Today we’d like to introduce you to Terra Elan McVoy.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started “writing” stories as early as three years old. And from there my passion for storytelling has never ceased. All of my jobs and degrees have centered around either reading or writing (usually a combination of both) in one way or another. I majored in Creative Writing at St. Andrews University in Laurinburg, NC, and received my MA in Creative Writing from Florida State University. I’ve been manager and bookseller at Little Shop of Stories in Decatur, GA; was Program Director of the AJC Decatur Book Festival; and even answered fan mail for Captain Underpants while working as an editorial assistant at Scholastic in New York. In 2009, my first novel for Young Adults, PURE, was published by Simon and Schuster, and I have a total of eight books for tweens and teens. I’ve taught both adults and young people in a variety of creative writing courses, including at the Yale Writers Workshop and Smith College Young Women’s Writing Workshop,
In 2017 I left the realm of publishing, teaching, and bookselling to exercise my storytelling (and team management) skills in fundraising and then marketing. Now, I am Editor and Chief of Staff at Rootstock — a thought leadership consulting agency. Every day, I get to practice all the things I enjoy most: collaborating, team and project managing, creative strategizing, and using my writing skills in a variety of ways to help others tell their best stories to the right people.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
If the road was smooth, the story wouldn’t be that interesting, would it? But the challenges I’ve had have all been opportunities to think creatively, troubleshoot, and learn new things — so ultimately, the bumps in the road have been benefits.
One early struggle was hitting a job ceiling while I was working in publishing in New York. After two and a half years, I hit reached a point where there just wasn’t room to grow, and for the first time, I wasn’t sure what to do about it. So, I took some time to ponder and ultimately ended up moving to Atlanta based on a friend’s recommendation and a desire to be closer to my family in Tallahassee, FL. Though I had no job when I got here, thanks to the group of literary friends, I found out about an independent children’s bookstore that was opening up, got the owner’s contact information, and convinced them to hire me. Little Shop of Stories still remains one of the great loves of my life, and being a part of establishing that now vital part of our community is some of the most meaningful work I’ve ever done.
Of course, being a bookseller and an author at the same time was a huge thrill. Even though I’d studied writing my whole life, I never expected to really get published. When PURE took off, I just followed that train and kept writing. As a result of my books, I was extremely blessed to also do a lot of teaching and school visits — all of which I completely loved. But in the twenty-teens, the YA landscape started to shift, and I saw that the kinds of stories that I wanted to write weren’t what readers most needed (namely — a lot more diverse voices than mine). Being an author is also a rather self-absorbed occupation, and I was ready to be a part of something bigger. Admittedly, it was a hard shift, especially since after being out of a “traditional” job for so long, I wasn’t sure I could even do it. There was a steep learning curve, being back in an office and dealing with those kinds of politics, but it taught me a ton, including how to create processes and empower teams in a way that truly allows everybody to succeed and do rewarding work.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My work partner at Rootstock often describes me as “one of those rare unicorns who can use each side of her brain with equal ferocity.” This means, I guess, that a big thing that sets me apart is that I’m really creative and talented as a writer and event planner, but I can also be incredibly practical — managing and strategizing a zillion details and priorities, too.
I suppose this comes from the fact that even since middle school, I’ve seen that in order to be our most creative selves, we need structure, support, and discipline. So many of the writers I have admired in my life had (or have) a very strict writing routine, and also rigorously shape their lives outside of being artists so that they can be really present for their craft. Project management and accountability, clear processes, training, cross-communication, scheduling, and budgeting in a way that allows for restoration . . . these things are important to me because they build a strong platform for creativity. You can’t freely tap dance if you’re worried the stage is going to fall apart, after all.
Similarly, nobody exceeds at anything without teachers, coaches, and mentors. And many of us know how demoralizing it can be to have a terrible boss. So I’ve worked hard to not only create or improve upon the systems and structures in whatever organization I’ve been at so that we can all do good work, but to also teach and empower everybody in the why behind what’s happening and then make sure they have what they need to execute (and even improve on) it themselves. Thinking about how to accomplish all this — What do people need to do and why? How are we going to do it? What does everyone need to get there? — is another specialty that just really lights me up.
Contact Info:
- Website: terraelan.com
- Linkedin: https://www.
linkedin.com/in/terra-elan- mcvoy-00a5782/
Image Credits
Gena O’Neall
Terra McVoy
