Career Witchcraft
Start. Restart. Add TikTok.
Rebecca Regnier knows what it’s like to be cool and famous. She spent 20 years as a television news anchor, followed by a career as a successful fiction author.
But the most cool and famous thing she started may in fact be her TikTok feed. I’m a fan of one of her early masterpieces, a TikTok dishing out an epic momsplaining to teenagers titled ‘Are You Alive?’ The post went viral, and has more than 3.5 million views. Take a look!
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I met Rebecca at the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop a couple of years ago, where she was definitely one of the cool kids…the author of 19 books. NINETEEN! My favorites are in her Widow’s Bay series, fun witchcraft themed murder mysteries with names like Wands Have More Fun, Resting Witch Face and Late Broomers! You gotta love a sassy witch story.
Rebecca writes so much, in so many genres, that she uses two names, Rebecca Regnier and Rebecca Rane. I was excited to hear from both Rebeccas when she was one of the Erma Bombeck workshop instructors, but it turns out she didn’t teach about book writing. She was the resident expert on TikTok!
Rebecca’s stARTist story is the kind I love most – one of startistic courage and curiosity that takes her from one career to another, with gorgeous happy accidents along the way, especially in mid-life.
Becky: You’re a stARTist. How does this show up in your life?
Rebecca: I've always created. I started as a journalist. Even in my twenty years in television news I sought to tell stories in unique ways. I always dug for the quirky angle of daily news. While working a full time job as a news anchor, I pitched a humor column to my local newspaper. I also blogged.
I enjoy telling stories. I am thrilled when they impact people – when they laugh, or cry, or say ‘yes! I recognize that!’ Even when I lead a non-profit, the crux of my fundraising efforts center on telling the story of our mission. I can't draw my way out of a paper bag, but I love to create using video, essay and prose. I've discovered that being creative takes so many forms and no matter what my role, I gravitate to the finding ways to tell a story.
Becky: You’ve made books, television programs, classes, and social media. Which career are you best known for?
Rebecca: Ha! It depends on who you ask. If you ask the internet, I'm a viral video creator.
But ask someone in my town and they know me from tv. When you anchor for twenty years people bond with you. So here, in Northwest Ohio/Southeast Michigan that's the top thing. Even though, these days, my day job is as a fulltime author of women's fiction.
Becky: Most people are terrified to stART a TikTok, much less a new career. How did you build your stARTistic muscles?
Rebecca: My son said to me once, “you're not like other moms.” I wasn't sure what he meant. He said "You're not afraid. You're not afraid of tech or learning a new social media platform or putting out a book. You just try it." It's one of the best compliments I've ever gotten.
My super power is being okay with learning. You aren't good at things when you start. So what? As we age, it's harder, because we're supposed to be "experts" in our forties or fifties. So people stop taking those leaps into the unknown. They don't want to look silly. I am fine with being a beginner. I learn best by doing.
I build my stARTistic muscles by understanding that no one cares what I look like the first day. I don't announce, "I AM GOING TO TRY THIS." I just go in and start. Sometimes it's a bust. And sometimes I figure it out, spectacularly!
I have two new careers in my forties and fifties because I decided to try something new.
Becky: I can relate to your career path. We both started as journalists. How and when did you begin to write creatively?
Rebecca: I started writing fiction on the side in 2001. I wrote two novels. But they didn't really go anywhere. I picked it up again when my son went away to college. I believe the empty nest is an opportunity for women. I tell every mom I know, “use this time! Pursue something you put aside because you were so busy with little ones.”
An empty nest is like being twenty again, except you have back pain and need readers. But practically speaking, when I didn't have to be at football or wrestling or band practices, I found more time to pursue a dream that I'd put aside
.
Becky: Tell us about something you now stART easily that used to be difficult.
Rebecca: I always did video, thanks to the tv news thing. But that video had to be perfect. Perfect hair, makeup, sound, quality. That's pressure and not the best way to find your voice. You'll see some of my early TikToks are staged, I thought a lot about what I wanted to do. I planned them out. But I gravitated, as an audience member, to content creators that were raw. To things that felt more authentic.
At first it was difficult to let go of the polished presentation that I'd cultivated my whole life. But when I did…when I just let it rip – here's my thought, here's my observation, no extra gloss – I went viral. It was a lesson to me. Since then my main TikTok is less about marketing or packaging and more about, ‘here's what I think’, or ‘here's what I notice.’
Becky: What would you say to someone having trouble pulling the trigger on their idea? Give your best pep talk, or quote someone who inspires you.
Rebecca: You and I met at Erma, I'd say this Erma Quote is perfect. “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me.” I'm trying like hell to use what I've got. For as long as I can. What else is there?
Becky: Not only have you written 19 books, you’ve written in multiple genres. How do you begin writing in a new genre?
Rebecca: I do research to be sure I understand that genre. What do people love about it? When I started writing my women's fiction novels, I'd already spent a lifetime reading in that genre. But I read at least ten more novels in the same vein. I want to be sure I could meet reader expectations in women's fiction. If, say, my book had murders and serial killers, that's a suspense thriller. If you pick up a book by Elin Hilderbrand you have an idea of what you're going read, not that she doesn't surprise you, but there' s not an unreliable narrator or an alien abduction. As opposed to picking up a Gillian Flynn novel, you expect a different experience. Really figure out what shelf your novel should be on before you start writing it. You can be creative, you can be original, but you really shouldn't be all over the map.
So, the teacher has sent you to the chalkboard. What is the LAST thing you want to be told to do?
Solve for X.
Rock and roll or disco?
Rock and roll. But then I'm on an Elvis thing right now.
Dressing tossed in or on the side?
Tossed in.
PDA: Yes or no?
Yes.
Erasers: Yes or no?
Yes.
What is something you want to start that might surprise people?
Indoor Cycling Instructor training
Okay, Rebecca, finish these sentences:
The best way to kill an idea is to …Overthink it.
The best time to start something is …Early in the morning. Before you do anything else that day. Coffee in one and and then go!
The best thing I ever started that I didn’t finish is …compiling my humor columns into a book.
My stARTist crush is …Julia Childs. Can I say that? She started her tv show at 51. If you want to be inspired, watch the show Julia on HBO. It's a wonderful look at the creative process and on betting on yourself at any age.
If I had never started an entry into a nationwide contest to host a cooking show and wound up a finalist, I would never have earned the experience and confidence to pitch my own local lifestyle show. That show ran for seven years!
Learn more about Rebecca and buy her books HERE! Follow her on TIkTok, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Pinterest.