Author Interview – Alison Jessica Weihe – Belonging

On The Table Read Magazine, “the best entertainment eBook magazine UK“, Alison Jessica Weihe talks about her memoir, Belonging, that chronicles a journey of self-discovery, exploring themes of love, acceptance, and inspiration, during the turbulent journey of South Africa towards democracy.

 

Written by JJ Barnes

www.jjbarnes.co.uk

I interviewed Alison Weihe about her life and career, what inspired her to write about her life in Belonging, and her creative process.

Tell me a bit about who you are.

I am a sociologist at heart. I became a political activist and journalist in the Anti-Apartheid movement for almost 20 years because I realized it was the economic power of the labour movement that would be pivotal in dismantling apartheid.

That journey, working alongside many remarkable leaders of the time, shaped many of my values, and my subsequent journey.

I went on to become an award-winning entrepreneur in the construction industry, for a further 20 years.

At the age of 60, I attended a global summit, and it was pivotal in evoking the courage to tell my story – a story I had kept hidden for 30 years.

Now as a speaker, a writer, and a global coach, telling my story has made sense of my whole life. It has led me to a fascination with identity intelligence precisely because it took so long for me to find my true identity.

When did you first WANT to write a book?

Although I was a political journalist when I was younger, I stopped writing for 30 years.

It was only when I attended a personal development summit at the age of 60 that I realized the power of my story.

I recognised that it might help many people, sharing the human face of my entrepreneurial journey, my personal transformation journey, and my mental health journey to wholeness.

It was the storytellers at global summits that unlocked my courage to want to tell my story. But it was still terrifying initially, as I had lots of fear around being so honest and so vulnerable.

I had to overcome my fears to tell my story. I had to embody my message in order to become more visible.

I had to step through the fear of judgement I had grappled with my whole life.

I had to become the courage I write about.

I had to step into transcendent faith.

I had to understand that I was merely the messenger and that my story mattered.

When did you take a step to start writing?

I started writing my book just before COVID-19 began in South Africa with long periods of shutdown. It was an ideal time to tell my story because my life had been paused just as the world was collectively paused.

It was a moment when we all took stock of our lives. I think it was when I reflected on my entire life and made sense of my journey.

I initially worked with a scriptwriter to create the structure and framework of the book, and I spent an entire day unlocking the why behind my story, which allowed me to understand why I needed to be so vulnerable.

When I was grappling, I had a book coach based in Germany, and she kept on saying” Write from your heart, not your head”.

I kept on coming back to that voice. I think that is what gave me the courage to dig deep, time and again. Even when the story was harrowing to revisit at times.

So many times, I felt like there was a higher hand guiding my words to plop with kindness on the page and it was editing and re-editing with kindness and compassion that guided the evolution of my message.

How long did it take you to complete your first book from the first idea to release?

It took two years to write in segments, as well as doing a lot of historical research to position the story as an accurate reflection of those times. What the fashion was, what the cars at the time were, what the books were, what the songs were, really positioning the book in its historical perspective.

However, it took many of my own edits, before I even allowed it to be professionally edited.

It was a long process of sculpturing the message into the art of a well told story – a story whose message would stay with readers long after they had read the final sentence.

I wanted to leave my readers feeling different to how they felt when they first picked up my book.

I wanted it to become an immersion of the senses, a journey of their own inner reflections.

I think I achieved that when people said, ” I am not normally a reader, but your story captivated me and I could not put it down.”

Focusing on your latest release. What made you want to write Belonging?

What made me want to write this book, was the sense of my legacy message. I had to dig deep and understand why I came to the world in this shape, in this form, at this time and in the country of South Africa.

What was the message I came to bring, what was going to be the most healing and empowering legacy of words that I could leave the world a better place, that I could leave a legacy of greater understanding, of greater compassion and write a book that was a message of hope and healing, not just for South Africa but for the world.

What were your biggest challenges with writing Belonging?

One of my biggest challenges in writing this book was the fear of judgment, particularly from family. I had battled with judgment my whole life. My whole life I did not want to be visible. I was quite a shy person, even as a political activist. I was never in the front line of marches, but always in the back trenches, trying to make a difference quietly.

So, for me to become visible took enormous courage. But, by then I had realized the power of words, the power of words to change somebody’s life from a stage, just as global storytellers had touched my life from a stage.

And so, I knew that there was no turning back and that this book was designed to make somebody else feel less alone, less judged, more whole, more courageous, and more hopeful.

What was your research process for Belonging?

I did extensive research based on the methodology of many writers that I studied – writers who, even though they might not write about that period in great detail, researched and lived into the thinking, the trends, the aesthetic, the storytelling, the history, the politics of that time.

I read many memoirs of the leaders I wrote about, and I read many historical facts and outlines that allowed me to position my life as a backdrop to unfolding events of South Africa from the late 1950s right up until the 2020s. I wrote about how that political backdrop played out against my evolution, and the rollercoaster ride that my life unwittingly became.

Telling my story against this backstory gave a unique perspective into South African history. I believe that is one of the strengths of the book, that it makes history so accessible by being seen through the lens of a young, pale girl growing up in South Africa whose political awakening unfolded in a series of events that allowed her to become more conscious of the injustices around her, of the insanity that Apartheid held, and how she decided to board a different bus – the bus of political activism – the bus that would guide the journey of her entire life.

How did you plan the structure of Belonging?

I planned the structure in a distinct three-part segment. Firstly, a dramatic introduction to the backdrop of my story that gripped people and made them want to read more about what caused the dramatic opening scene.

I broke the structure down into three elements of my butterfly journey. It was the cocoon years, it was hatching, it was learning to fly, and then it was becoming a butterfly that would inspire others to escape their cocoon, to fly into the colourful person that they maybe never thought they could be. The butterfly that was somehow hidden inside of them, hidden from the magnificence that they could become.

The closing is not so much a traditional “call to action” but an evocation of the reader finding their own untold story.

Did you get support with editing, and how much editing did Belonging need?

I did a lot of my editing in the beginning before I even gave it to two formal editors and even further edits beyond that from mentors and thought leaders.

What I learnt from writing chapters in other collaborative books, was just how much the first draft is simply the start of words on a page.

How with every edit (I think I must have edited my own version at least 12 to 17 times in different sections) it became a bit softer, a bit kinder, a bit more gentle, and a lot more poetic.

With every edit, it was like a sculpture being refined, as the words took on greater magnificence, fewer words, more impact, more imagery, more metaphors, and more soulful inspiration.

It became a dance of words upon the page. It became a dance of words that developed its own music.

That is how the editing process refined and deepened my story with the sound of my soul.

What is the first piece of writing advice you would give to anyone inspired to write a book?

My first piece of writing advice, I would say to everybody, is just to plop out the words on a page – without a single ounce of judgment.

The first draft is just the first draft. It is not the book. It’s not even the first chapter. It’s just words on a page.

But the more you start, the easier it gets. And now I find writing easy. I find telling my story again and again, gets easier every time.

My critical piece of advice is do not show your first five drafts to a single soul until you feel more comfortable with it.

And even then, do not show it to family because they often have a very historical preconceived view of you based on your backstory.

They might either think it’s magnificent or they might shut you down with their version of fear and criticism.

And that will very often stop you from writing more.

So, the kindest thing you can do to yourself is to write those words with no judgment and only kindness.

And then show it to somebody who’s a professional book coach, who will not personalize the judgment, but will inspire you to write more, to let the words flow more.

Above all, show it to somebody who’s going to inspire you to shape it deeper, wider, broader, to bring out the very essence of who you are as a writer and a storyteller or a researcher or whatever angle you are pursuing.

The book is simply your soul writing its message.

When you start to believe that you are a messenger who has come here for a reason to write your book, you will feel a kinship with your message.

You will feel a calling and you will know that the words you are writing are not only healing you as you write, but they are healing for your reader.

Can you give me a hint about any further books you’re planning to write?

At the moment, I am writing a lot of articles on thought leadership, Identity Intelligence, political reconciliation, personal transformation and many other themes that are threaded through my book “Belonging, Finding Tribes of Meaning”.

I sense I have another book brewing in my soul that would be based on, “Beyond Labels, healing the intergenerational wounds”.

There’s a sense that a lot of my “not-good-enoughness” was passed down through generational messages

Understanding these as a sociologist and as a soulful writer and speaker, I believe we can heal the future generations by focusing more on their magnificence than their perceived flaws and the complexity of modern life; to understand that we are all on a spectrum of humanity and that there is so much that binds us together rather than that which divides us.

And so, I believe that Belonging was just the start of my journey as a writer because writing has healed me on so many levels.

And, finally, are you proud of your accomplishment? Was it worth the effort?

Three times, I stood poised above the bin with my manuscript in hand, thinking, “Why am I doing this to myself? I don’t need to expose my inner anguish, or my shame about some of the things in my past. I’ve been relatively successful as an entrepreneur, I’ve won awards, and I’ve been featured on radio and television and in entrepreneur magazines. Why do I need to expose my inner anguish and make it visible?”

And yet, every time, something stopped me and by the third time, I knew that I was just the messenger and that the message mattered.

And now, I am enormously proud of my accomplishment, of seeing this book through with such exacting discipline, of so many edits, of so much refinement, of so much mentorship by such incredible people who surrounded me with such love and passion, who believed in my voice long before I believed in it, who saw something in my voice as a speaker, long before I acknowledged that I was given this voice for a reason.

I now say to every writer, take courage, because courage is the bridge to great things. Courage changed my self-perception.

The interesting thing is that whilst I had some doubts about writing the book, since my book was recently launched in August of this year, it has already been featured in 20 global publications, which makes me realize that my story does have global resonance.

It would appear that its vulnerable tone seems to appeal to audiences more than many how-to books.

My book is not a “how-to” book. My book is a deeply evocative, deeply vulnerable story of one woman’s journey to wholeness so that others can be inspired to tell their story.

That is how we heal the world. We tell the untold stories of hope and healing. That’s how we change the world, one conversation at a time.

Pop all your book, website and social media links here so the readers can find you:

Website: alisonweihe.com

Kindle: https://amzn.to/3CSvSTw

Paperback: https://amzn.to/4fXDCSI

Facebook: www.facebook.com/alison.weihe

Instagram: www.instagram.com/alison_weihe/

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/alison-weihe/

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