Story Saving and Narrative Resilience with Amanda Johnson

What if the book you're writing is actually about the story holding you back?

In this episode, Amanda Johnson shares how twenty years of helping entrepreneurs write books revealed something most people never see: the reason you can't finish your book usually has nothing to do with time, organization, or writing skills. It's the old stories you're carrying that keep one foot on the gas and one foot on the brake. Amanda's work goes far beyond traditional book coaching. She creates what she calls "story saving" experiences where high-achieving entrepreneurs finally see the truth they've been avoiding.

She tells the remarkable story of a social worker writing a "choose your own adventure" book about high-conflict divorces who spent 18 months unable to get one character right. Amanda kept trying to show her client she was writing her own husband, but the truth wasn't safe enough to see yet. 

After a decade of watching hybrid publishing houses destroy clients' carefully-built brands with covers that would "completely disrupt trust," Amanda's 19-year-old entrepreneurial son suggested while she cursed in the kitchen: "Mom, how about we just build a publishing house?" Now, with her son as business partner and youngest sister as creative designer, Amanda runs Saved By Story, a boutique hybrid publisher where every detail honors the transformational work her clients have done. 

 

[00:03:40] Entrepreneurial DNA

• Raised with entrepreneurial grandparents, it's in her DNA

• Accounts for rebellious spirit: entrepreneurs see problems and think "I could fix that"

• Thought she was going to be a Christian journalist at end of high school

• Got to university, asked to be part of honors program (classic books program)

[00:04:40] Learning to Think Critically

• Four and a half years wrestling with great ideas and stories that formed civilization

• Hadn't been taught how to think critically or feel greatly

• Halfway through decided: I want to get to teens before they're in college alone and disconnected

• Became a history teacher to help teens think critically and wrestle with big ideas

[00:05:40] Bouncing Out of the System

• Got classroom with all gang bangers, drug dealers, kids nobody else wanted first semester

• "What is the logic here? Send the newbie to barely survive?"

• Did it for six months, gave absolute best

• Realized couldn't give it her all every day and show up as good mom for toddler

[00:06:20] The Online Writing Program

• Friend of family starting online writing instruction program

• "You have teaching credential, writing chops, can do it anytime when your kid is sleeping"

• Helped build curriculum, got really great results

• Went to networking events to share the program

[00:07:00] The Side Business That Changed Everything

• Female entrepreneurs said "I don't want you to teach me to write, I need you to fix what I've written"

• Opened side business helping people get clear on message, audience, and engagement

• Quickly found story was the answer

• Story was also the answer to why most people weren't finishing their books

[00:08:40] The Retreat Model Today

• Mostly retreat and community model for busy, wildly successful individuals

• They need time away, good excuse to say "I'm out for three days, seven days"

• They know how to focus and achieve goals, but book always gets pushed to back burner

• All of a sudden five or ten years have gone by

[00:09:20] Authorship is Lonely Like Entrepreneurship

• Not every entrepreneur writes book to establish authority

• Entrepreneurs can be very lonely working from home without water cooler experiences

• Gets exacerbated when someone decides to write: Who am I to write? How does one do this?

• Having community where everybody's in same soup moves people much more quickly

[00:10:40] Two Types of Clients

• First type (15-20%): "I need this done in three months and published in another three"

• Example: Client franchising business in six months, needed book published first

• Wrote book in less than three months, published in another three months

• These clients know how to block time and make it happen

[00:12:40] The Choose Your Own Adventure Book

• Works in high conflict divorces, helps judge sort out what's best for kids

• Wanted to write choose your own adventure for her career

• Family with parents and two children, both parents get three options each

• All sound amazing but only one actually is best, shows destination of each choice

[00:13:40] Writing the Husband Character

• Writing family quite unfairly, good for women but men would say "What? She didn't do anything"

• Couldn't get one character right, Amanda realized she was writing her husband

• We write what we know

• Readers said "No way would I put this in front of male reader, this has to be changed"

[00:15:20] Breaking Generational Patterns

• Didn't have enough safety in herself, writing character out helped her see truth

• Realized all the stuff in marriage was generational

• Has been able to break that generational story for her own kids

• This is the book "You Can't Make This Story Up"

[00:16:00] Fifteen Years of Seeing People Stuck

• Could have been wounded story or something they didn't want to talk about

• Sometimes they'd been dimmed in childhood or got in trouble when they got visible

• One foot on gas, one foot on brake even though it's for great cause and fulfilling purpose

• Had to figure out what the brake was

[00:16:40] After That Story, Everything Changed

• After 15 years of stories, decided to help other creatives and entrepreneurs learn about being stuck

• It's not just "not organized" or "not right time" or "I'm not good writer"

• Those are ego's convenient way of keeping us from changing the real story

• That lady worked for two or three years and still rewriting it three or four years later

[00:17:20] Do It In Community

• If our souls know that hard work is coming, of course there's resistance

• Answer: Write it, process it first, do it with partner who knows what you're up to

• Do it in community because communal experience really accelerates it

[00:19:40] The 12 Month Program Structure

• Seven days together quarterly in person in cozy Airbnb (not conference settings)

• First three days: story saving work (not therapy but sort of feels like it)

• One day: go to spot together or do something fun in nature, let everything recalibrate

• Three days of work: goal is to get first chapter at first retreat

[00:22:40] It's Always About Relationships

• When trying something new, doesn't want to do all the tasks

• "Where are the people? It's all for me. It's always been about relationship, not the actual to-dos"

• First person who changed everything: Ursula Lameris, sales coach

[00:24:40] Learning From an Extrovert

• Connection was so natural to Ursula but not natural to Amanda (introvert)

• Put it in the book, had fun for five or six years in same neighborhood

• Made game out of networking: "Today I'm gonna sell this many contracts for you"

• Both experienced each other's work, just created relationships

[00:25:20] Making Networking a Game

• Would go to networking meetings and talk each other up

• "Oh you need to talk to Amanda. Oh you need to talk to Ursula"

• That's how they both built really amazing businesses in a few years

[00:28:00] Ten Years of Saving Self-Published Authors

• After 10 years helping individuals self-publish, people started looking at hybrid publishing

• Needed imprint for their position, status, industry

• Would try different hybrid houses, then call Amanda to come save it

• Couldn't believe what she was seeing

[00:29:20] The 19-Year-Old's Solution

• Son said: "Mom, how about we just build a publishing house? We'll just figure it out"

• He was 19 years old

• Always been an entrepreneur, was hustling people at garage sale at age three or four

• Amanda: "I don't really have time, but if you want to, I'll partner with you"

[00:30:00] Saved By Story Publishing House

• Son is business partner, youngest sister is creative designer

• Boutique hybrid publishing house

• A lot of people who do writing process eventually move through publishing

• Do education and empowerment for people ready to publish without giving all power away

[00:30:40] The Bigger Impact Vision

• More of what's already doing, bigger impact on personal side

• Narrative resilience work that happens when people write in community

• Gets to end of retreats thinking "There are only few people in this room"

• Dream: expanding transformational work through personal brand, speaking, facilitation

[00:31:00] Narrative Tools for Every Arena

• Take narrative tools and skills and infuse them into places that need them

• Education system, mental health space

• Pretty much every other arena could benefit from narrative resilience right now

[00:32:00] Free Content at Foreshadows

• Website: savedbystory.house

• Forward slash foreshadows has whole bunch of free content

• Helps anyone at any stage from "I have an idea" to "Am I on right track for publishing?"

[00:33:00] Tell Your Family How to Support

• Figure out how to make people around you feel safer while on amazing adventure

• Most family members really want to support, but if we don't tell them how, they don't know how

 

KEY QUOTES

"We're made to belong. We're made to be in a community. And the way that we do that and have for millennia is by figuring out how to be reciprocal." - Amanda Johnson

"Most of our family members really want to support, but if we don't tell them how, then they don't know how." - Amanda Johnson

CONNECT WITH AMANDA JOHNSON 

🌐 Website: https://www.savedbystory.house 

📄 Free Resources: https://www.savedbystory.house/foreshadows 

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thestoryoracle114