Janice MacLeod's Blog, page 6

Living the elegant life

Watch the interview where we discuss the flow of creative living

Sometimes I think there is NOTHING out there, no BEYOND, no hope. No nothing. The world is just cruel and then it’s over. And then… things happen that make me curious and dance in the delight of the divine.

It’s a mixed bag.

Erin from The Elegant Life came across me in a group Zoom call with business coach Leonie Dawson. She recognized me and contacted me for a YouTube interview aaaaand…

Turns out we lived on the same street in Calgary.

We went to the same pizza place, the same coffee shop… probably walked by each other with a friendly smile because… Calgarians. Sheesh, a lot of smiling. Now we are both far away from Calgary and living on different points on the globe, meeting and yapping about living the elegant life via the information superhighway that is the world wide web.

Amazing.

We chatted about applying feminine energy to our creative jobs.

What is feminine energy?

Slow, flow, intuitive, in tune with your body, open to receive messages, nourishing yourself and others, soft and playful, remaining open to hear bits and pieces of life to pull in and swirl around your mind. It is not about being rigid. Not about push, push, push. Not the 9-5. Which kind of explains my loud exodus from corporate life. 

We talked about writing books using feminine energy, but of course we talked about so much more.

Top 14 topics we covered:When to quit your job and live off your creative projects.Why fear of poverty isn’t such a bad thing.How to start writing a book.How to create from a flow state, especially under deadlines.The glorious emotion of relief and why it is important for creative projects.Why most women’s books are written at the kitchen counter.How to land your dream agent and publisher.When to traditionally-publish and when to self-publish.Living with imposter syndrome.How to thrive with a faith-based finance model.What is next on my agenda.How to get noticed on Etsy.The single best thing you can do to start living a creative life.The best part of my job.

Spoiler alert: The best part of my job is to have an idea, have time to follow through on that idea, complete it and put it out there… and blog along the way. FUN!

Check out the video. It’s a whopping 48 minutes long so start it, lace up, and listen to it on a walk. Bring an index card and a pen. You’ll find out why.

For more on book writing, check out my online writing courses.

Janice

PS, Spiritual Retreat from Home could be helpful to you or someone you know who craves a quiet fortress of solitude to work on your stuff… manifesting, healing, and conversations with spirit guides. It’s all in here and it’s available on Amazon.

The length of happiness about a note from Tom Hanks

We create routines for ourselves so we can fit in work, play, errands. We work on our mood underneath our skin.

It is both a stormy sea and a morning meadow.

Tricky business. Life.

Often this depends on the intakes of caffeine, media, sugar, exercise, and how much sleep we got the night before.

For me, from the moment I drop my kid at school, I feel a race coming on. Gotta fit it all in. Go go go go goooooo. It’s more stormy sea than morning meadow.

I sit at my computer until the knot in my back burns. Then I sit for an hour longer.

Because… RACING. 

In recent times, I was working on this fine book, which helps turn a mood from stormy sea to morning meadow. It is now available to buy on Amazon. Fun!

At other times during my daily creative process, I’m slogging through a bunch of half baked ideas until I come up with a winner like Spiritual Retreat from Home. I’m currently running through a few projects and I wonder if it will all work out. You’d think Miss Best Seller Yadda Yadda would make hit after hit, but it is more stormy seas around here than morning meadows most of the time.

So I race to get as much done as humanly possible. Then I put on the kettle, set my alarm, and nap. Sometimes I sleep, sometimes I don’t. Alarm goes off. I hop out of bed, make a tea and race out the door to fetch this shy hand model:

On the way, I stop by the mailbox so I can read my mail and drink my tea in the parking lot of the school.

It’s the little things.

And that’s where Tom Hanks comes in.

A few typewriter letters ago, I sent a letter to Harley about a weird prom night in Barstow. If you’ve ever been to Barstow, chances are you had a weird night as well. Barstow can’t help itself. It’s weird. It was one of the better letters. Harley sent the letter to his pal Tom who replied back with this:

Obviously needs a new ribbon, but the important bit is this:

“Janice must write with her eyes. I saw what she saw in Barstow.”

Thrilled. Then Harley sent Tom’s note to me because typewriter people love sending letters in the mail so it takes longer and is therefore more delicious upon arrival.

Tea sipping, kid arriving, thrill seeping through my veins. MORNING MEADOW MOOD.

Strapped ourselves back into the car, drove out of the parking lot and at the light I was back to STORMY SEAS.

Two minutes of Tom Hanks thrill, and then I’m back to the baseline that has been stormy seas. It’s hard to feel the fun feelings. A mix of lockdown, war, germs, endurance. All of it.

So I made myself go to an antique show featuring a typewriter exhibit. Some of us love nerding out on typewriters. LOVE LOVE LOVE. Met this guy:

Martin Howard was featured in the documentary California Typewriters. He collects the very VERY old typewriters. He had a table of excellent machines. People were buzzing around clicking away. Children seemed most taken with the typewriters. One older woman sat down and typed at lightning speed. “I used to type 100 words a minute!” she said. Impressed. She used all the fingers correctly.

On a computer keyboard I can type fast, but on a typewriter…. ohhhhhhhh soooo sloooooowwwww. Two fingers. Loads of typos. Typing is FUN and AN EVENT on a typewriter. On a computer keyboard, it’s just work.

Meeting Martin Howard got me back in the MORNING MEADOWS MOOD for a bit of time. Now I’m seeing storms on the horizon again.

As someone who has battled depression in her life, I have made it a practice to pay attention to the shoots and ladders of my moods. It is a big effort to even remember to do fun things. But I’m telling you this now because I think there are a few of you out there in the same situation. I’m in it, too. We are trying to remember how to have fun. Trying to remember TO have fun.

Let me know how it’s going.

Spiritual Retreat at Home, Cover Reveal

Over 500 people voted on the cover for my new book, Spiritual Retreat at Home.

Watch the book reveal here.

Or just keep scrolling.

The votes were enthusiastic, funny and kind. You, dear reader, are very funny. And you care. Big time.

This post had more action than any other post of all time. To recap, here are the covers we voted on:

Some people sent simple messages: A, B or C.

Some people took this opportunity to catch me up on the latest goings on in life. I’m slowly getting back to everyone.

Everyone else had OPINIONS:

“I don’t love any of them”

“A looks like a sympathy card.”

“B is garish.”

“C is perfect – reminds me of flowers floating on water in a pond.”

“My choice “C” is my favorite.  Not a hard decision for me.”

“I love the first one although I do like all of them, perhaps I find the third a bit busy although I do like all the flowers. The first one is serene and reflects the title well.”

“A is best. Simple, uncluttered, calming.”

“My vote is cover A. B is too bright and playful to feel “spiritual retreat” and C is too heavy and busy.”

“My pick is A. The colors are beautiful and peaceful, perfect for a spiritual retreat.”

“Definitely C love the colors and the book stands out.”

“I definitely choose A, as it is pretty and soothing compared to the other two.”

“A or B but definitely not C.”

“I like B because it catches the eye with its striking sun rays pattern.”

“I don’t like the darkness of C.”

“C is the only option.”

“A is beautiful, simple, reminds me of your Paris books.”

“B is too “loud” for me, though it is bright and cheery.”

“C is so pretty, but I’d love it more if the background weren’t black.”

“I love C with the darker background I am really drawn to it.”

“I vote for A because of its quiet simplicity. Isn’t that what we seek in retreat?”

“B doesn’t feel emotional enough and C is too perky and pretty.”

“My vote is for B, then A….”

“C. Then B.”

“A, then C.”

Strong lean toward C.

“I am drawn to  C. Some how the darkness of the black color on the cover and the title of the book made me feel that this book would be a light in the darkness of the world.

“I choose cover C for your book!  I hope everyone else does too.”

“Definitely not B.”

“A will be fine.”

“C has the most pop.”

“I am loving C, it feels like a retreat, a wonderful place to be.”

“B stresses me out.”

“C speaks to me.”

“C makes me feel surrounded by warmth and life.”

“C reminds me of a muumuu I wore in Hawaii.”

“I’m voting for C. It’s mystical and magical.”

“Dislike B quite strongly. Garish and brash.”

“I would purchase book with cover A. BUT. If that cover were to be sold out, and I was desperate to have the book immediately, well then I would purchase the book with cover C if I had to. Otherwise I would probably wait for the second printing of book with cover A.”

“Thumbs down to B”

“If ‘spiritual’ is meant to be introspective, then A.

If ‘spiritual’ is meant to be ka-boom life changing, then BIf ‘spiritual’ is meant to be day-at-the-spa-like, then CYour choice is now clear as mud, right?”Exactly. What to do?

Count up the votes.

The winner is….

 

There it is.

As Carol W put it:

“Option C. Since the title suggests that the spiritual retreat is at home, I think the multiple flowers are the way to go, like a garden that surrounds the home.”

I loved the honesty and hilarity of opinions. Some of you might look at some of the comments as harsh, but I see a beautiful thoughtful team of people who care. Go team go!

It is available on Amazon. A great little workbook to work out the kinks in your soul. (also turns you into a wizard)

Which book cover?

Email me your fave at janicemacleod@gmail.com

I can’t make decisions easily these days. I’m sure you feel the same. The turmoil. The images on TV. The astounding decisions other people make.

Fury.

Fury at all the decision makers making astounding decisions. How did it get to this point? 

I don’t even want to take my kid to the grocery store because it’s a pain.

Then I see people carrying kids and heavy bags across a country, crying with bandages on their heads. Home gone, job gone, all the things left behind. Including spouses.

The luxury of crying in front of the TV.

How lucky we are to get to break down in our warm houses full of food and water and clean things.

Look at us, lucky ducks.

It’s hard to complete tasks these days. We get muddled. Grief makes us silent. The words get stuck in our throats.

I’ve been feeling the need for a spiritual reset. So I’ve been creating guided journals and designing book covers. Pictures seem to come more easily these days, but decisions don’t. Please choose a cover for me. See above. Email me at janicemacleod@gmail.com or reply to this message depending on how you are my latest “malaisy” prose. The Spiritual Retreat at Home guided workbook will come out soon. Just waiting on you to choose a cover. Join my mailing list to get details on the release date. 

Speaking of my mailing list, at some point in the last few months, the subscription button on my blog stopped working. Great. Another thing to get ruffled about, but instead of spending the day trying to fix it, I just created another route. Voila. Done. Well enough.

They say, be the change. 

I don’t know about that. Sure feels hard to change big things. But most of us are not able to hop on a plane and hand out soup at the Polish border either. So we sit and do what we are meant to do.

The world is a big bummer these days.

Recently, CBC wrote an article about optimism vs pessimism during the pandemic.

They interviewed ME as the optimist. HA! Oh three weeks ago when we were seeing glimmers of hope on the horizon. The good ol’ days. Not that I feel much like an optimist these days. I’m sure you can relate.

But I planted a few seeds and set the trays in the windowsills. This morning my daughter filled a water bottle and watered them. She didn’t ask permission or how. She just decided it would be a good idea and found what worked. She also suggested we plant a lot of sunflowers this summer.

Humanity. The brilliance of humanity.

Let it win. 

You may also like - Don’t be like the rest of them, dear Rain on Parade Capture the Color Love, Paris style Black and white and cream all over Strengthening the Fearless Muscle Gare de Lyon Lent OR New Year’s Resolution Part 2 Rome Street Life Rome: Before and After in the Eternal City The ways 2020 has changed us, plus a book writing ecourse

One planner to rule them all

I’m basically in the creative game just to solve my own problems.

You may recall one of my previous posts when I showed you my art journal pages created with a blank 2020 daily planner. Because no plans, amiright?

Exhibit A:

I call this “Christophe and I out for a stroll.”

Alternate title: “Never bad weather, just bad gear.”

As I pondered my blank 2020 journal AND my blank 2021 journal (remember 2021? I don’t.), I thought there MUST be a better way.

And that, my friends, is where I whipped up a glorious undated planner for today, tomorrow, next year, whenevs…

Because of this…

And this…

So I can use it as a planner when I have a lot going on, obviously. But the real magic is using it for ulterior motives.

Bwahahahahahaaaaa.

As in trying to take over the world. Like a queen.

(By the way, I waltzed into a flower shop and declared I would like her Majesty’s head on a platter. They rang me up and popped a violet in it for jewels. Also genius.)

I’ve been using the planner as a kind of habit tracker. One calendar spread is for tracking how many walks I go on. I write down the thoughts from each walk in the week area. So often we forget our excellent thoughts that come up on walks. NO MORE. Not with this gorgeous walking tracker!

I have another calendar for tracking a tiresome No Sugar expedition I’m partaking in as of late. I’m trying to beat my score from last month.

There are 12 calendars and 52 weeks, which means 12 goals to track.

Trackers gonna track, amiright? 

(Merriam-Webster added “amiright” to the dictionary in 2021 so I’m just trying to keep up with the times. I might even track my usage in my new planner.)

I’m so psyched about my undated planner that it honestly feels like January 1st.

Back when we had hope. Also back when we had covid.

I might even take on a series of 21-day challenges. Or use one section as a travel planner for if/when we ever go anywhere.

Why didn’t I think of this before?!?!?!

If you would like to rule your world like Queenie and me, get yourself a copy. Fun!

Road trips and the art of finding good travel companions

Thought I’d share a Typewriter Letter I mailed out to subscribers… edited for worldwide consumption, typos, and reconfigured for a blog post with pictures. When I start writing, I’m not sure where I’m going.

Writing on a typewriter is a little like driving a car that is being steered by a kid with a remote control joystick. 

If you or someone you know would like fun mail like this, go to my shop.

And now, the letter…

“Dear Galen,

Nostalgia week. Started last Thursday with a message from Sean that he would be passing through on his road trip to or from Toronto. Not sure when exactly. I’m told I will be informed upon approach. One of those put-another-dog-on-the-barbie situations.

We met at work in Toronto. I was smitten and he was definitely not. I was basically smitten with anyone paying me the least amount of attention back then. I was boy crazy and single. He was single but not crazy. He had a wisdom I did not possess. He could see ahead when I couldn’t see much further than my daydreams and fantasies.

Anyway, we both loved coffee break so we started going out together for coffee. Soon we were getting lunch together and eventually we went to the bar after work to watch the hockey game every other day. All this never turned into anything remotely romantic so simmer down if that’s what you’re thinking. But we talked a lot about photography, travel, and especially road trips.

When my contract in Toronto ended, I returned to Los Angeles and wrote for the Auto Club. Imagine my delight at being able to study road trips of the American West DURING my day job. I collected a lot of maps. Sean showed up whenever he had a week to fly down. I would fetch him at the airport and off we would go… anywhere between LA and Vegas. All that fantastic faded desert. Neon signs that hadn’t been lit for decades, Joshua trees seemingly swaying and dancing on the horizon, and someone by my side who didn’t great my nerves.

The art of finding a decent travel companion in this life is a gift. The travel companion gets put into the same category as friends, but a decent travel companion requires a whole other skill set. Much needs to be either the same or at least compatible. The biggest factors are about how you both want to spend your time and money.

If we are staying at a fancy hotel and going to a fancy brunch after a long sleep in… go find yourself someone else. A cheap motel that is basically a 5 star 3 star… clean, safe and close to the things… perfect. A diner for coffee and eggs, and fast so we can get seeing what we came to see. Now we are talking. Even bathroom breaks need to be somewhat compatible. If you can’t pee… wherever… go to the resort without me.

So Sean. We are compatible in all these ways. I will put up with his fast food as long as he can deal with my need for a 5 star 3 star hotel… a shade below Best Western is fine. We went to the Salton Sea and took hundreds of photos. On two trips, he loaded the film wrong and had no shots to show for it. I was digital by then. Still only ever printed a few shots. Some places are gorgeous in their desolation and some places are just too ugly. We had stopped at a beach. Looked like a fine dot on the map where we could stretch our legs and rest our driving eyes. Got out of the car, walked to the water, realized we were not walking on sand but on a foot-thick heap of dead fish at various stages of decay. Back in the car. We both couldn’t speak for an hour. Didn’t get any shots either, for obvious reasons.

He likes to find old trucks in front of interesting buildings. I like the details… hood ornaments, shadows.

He takes forever to set up his shot. A tripod is involved. So I meander around, finding broken dishes in the nooks and crannies and wonder about who bought them and how the dishes came to be part of the detritus of desert towns.

He said once that he hoped heaven had good coffee and a lot of ugly places to photograph. He loves to take a beautiful photo of something that isn’t considered beautiful… or even noticed by most people. He loves a parking lot. I love a tangle of telephone poles. It works. We seem to find what we are looking for. And sometimes, what we are not looking for.

He will be here next week. Surely, my small town is too pretty for his fickle needs. We will likely meander to the outer edges. I am sure we will find something, even if it is just good company.

Janice

The literary gifts of isolation

Covid came to town. Not just my town. Yours, too. Our province stopped contract tracing, limited testing, and told everyone, if you’ve got ANYTHING, stay home.

It’s winter in Canada, so totally doable.

Everything is closed anyway. Including schools. crowd groan

We have online learning for my little kindergarten student here in the household. I marvel at the tech learning happening for these 4 year olds. We didn’t even get a VCR until I was in high school. With a child at home, everything closed, winter on the doorstep and nowhere to go, one might think we are going stir crazy.

There are moments. 

Sometimes I look over my living room and kitchen and think, “Haven’t seen ANYTHING ELSE but THIS.” I slump a little. And it takes a little longer to pull my chin up.

Chin up… life skill. 

Being able to see gifts, pivot, and calm down in all this is a challenge, especially when there are so many messes to clean up. For many of us (especially women), it’s not the tragedies that destroy us, it’s the messes. How many counters have we wiped? How many things have we picked up?

The mind can be a scattered mess. Our bodies are healing from this and that, but how long will it take our brains to get back on track? I’ve sat down to write a blog post a dozen times and forgot why I sat down the moment I turned on the computer.

I can’t even remember my New Year’s resolutions.

And I’m kind of the poster child for New Year’s resolutions working out. Keen observers will notice that all three of my Paris books start in January.

Then these glorious gifts showed up:

1. For book writers: Danielle Steele typing on her typewriter

(Clicking the image will take you to Instagram.) She has written her books with a 1946 Olympia manual typewriter, which she named Ollie.

“I paid $20 for it a million years ago, at the beginning of my career, in a second hand typewriter store. And I love it.”

As I navigate writing with a typewriter, I’m learning that writers who use typewriters spend their time staring at keyboards while writers of the computer age stare at the screen. Looking just at the keyboard seems to keep one thought stringing along. Words you wrote five words ago are in the past. You only concentrate on the moment. It’s almost like a meditation. Try it with your computer keyboard. You write differently.

With a typewriter, you might not TYPE better, but you might WRITE better.

2. With Joan Didion hightailing it to glory recently, I’ve been reading up on her writing process. (the link takes you to an article so littered with ads its ridiculous.)

She said she doesn’t write novels or screenplays or articles. She writes sentences. Don’t think about the whole thing, just write one sentence, then another, then another.

I suppose that could be the New Year’s resolution. It’s easier to do when you stare at the keyboard and don’t let yourself get distracted by incessant content.

Speaking of content…

3. My new Etsy shop filled with notebooks.

During this time of online school, when I have to be within earshot of the other computer to MUTE and UNMUTE and “Look for things that start with the letter L,” etc… I created another Etsy shop full of notebooks. It was once where I housed digital printables, but someone tried to sell the digital printables and I had to throw down a world of hate so… no more printables. People who copy your stuff are just pickpockets. LOATHE. evil eyes

Rant over. Here are more pretty notebooks:

In Pantone’s Veri Peri purple colour of the year for 2022, aimed to “encourage personal inventiveness and creativity.” Sure. That’s about right.

Admittedly, this CONTENT notebook includes a bit of a giggle laced with bitterness since all writers these days are being asked to be “content providers.” Ugh. Why don’t you just take ALL the romance out of it? But if you read it differently, you can remember to calm the heck down whenever you pick up your notebook. CONtent or conTENT. Win win.

Plus flower, lemons and typewriters because… FUN.

The idea for the notebooks sprouted as part of a New Year’s  thought process.

What if I had all the money, time, energy already to do whatever I want to do?

Which is another version of this harsher reality:

What if I’m stuck at home with a pandemic, small child, shift work husband, and winter? 

I’d have a stationery shop full of pretty paper supplies. To list an item on Etsy, you pay about 25 cents (depending on your country) so you don’t even need much to get that dream happening.

I also updated the usual Etsy shop where I house all my Paris Letters, Typewriter Letters, and art. I reduced the price of letters so I could fold them rather than send them flat. This means you save on shipping, but more importantly, I can pop them in the mailbox in front of my house rather than trek out to the post office every other day risking the lives of me who is recovering from surgery (nothing to be alarmed by, TG!), but especially for my child who is too young for a vaccine. Win win.

Plus, my car has three snowstorms worth of ice layered on it, so… there’s that. We even lost electricity during one storm, but fear not… manual typewriter steps up to the helm. YES.

Typewriter Letters are heading out every week. Writing sentences. One sentence, then another, then another. Just like Joan.

PS If you have a writerly New Year’s resolution like to write a book, organize your journals, or get better at writing, check out my online writing courses.

My latest art journal pages

What do you do when you have a mostly blank day book from 2020? Make an art journal, of course!

The video of the big reveal is over at my YouTube channel. Subscribe if you dare. But below are the pages…

On with the show!

A few bits and bobs from various French ephemera, plus a page from A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle… book had already been falling apart in the thrift store where I found it. HOT TIP: Get beat up copies of your favourite books from thrift stores to use in your art collages and keep the good copies on your shelf.

Christophe and I when we lived in Calgary… brrrr.

That Arc de Triomphe made its way into DEAR PARIS. The quote is from Memoirs of Montparnasse by John Glassco.

My apartment is right under that Boucherie sign in the back.

Bits and pieces from here and there.

I created a letter with this handsome fella. It is in DEAR PARIS. Actually, this is a guy that was just sitting on a bench waiting for a bus or taking a breather or thinking deep thoughts. Or all the above. He was handsome enough to recreate with paint and ink.

Bits of pieces of books that fell apart, plus energetic scribbles from heir to the throne.

Ciggies and perfume. French chicks. Pft.

The only way I know how to create something with a sewing pattern.

A strong enough ending.

PS Buy DEAR PARIS for those on your Christmas list instead of a planner for 2022. Clearly, a planner isn’t always a good idea.

 

How to create online courses

There is always that moment in an artist’s life when she thinks one of two things:

“Should I make a podcast out of this?”

OR…

“Should I make an online course out of this?”

There was a time I wanted to do a podcast, then I recorded the audiobook for Dear Paris and decided “NO FRIGGIN WAY.” I tripped over every third word. Not my strength.

However, I have found a certain glee and aptitude with creating online writing courses. If you think you might want to tackle creating a course yourself, here are three tools I recommend in my free ecourse on ecourses.

TOOL 1: Organizing Content

Turn your mess of pages into something glorious… like money.

Organizing Content is great for getting your head around all your ideas. You’ll learn how to quickly sift through your material, organize it, and FINISH a project. And it is hosted by me so it will be like having a friendly bossy pants on your side.

 

TOOL 2: Leonie Dawson’s course on making an ecourse.

She knows all the things.

You may wonder why I recommend an ecourse on creating ecourse when I already have my own FOR FREE. Because my course is all about WHAT I HAVE LEARNED about building ecourses, while her course explains ALL DIFFERENT WAYS to build an ecourse. Leonie has more answers to more questions. There are tech and marketing questions that come up when you build a course online and she is NEVER stumped.

Plus, with all her live calls (recorded so you can watch later), you learn from what she teaches others who are already creating ecourses.

If my Organizing Content course helps you WRITE the thing, her course helps you MAKE IT GO so you can start selling and making money fast. 

If it weren’t for Leonie’s courses, I would still be futzing around researching the best way to sell my courses.

She saved me so much time. I’ve taken it found it useful, lucrative, and amusing. AND, I made all my money back.

TOOL 3: The learning platform Kajabi

I use Kajabi to host my online courses because it has helpful video tutorials, which this brain needs to learn the lesson. It also has gorgeous templates so you can quickly get courses up and running fast and start making cash. You save 20% on any plan with annual billing. Plus, usually you get a free trial so you can try it first. Get the trial so you can see if you like how it works.

Again, the three tools for creating your own online course:

Organizing Content online course to create your lessonsLeonie’s course on making online courses actually work onlineKajabi learning platform because it’s easy and elegant

FULL DISCLOSURE: These are affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. I would recommend them even if they weren’t. If you’re so inclined to buy these courses, use the links in this message. I’ll probably use the proceeds to buy YOUR courses… or a new (old) typewriter. Gosh, this really is a full disclosure.

Top 3 tools for creating ecourses

There is always that moment in an artist’s life when she thinks one of two things:

“Should I make a podcast out of this?”

“Should I make an ecourse out of this?”

There was a time I wanted to do a podcast, then I recorded the audiobook for Dear Paris and decided “NO FRIGGIN WAY.” I tripped over every third word. Not my strength.

However, I have found a certain glee and aptitude with creating ecourses. If you think you might want to tackle creating an ecourse yourself, the 3 tools I recommend in my free ecourse on ecourses are here.

TOOL 1: My ecourse on Organizing Content. Turn your mess of pages into something glorious. 

 

Organizing Content is great for getting your head around all your ideas. You’ll learn how to quickly sift through your material, organize it, and FINISH a project.

TOOL 2: Leonie Dawson’s course on making an ecourse. She knows all the things. 

You may wonder why I recommend an ecourse on creating ecourse when I already have my own FOR FREE. Because my course is all about WHAT I HAVE LEARNED about building ecourses, while her course explains ALL DIFFERENT WAYS to build an ecourse. Leonie has more answers to more questions. There are tech and marketing questions that come up when you build a course online and she is NEVER stumped.

Plus, with all her live calls (recorded so you can watch later), you learn from what she teaches others who are already creating ecourses.

If my Organizing Content course helps you WRITE the thing, her course helps you MAKE IT GO so you can start selling and making money fast. 

If it weren’t for Leonie’s courses, I would still be futzing around researching the best way to sell my courses.

She saved me so much time. I’ve taken it found it useful, lucrative, and amusing. AND, I made all my money back.

 

TOOL 3: The learning platform Kajabi.

I use Kajabi to host my ecourses because it has helpful video tutorials, which my brain needs to learn the lesson. It also has gorgeous templates so you can quickly get courses up and running fast and start cash. You save 20% on any plan with annual billing. Plus, get a 14 day free trial. Get the trial so you can see if you like how it works.

FULL DISCLOSURE: These are affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. I would recommend them even if they weren’t. If you’re so inclined to buy these courses, use the links in this message. I’ll probably use the proceeds to buy YOUR courses… or a new (old) typewriter. Gosh, this really is a full disclosure.