school, you're there with them eight hours a day, whereas in college you probably have different classes with different people and you're only really there for an hour and a half, maybe two hour classes if you have early on class, but all my classes are about an hour and they're twice a week and that's it not seeing these people as often, and so it's fun to get to like interact with people face to face and ask questions face to face and things like that, but it doesn't necessarily translate to like automatically having more friends. It makes it easier, and I definitely have been like making friends and making connections, but what's really funny is the skills that I learned through online school of learning how to like seek out and maintain friendships um, that are not like just maintained for you, because you see them all the time has actually been very beneficial being in college Because, again, like, even even with college, especially if you're a commuter student or you go to a community college or something like that, where you're not living on campus, you're not on campus 24, seven, um, which is like me I'm a commuter student, I don't live on, I don't live on the campus or anything like that. I just come for my classes and then I go home. Um, like, you do have to be really intentional about like, seeking, seeking opportunities to connect. You have to, yeah, to seek opportunities to connect and there's a lot if you look around for them, but you do have to take ownership of that and like and do that for yourself.
Speaker 2:Um, which I think was like somewhat 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 not necessarily the truth, um, with that. Um, that's true, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, then, being intentional. So that's what I was thinking before. You said the word intentional while you're describing it, because in an online environment, you have to be intentional. You're not rubbing shoulders during breaks before going to the next class. So I love that about North Star, though, because that intentionality that we have, I think, brings really meaningful friendships, and I know you've kept some, I'm sure, after graduating from Northstar. So that's yeah, that's really cool that you're getting so many different experiences in so many different areas. I love, I love hearing about that. Okay, tell us a little bit about the Voices of the Future and your short story. Was it modeled after someone or did you completely come up with the idea on your own?
Speaker 2:My short story Grown Up Magic is. Actually. It took me two years to write this short story, which is kind of crazy to say. I had an original short story that used the same characters, it was set in the same setting but due to just some of the themes that I was dealing with, I had to actually set it aside. So to give you an idea of like, the level of like, critique and feedback, like these short stories, like we, they were vetted and like there were people like me who wrote short stories who weren't, that weren't quite ready, and so we went back and we wrote a new one. So this is a new one.
Speaker 2:Winna was Winna, my main character. She's somewhat inspired by me. It's a little bit of a self insert into a story, a little bit, because the short story that I have is basically about a little girl who, in her quest to 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 the very short form of what it's about. And it was kind of inspired in part by a quote from CS Lewis who said someday you'll be old enough to start reading fairy tales again, and also in part by my experience as a young girl, um, who really loved fairy tales and fantasy and magic, who carried around a rainbow dash water bottle until she was 14, who, you know, wore unicorns on her t-shirts and played with dolls until she was 12, um, who was kind of like told by the people around her and society that, like, liking certain things made her immature or made her, you know, childish, and there was a lot of things that, like, I gave up or like hid or felt ashamed about that I shouldn't have, because there's not anything inherently immature or wrong with liking certain things or believing in, you know, believing in fairy tales, or, you know, thinking that, you know, maybe dragons do exist or things like that, or just enjoying things like, yeah, enjoying magical talking, colorful ponies or things like how to train your dragon or anything like that, and so, yeah, so that was kind of the inspiration behind this story of like this idea that, like Lewis, actually touches on this, that the very act of seeing certain things as being like like seeing certain things that aren't necessarily, like you know, harmful, like just enjoying a certain TV show or character or story or whatever, like enjoying a certain thing for yourself, like seeing that as being enjoying that thing as being childish. Like the very act of seeing that as childish makes you childish, which is kind of like flips, flips things on its head. Um, what we're told as kids, we're like you can't like these things or enjoy these things because that makes you childish. But the idea that that those things make you childish is just like a marker for being like a kid and being immature. And as you get older, you kind of realize that like it's okay, provided you're obviously you don't want to, like you know, hurt anyone or make anyone uncomfortable or anything like that. But like enjoying those things for yourself is fine and it's good.
Speaker 2:And we've lost a lot as we get older. We lose a lot of our child like wonder and imagination and like belief in what's possible and belief in like you know imagination. And like belief in what's possible and belief in like you know magic, whether that be you know physical types of things or if it's just like you know the, the magic of just the world, because the world, like, no matter what you believe about magic, like the world is magical in a lot of ways. Um, it's just, it's really cool.
Speaker 2:Um, I'd created a lot of like, a lot of really cool and magical things in the world, and when we're a kid we're able to see that a lot of like a lot of really cool and magical things in the world, and when we're a kid we're able to see that a lot more clearly than when we're an adult. So yeah, so it's basically just this coming of age story about this girl who's like wrestling with the idea of like she's growing up and getting older and like not losing that sense of like, wonder and awe when she sees the world and those like hints of imagination and things that like could be possible if she just looks closely enough.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think about society today and how I feel like kids are forced to grow up and not get to enjoy the creative play, and so I think about that in my own child. Sometimes it's hard for him to be creative and enjoy the world and enjoy play because of screens. Like kids are so much drawn to screens and so they see other people's imagination instead of being able to imagine on their own. So I love that that you write about that. Okay, let's talk about Northstar a little bit. So how did your journey at Northstar influence your writing?
Speaker 2:I think part of it was getting access to people with a lot of different backgrounds and meeting just a variety of a lot of different people. One of the really cool things about Northstar is getting to getting to meet people from all around the world who grew up in vastly different circumstances than you did. It's not like it's like we're completely, you know, different or whatever, but like there's a lot of people where it's like their experience like it's very different from yours in a way that, like you wouldn't necessarily see with you know a brick and mortar school where everyone's from you know your very specific area, and I think that was really cool and that influenced my writing, just like having having more people and experiences to pull from. And also, um, the students at Northstar are really, really supportive. I have a lot of friends who read some of my very early writing, who are super supportive of me. They were supportive of me then and 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 things like that, that. And they've just been, they've been champions of me and my writing and I think you know that is very much like comes from a comes from being again, being intentional and like reaching out and making those connections, just like the people here are great. I have a lot of teachers that I could say that like I 100% like some of like you know who influenced my writing and things like that, especially some of my English teachers, like Miss Myers and stuff like that, who are just like I wrote short stories and they were super supportive and they were really encouraging of things like that and just and just basically all the people who, like saw that I enjoyed writing and who were like, who were very encouraging of me.
Speaker 2:Um, because writing we learn about this a lot and like, when you think about writing, you kind of think about, like I don't know, a hermit living in like a dark house, like writing their great American novel and then like going out and getting it published and like, to an extent, writing is a very solitary act Like you do it yourself. No one can make you do it Like you do it. You know you're usually doing it by yourself in a lot of ways, but it doesn't necessarily have to be that way and it shouldn't be that way, and a lot of writers that succeed are because they have a really good community of other people, whether it just be, you know, people who are encouraging other writers, readers, that kind of thing. Those people who are willing to, like a champion the book and help you get it out there but also just encourage you Because it's hard. It is hard to be a writer and you experience a lot of rejection and there's a lot of time where you're rewriting things and editing things and it's not always, you know, it's not always pretty and it's not always fun. And just having those people that you can lean on and be like this is really hard.
Speaker 2:And I don't feel like I'm a good writer and have those people who are able to encourage you and speak against that, or just people in your life who you know, even if they're not you're not currently talking to them or whatever.
Speaker 2:I don't actively talked to a lot of my teachers, but I still remember like what they said and like their encouragement and how they made me feel, and so when I'm feeling like I suck and like I, you know I'm like, why am I doing this? I don't, you know, I don't know why I'm doing this I can think back to like I can reach out to those people that I'm still in contact with, and just think about those people who told me, like you know who who did encourage me and who who spoke against that Um, and I think, I think that in a lot of ways, um, aside from just you know, the education and like knowing how to write well and things like that, which I obviously learned from our stars as well, but like, but just the, the community and the people who who really encouraged and uplifted me, um, especially when I was younger, um, cause that meant a lot and it's still, it's still influences, still influences me to this day.
Speaker 1:That's so cool. Yeah, I love you mentioned the global aspect and how so many friends you get to meet from around the world. And then teachers I love that our teachers really do care about our students and you've been able to experience that and the power of words, how those words ring in your head, the encouragement and, yeah, the skills that you have to keep pushing on. So one of the questions I was going to ask you is what challenges have you faced in your writing journey and how have you overcome them? And it sounds like the biggest one is the relationships that you can rely on and the words that you can go back to. Are there any other things that help you?
Speaker 2:I definitely think that that is a really, really, really big thing. Um, because I am someone who's very um, insecure and like imposter syndrome is a real thing, um, so that's, that's probably my 100%, my biggest tip and the biggest challenge I've had to overcome. I think the other thing is and it kind of goes hand in hand with this a little bit is comparison and perseverance. Something that we talk about in writing a lot is there's kind of this idea that you know, with like 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.
Speaker 2:There are some people who are naturally gifted with words and things like that. But, like you know, when you look at like a lawyer or something, they have to go to school for like 12 years before they ever start making money or really start like working on their career, because there's a lot of skills and things that they need to learn and build in order to be, you know, ready to be a lawyer. And in the same way, it's the same way with writing. They actually say that you need to write about. I think they say something like three or four novels before you're actually ready to like before you'll actually have like a novel that's like ready for like serious like work and like getting it ready for publication, that kind of thing, and that it takes typically like seven years of you like actively starting to like write consistently, that you'll you'll be ready for that kind of thing and that your skill level will be up to snuff and things like that. And so like it takes, writing a book takes a long time. The publishing industry is slow and it takes a long time and it takes a long time to. It takes a while to build up those skills.
Speaker 2:Like there are skills that need to be taught and that you need to build up in order to be a good storyteller, in order for your book to be ready to be published and to be out in the world, but also, like not getting overwhelmed by that, because it really does.
Speaker 2:It takes a while and you have to be able. You have to, as one of my mentors says, you have to. The goal of the game is to stay in the game until you win the game, and so the goal is not to get there as fast as you can, and that's kind of like what we're told. Like you know, you want to climb the corporate ladder as fast as you want, to get there as 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 like and just stay in the game until you win the game and be healthy enough to be able to stay in this game for the long run. Um, it's writing is a marathon, not a sprint.
Speaker 2:Um and I think that's been one of the other challenges that I've had to learn, that, like sprint, um, and I think that's been one of the other challenges that I've had to learn that, like I have to be, I have to be perseverant and I have to, you know, just take things, take things one day at a time, um, and also know that the other other writers and other people like they're not, they're not your competition, um, you know people. People have so many different experiences, and I think this is just a good thing to know, for life is like not to compare your progress and your life to other people's, because they are probably doing life on completely different settings than you are. They don't necessarily have the same past that you do. They might've, you know, had more resources, resources, whatever, like, their life looks entirely different from yours, and so their results and where they are in life is going to be different from where you are in life.
Speaker 2:And it doesn't help to compare yourself to other people, because the only person that you really need to compare yourself to is like comparing yourself, who you are now, to where you are, where you were in the past, and see if, like, if the results are are matching up and even if it's not, you know like, are you happy with where you are as compared to where you were in the past?
Speaker 2:And if you're not, like how can you change that? And just don't think about other people, because that just kind of leads to a lot of bitterness and creating competition where there really shouldn't be and just a lot of unhappiness. And I've definitely, I've definitely seen that and I've had to unlearn how to unlearn comparing myself to others and just focus on, like, where I'm going and what I want to do, and focusing on uplifting others and encouraging them and cheering them on, especially even when I don't feel like I'm where I want to be or things aren't going exactly where I want them to be going, still being able to be happy and encouraging of other people and the people in my life, the people that I care about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's really good and it's great advice, no matter if you're going down the writing journey or any journey, and I just think it's so important, like you said, don't miss the journey, because a lot of times we're always rushing to the next step and you miss what's happening today. And so, yeah, that's really really good advice. Thanks for sharing that. One last question I know with Northstar there's a lot of flexibility, and so how did that flexibility with your online learning shape your ability to pursue your writing projects?
Speaker 2:That I could expound upon that for ages, but the general principle is I never would have been able to do the author conservatory or have any hope of doing any writing projects while I was in high school if I weren't in, if I weren't in Northstar. That's literally the only reason I could do that program, because that program was an additional uh, 15 to 20 hours per week of work and I didn't always do that because I was. You know, schoolwork came first and stuff like that. But I would not have had even a prayer of being able to do that in in a public school. Um, and the flexibility that North star gave me, like I could stop and go to critique calls, um, where I would get critique on my writing instead of having to be in school. A lot of our critique calls were in the afternoon, so in, you know. So I'd take some time off from school and I would go do that.
Speaker 2:Or I'd have the flexibility, if I had a big writing deadline, that I could focus on some of my novel stuff and, you know, get ahead in some of my North Star stuff and then focus on some of my novel stuff.
Speaker 2:I was able to go to conferences and things like that. Even when I was in school and part of our training was, you know, creating pop-up businesses and business working on business stuff, which I was had the flexibility to do I did some pet sitting as part of my, like, little pop up business, which I, again would not have been able to do without flexibility of of North Star's flexibility specifically, and it being an online school, a lot of it being asynchronous really did allow me to even do part of this program, because otherwise, yeah, otherwise, I would not have had any time at all to do what I did, and when I was in North Star, I think I wrote what I wrote two novels and a novella while I was in North Star, and it took a lot of work, but yeah, but that's what I was able to accomplish while I was in my junior, late sophomore, and then junior and senior year and I was on student council and all that kind of stuff too.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, so I was doing a lot, but North Star Flexibility allowed me to do all of that and pursue all of my various passions, which was really really, really great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you were always super active and just so thankful for how you built up the community. You were part of the team during your time at North Star, so thanks for doing that and I love that. You are a lifelong learner and that's how North Star students are across the globe, and so it's so fun to see how they pursue, you know and you're pursuing being an entrepreneur, developing your skills. And then I love the wisdom that you're learning and you're pressing through really hard times and challenges, because we're all going to have challenges right All throughout our life, every age, and it's a journey for everyone. So I'm so proud of you and encouraged by you and just your discernment and wisdom, and just really appreciative that you would come on again and share your experience and your continued journey with the North star community.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you so much for having me. This is great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, with the North Star community. Yeah, thank you so much for having me. This is great, yeah, and we'll put the link down in the podcast so that you can check out the short story that Rihanna has written along with the other authors in the Voices of the Future. It is volume three, yeah, and you might be interested If you're a writer and want to pursue that. You're listening today checking out the Author Conservatory, and you definitely be interested if you're a writer, want to pursue that. You're listening today checking out the Author Conservatory, and you definitely want to go back a few episodes and listen to Caleb Rennick's experience. He is still in the Author Conservatory and then he's even got. He's an entrepreneur too. He's developed a course to help you 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 just continuing on in your journey with community college and all that God is going to bring your way.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for listening today. If you have any questions for our guest or would like information about Northstar, please email us. At podcast at nsaschool, we love having guests on our show and getting to hear their stories. If you have 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.