Mary Walerak Interview Published on: 19, May 2026

I have always been drawn to possibilities, both physical and mental, so that is the direction my curiosity took me. Psychology was not as popular when I started out but I knew it was the direction I wanted to take. I really do believe if you keep moving forward new opportunities open up (sometimes not as fast as I’d like!), and that is what happened.

We are raised being told what we should do and what we should want. Because of that we want to be told, we want answers. That works when you are learning something that has definite answers. People are individuals and as individuals they each have their own wants and needs. A coach doesn’t tell a person how they should be doing something. They help them figure out what it is that’s right for them, and the avenues they could take to get there.

Everyone is so unique. When they drop the should and have to’s, and start to understand what they want and need for themselves, there is such a shift in their personal energy and everything becomes much easier.

My entire life I wanted to write a book. The dream never left me. When I retired, I told myself that I had no more excuses so I started taking classes at the Loft in Minneapolis. The problem was I really didn’t know what I wanted write. I have four grandkids and decided I wanted to write something special for them, but I still didn’t know what it would be. When the pandemic hit, I told myself, “No more excuses.” I signed up for a week-long class on Zoom with a teacher I knew. The class was meant to take you through all of the pieces of writing your book. We were supposed to have some of it written before class. I didn’t have anything so the night before I sat down and just started writing and the Prologue was born. I have never changed a word of it and it remained the outline for the whole book. As often happens, once you are on the right track opportunities start showing up. Every day during the class, our teacher would put us in break out groups. When the week was up our group decided to keep getting together Friday mornings. That was over 5 ½ years ago and we are still going!

All of my grandchildren were either in, or going into middle grade. That can be a very confusing time. I wanted to write the kind of book that I wish I had at that age. Something tangible that would give them skills to empower themselves.

When talking to friends, even if they hadn’t read the book, it would pull them back to that time in their life or their child’s life. A couple of them even urged me to finish it so they could give it to their child. It’s a universal time in everyone’s life, one of confusion and anxiety. Many changes are going on both physically and emotionally. I just wanted to normalize it in a fun to read book.

Each character in the book represents a different concept, and all are important, but the most important to me is that Charlie was fully in charge of her own journey through Alineade. Her friends were there to help and support, but she made her own decisions. The Mapmaker was there to record Charlie’s progress, not to direct it. She learned she is capable of finding her own way and support would be there when she needed it, if she asked. That is the relationship a coach has with their clients.

I am planning on writing a trilogy of short stories that takes the reader deeper into aspects of the book and one of the aspects is how and why Alineade came to be. There was a time in our history when people read fairytales and myths, and they believed in magical creatures. Somehow, we lost our wonder and anything we can’t explain, or we see as different, becomes something to fear. I find things that are unusual or different, interesting. I often learn new things or new ways to look at a situation that I thought I understood. Sometimes you just realize it’s not for you. Either way you learn and grow. Alineade invites the curious in to learn about magic, and then they are sent home to share that magic with the world. It’s all about empowerment, and positivity, and maybe even fulfilling our destiny.

Magic is a form of synchronicity in our life. The belief that everything you need is out there and will show up in its own divine time. The secret is to keep moving. Sometimes you need to take a wrong turn to learn to recognize the right path. I really don’t believe in coincidence; it’s all part of the magic of finding our way and becoming fulfilled.

Wow what a good question! Psychology is the study of how we think and behave. It gives us an understanding of human nature. When you sprinkle in imagination it opens a person up to new possibilities, and if you really run with it you head into fantasy territory. That’s the place where anything is possible. The land of infinite possibilities.

The short answer is yes. Writing is a very solitary activity. With coaching, another person is involved, and my job was to ask questions and follow them to where they needed to go. They were writing their own story. In the beginning I tried planning and making outlines. I was logically doing what I thought I was supposed to do. It didn’t work well at all. One day it just hit me that I was the coach and Charlie was the client. I just needed to follow her to where she needed to go. I always knew what I wanted to achieve and where I was headed, but I wasn’t always sure how I was going to get there. I would just sit down and start to write and let Charlie show me the way.

I want them to understand that they are the ones in charge of their own journey. Fear and lack of understanding are big killers of dreams. Many stop themselves before they even start. Curiosity, new knowledge and understanding act as a great balm. As I say in the book, “energy isn’t static” and if you’re not moving forward, you are moving backward.” Being human, we will always make mistakes, hit roadblocks and sometimes totally head down the wrong path. That’s to be expected. I don’t like the word failure. I believe mistakes only become a failure if you don’t learn from them and get up, readjust and get the momentum moving forward again. Hopefully, as soon as possible. There is always a do over. It can be very hard, the progress may be slow in the beginning, but you’ve got the energy moving in a positive direction.

Charlie is very much me! I was a very insecure middle grader. The life path I chose was me trying to figure things out, and how I fit into the bigger picture. What I learned was every step I took always lead to something else new and interesting, and it always expanded my world view. In many ways it also pointed out how much more there is to learn! I’ve been around for a while so I’d like to think some of that knowledge has morphed into wisdom. If sharing that wisdom helps someone on their own path: to me that is a worthwhile goal.

There is always a do over. Just open your eyes and your mind and look for the possibilities. That’s when the magic happens!

I would definitely recommend AllAuthor. “Finding Alineade” is my debut novel. I thought writing the book was a learning experience, but marketing has been the real challenge for me. AllAuthor offers me a wide range of services at a very reasonable price. I find the banners helpful in creating a professional look to my brand. I am just learning to use analytics to gather data for marketing. There are still so many more tools to learn about and try. It’s nice to have options.