Janice MacLeod's Blog, page 7

Black Friday 50% off ecourse training

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 on sale for Black Friday.

TOOL 1: My ecourse on Organizing Content is 25% off. 

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 is 50% off. 

You may wonder why I recommend an ecourse on creating ecourse when I already have my own FOR FREE. Because 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 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. Her courses are all 50% off for a Black Friday weekend of savings. I’ve taken them all and found them all useful, lucrative, and amusing. AND, I made all my money back.

TOOL 3: The learning platform Kajabi to save 20% on any plan with annual billing. Plus, a 14 day free trial.

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.

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.

EVEN FULLER DISCLOSURE: The promo emails have been necessary but are probably just as tiresome to you as they are to me. All this CAPS are an introverts nightmare. After this, we will return to the regular blogging about other fun things. Pinky promise.

Correction: It’s really 25% off EVERYTHING

Well this is a bit embarrassing.

In my previous email, my subject line said 25% off instead of the actual sale of 20% off. Sorry about that. I’ve been looking around for someone to blame but I’m the only one in the room.

Once I learned of the error, I thought, “Ya, 25% is better and more fun.”

So I changed everything to 25% off. Sale ends November 30.

BIGGEST SAVINGS OF THE YEAR IS ON THE WRITING COURSES.

BIGGEST SAVINGS OF THE YEAR ON THE WRITING COURSES:

Book Writing $197 $147

A Writing Year $97 $72

Organizing Content $127 $95

Creating eCourses FREE still FREE

Happy holidays!

PS The books are also on sale but that amount varies by book seller and I don’t have control over the pricing. Find lists of booksellers here. 

Ordinary trauma is making our hair fall out

We all have a narrative mind jogging alongside us in daily life.

Chatterboxes who are introverts have strong narrative minds.

Who said that?

Exactly.

Those words have to go somewhere and if you’re spending vast amounts of time talking inside your own head, putting some of those words on the page might be a good idea. Something might come of it. Or not. Sometimes just getting them out is enough to keep you sane.

A friend recently remarked how she wished her narrative mind would stop swirling, stop keeping her up at night.

I told her of the time my narrative mind shut off during a time of great illness, when my body was too busy to be thinking poetic thoughts.

I read recently that a side effect of the pandemic is hair loss… great big gobs of hair falling out around the globe. Sure, it is happening with those who have COVID. The body is too busy to nourish superfluous hair follicles so the hair falls out. The weird bit is that those who don’t get COVID are experiencing hair loss as well. WHY ARE WE NOT TALKING ABOUT THIS?!

The article states:

One type of loss is responsible for the pandemic hair-loss spike: telogen effluvium. TE, as it’s often called, is sudden and can be dramatic. It’s caused by the ordinary traumas of human existence in all of their hideous variety. Any kind of intense physical or emotional stress can push as much as 70 percent of your hair into the “telogen” phase of its growth cycle, which halts those strands’ growth and disconnects them from their blood supply in order to conserve resources for more essential bodily processes. That, in time, knocks them straight off your head.

The ORDINARY TRAUMA of the pandemic is piled onto lives that might already be running on adrenaline and caffeine. And our hair takes the brunt of it. Just as well we were in lockdown. Serious bad hair days for all of us.

TE so common I don’t know why we aren’t talking about it as a regular thing. 

My husband lost all his hair after a significant death in his family.My friend lost great gobs of the stuff while going through fertility treatments.Another friend lost handfuls of hair after childbirth.My sister lost hair while I went through chemo treatments (where I also lost my hair but that was because of the chemo killing all rapidly dividing cells, healthy and cancerous, and not due to TE).

Four examples from my inner circle clearly experiencing TE, something you probably haven’t heard of before. And what was the solution? Incessant search for products to cure it. Throw money at it. Only time and distance from the trauma, it seems, cures TE. The hair came back… eventually.

What does this have to do with the narrative mind? 

In addition to hair loss, ORDINARY TRAUMA can shut down the narrative mind. We berate ourselves for not writing through dark times, having been told by writing coaches that this is all rich material we can use later.

And I say to that: Later is probably a better time to write it all down. Now might not be the time.

In dealing with the ordinary traumas in life, my journal entries change. Instead of writing about my FEELINGS (bla bla bad who cares), I record the events of the day. This is also what I do when I am traveling. I list the details to remember them later, from the song playing at the airport lounge, to the man feeding pigeons at the Pantheon in Rome.

This is from the latest Typewriter Letter… a two pager from a glorious 1947 Royal stallion of a typewriter. This is from Page 2…

When you are traveling, your reading material is maps and guide books. When you’re in ordinary trauma, your writing material is more reporting, less feeling. You’re too close to the situation. Only time and distance can lure the narrative mind to work through it all later once the dust settles.

So if your narrative mind has left, or if your hair is thinning, now might be a good time to report on the events of the day through lists in your journal… and scrounge around for a hat.

PS Those Typewriter Letters are over at my shop. They are extra stampy this week:

Ordinary trauma is silencing our narrative minds

The narrative mind is that running monologue you have jogging alongside you in daily life.

Chatterboxes who are introverts have strong narrative minds.

Who said that?

Exactly.

Those words have to go somewhere and if you’re spending vast amounts of time talking inside your own head, putting some of those words on the page might be a good idea. Something might come of it. Or not. Sometimes just getting them out is enough to keep you sane.

A friend recently remarked how she wished her narrative mind would stop swirling, stop keeping her up at night.

I told her of the time my narrative mind shut off during a time of great illness, when my body was too busy to be thinking poetic thoughts.

I read recently that a side effect of the pandemic is hair loss… great big gobs of hair falling out around the globe. Sure, it is happening with those who have COVID. The body is too busy to nourish superfluous hair follicles so the hair falls out. The weird bit is that those who don’t get COVID are experiencing hair loss as well. The article states:

One type of loss is responsible for the pandemic hair-loss spike: telogen effluvium. TE, as it’s often called, is sudden and can be dramatic. It’s caused by the ordinary traumas of human existence in all of their hideous variety. Any kind of intense physical or emotional stress can push as much as 70 percent of your hair into the “telogen” phase of its growth cycle, which halts those strands’ growth and disconnects them from their blood supply in order to conserve resources for more essential bodily processes. That, in time, knocks them straight off your head.

The ORDINARY TRAUMA of the pandemic is piled onto lives that might already be running on adrenaline and caffeine. And our hair takes the brunt of it. Just as well we were in lockdown. A series of bad hair days for all of us.

TE so common I don’t know why we aren’t talking about it as a regular thing. 

My husband lost all his hair after a significant death in his family.My friend lost great gobs of the stuff while going through fertility treatments.Another friend lost handfuls of hair after childbirth.My sister lost hair while I went through chemo treatments (where I also lost my hair but that was because of the chemo killing all rapidly dividing cells, healthy and cancerous, and not due to TE).

Four examples from my inner circle clearly experiencing TE, something you probably haven’t heard of before. And what was the solution? Incessant search for products to cure it. Throw money at it. Only time and distance from the trauma, it seems, cures TE. The hair came back… eventually.

What does this have to do with the narrative mind? 

In addition to hair loss, ORDINARY TRAUMA can shut down the narrative mind. We berate ourselves for not writing through dark times, having been told by writing coaches that this is all rich material we can use later.

And I say to that: Later is probably a better time to write it all down. Now might not be the time.

In dealing with the ordinary traumas in life, my journal entries change. Instead of writing about my FEELINGS (bla bla bad who cares), I record the events of the day. This is also what I do when I am traveling. I list the details to remember them later, from the song playing at the airport lounge, to the man feeding pigeons at the Pantheon in Rome.

This is from the latest Typewriter Letter… a two pager from a glorious 1947 Royal stallion of a typewriter. This is from Page 2…

When you are traveling, your reading material is maps and guide books. When you’re in ordinary trauma, your writing material is more reporting, less feeling. You’re too close to the situation. Only time and distance can lure the narrative mind to work through it all later once the dust settles.

So if your narrative mind has left, or if your hair is thinning, now might be a good time to report on the events of the day through lists in your journal… and scrounge around the closet for a hat.

PS Those Typewriter Letters over at my shop are on sale, along with everything else. Get 20% off gifts designed to delight those who love France, travel, and typewriters. Offer valid until November 30, then it vanishes POOF into the night.

PPS The Typewriter Letters are extra stampy this week:

Behind the scenes of creating an ecourse

Last summer I signed up for an ecourse on making ecourses.

I thought it was so funny to tell people “I’m taking an ecourse on making ecourses.” It’s not even that funny now, but I was in the middle of a lockdown with the hubs and a preschooler, so I was a bit on edge.

Looking back, one wonders how much coffee played a part. 

Anywho… ecourses.

I remember the first day of class…. Peppa Pig was playing (again) on the TV but I had my earphones in, I was logged on, pencils sharpened, and clicked Begin Course. Lesson 1, lesson 2, lesson 3… taking notes, filling out worksheets, watching videos.

It was all so FUN inside the private world of my earphones and printable PDFs. 

Around me was the chaos of summer in lockdown with a young kid, but all I felt was the peace that comes with finally figuring out how to give myself something GOOD for ME. Midway through the lessons it dawned on me:

Making ecourses could be… FUN. 

No ecourse experts ever said this. They all go on about making money and the best microphones to use, but I thought if I was having fun taking an ecourse, it might be fun making an ecourse as well.

As you know, because I’ve mentioned it a few times, I went ahead and made three writing ecourses.

It was a little stressful to figure out the tech, to decide on what content stayed and what went, and to look at my uncomfortable video face… but by the third course, I basically just got over myself.

So this week, after I put the garden to bed, typed up this week’s Typewriter Letter, I thought it was time to make another ecourse. And this time it’s a freebie.

Free. I know. I’ve been selling so much and now a free one? Am I losing it?

Entirely possible.

It makes me gleeful to even say that I have made an ecourse on making ecourses. Hahahaha.

If you have ever wondered about making ecourses, check it out. My video face shows that I’ve moved on from caring about being too slick about any of this stuff. Also, cartoons are quietly playing in the background and even Amélie shows up to teach the ABCs and how to type on a typewriter. She’s so funny! Already a pro.

With this free ecourse on making ecourses (hahaha!) you’ll get:

34 minutes of video lessonsA 31 page eBook that you can download and printBehind the scenes of making an ecourseTech questions answeredTools to know where to begin

Which is all pretty rich for being free. Full disclosure on WHY it’s free. Because part of how I learned how to do it was by taking this course by Leonie Dawson:

And by watching a bunch of video tutorials on Kajabi.

There are a few affiliate links in there if you choose to buy what they are offering. But you can still get started just by taking the free training. Look at you go!

Old books and old friends

The luck of living in a place where libraries sell off treasures like this! Sure it might look junky to someone. Downright messy. But to me, it is glorious. The local library had a giant book sale. I showed up to lurk about and was handsomely rewarded. Look at all those dates in the book. All those readers. All that stamping!

And to think, this could have ended up on the pyre.

I’m not sure where the rejected books go after the book sale. I would like to think they just travel from town to town looking for their forever homes.

I love this book.. It’s a collection of stories about James Bond… and I happen to be married to a very James Bond-like character.

I even show our daughter photos of Daniel Craig and she says DADDY… Christophe is NOT amused. I find it endlessly amusing. I’ve been with Christophe for ten years. He hasn’t ever really found it that amusing. In fact, he looks even more like Daniel Craig when he is sporting a scowl.

Anyway, the book sale. It was a hit. I picked up a gardening book that had all those sexy illustrations of VEGETABLES.

And…

Just sitting around a book sale looking pretty, waiting for me to arrive and take it home.

Speaking of old things, Bruce came by.

Bruce is a colleague from another life. We talked about our road trips, about mutual friends, and especially about old things. I complained about the lack of CD players in cars. He complained about lack of colours in car. Then I went on about the lovely hues of old typewriters. And he went on about the lovely hues of old cars.

As I’ve previously mentioned, my dining table now looks like swanky office digs, which is ironic as I’m the poster child for leaving corporate life all dramatic-like to write these:

And now I write letters on old manual typewriters. Oddly, I’m writing on a computer keyboard right now and it has none of the haunting romance of writing on a typewriter. It also doesn’t have the typos. Or charm.

By the way, I had a visit with Mr. Content Analysis for my site. Looks accurate:

Glad FUN made the list. In my previous blog, “Korean bath houses” made the list.

Feel free to subscribe to the Typewriter Letters and get fun mail in the actual mail… with paper and fancy stamps and everything. A few glimpses of the latest letters:

Did you read that ad from the local paper? People around here are so kind. A sharp contrast to all that city living of yore.

Another great ad. Senior Gent! Nice. This ad made me laugh because he could also be describing wanting a dog. But it made me happy to read and I hope it works out for John.

I wonder if this could soon be John.

The letters are coming along nicely. A few nice words:

“Absolutely charming and fun! Like a letter from a wonderful best friend! I’m signing up for more…I can’t imagine a better way to be uplifted during a long winter!” – JoRene B.

That excellent, because I can’t imagine a better activity this winter than writing the letters. Also…

“Happiness delivered to my mailbox, Janice MacLeod style.” – Monica B.

My friend Harley wrote me (an actual typewritten letter) and said “letters always make a mark on someone’s day. How could they not?… Even if the other end is a dark hole where letters go to die… letters fill crevices in lives.”

Janice

PS The usual requisite links to keep Mr. Content Analysis happy:

Etsy shop for letters and artEcourses for writing betterFreebies for fun free things

Why does rain make us calm?

It’s raining outside. Big drops. Gorgeous sound. Couldn’t be happier.

It makes tea taste better, makes lounge wear more comfy, makes the guilt about not GETTING OUT THERE and DOING ALL THE THINGS drift away.

“Rain produces a sound akin to white noise. The brain gets a tonic signal from white noise that decreases this need for sensory input, thus calming us down. Similarly, bright sun tends to keep us stimulated.”

(Kimberly Hershenson, Therapist and anxiety and depression specialist)

Without all the errand running due to inclement/wonderful weather, I’ll be clacking at my typewriter. My mom picked up another typewriter at an antique store. Looked alright, seemed to work fine, but I soon realized the ribbon wasn’t advancing. It was stuck in place.

Like the Tin Man (who doesn’t like rain as much as I do).

Someone had used this machine a lot. There were signs of correction fluid dried here and there. And a new ribbon was put in place, then… nothing.

Years it sat idle. The whole thing in a coma. The ribbon had fused itself onto the prongs where it sat.

Kind of broke my heart.

Since fixing these things professionally is inconvenient at best, I flipped her over, opened her up, and tried to find the problem. Solving the problem would be another skill but I felt I would at least need to be able to explain something to a repair person. There is no electricity anywhere with these manual beasts so it doesn’t feel so risky to tickle your fingers here and there and push things around. I discovered that the thing that advances the ribbon was fused in place along with the ribbon itself. Years of sitting without anyone to play with.

Poor little bug on typewriter by the wall
No one to love him at all
No one to wash his clothes
No one to tickle his toes
Poor little bug on typewriter by the wall

So I jiggled the thing that advances the ribbon… technical typewriter-speak.. and I actually got it working. Self is amazed by self.

Now it’s as good as new. I popped in a fresh ribbon and it is back online. Or on line. Or on. Or… well, not on… it’s a manual so it is never off. What are the terms for typewriter usage?!?!?!

So now I’ll sit inside and type out next week’s letter for the Typewriter Letter subscriptions. It has been nice to see familiar names pop up in the Etsy shop, people who subscribed to Paris Letters for years. You don’t know you’re going to miss them, but you do. You think your time together stops with the ending of an era, but just a little jiggle and the plot advances.

Since the weather is foul (gorgeously so), my next letter will likely include waxing poetic about rain, about how when the weather is ruffled, the soul is quiet, about how even the birds huddle and stop chirping. About tea and rainbow umbrellas and how the shine of the sidewalks makes everything old feel a little bit new again.

September and the changing of the season

September friends.

“But when fall comes, kicking summer out on its treacherous ass as it always does one day sometime after the midpoint of September, it stays awhile like an old friend that you have missed. It settles in the way an old friend will settle into your favourite chair and take out his pipe and light it and then fill the afternoon with stories of places he has been and things he has done since last he saw you.”

Stephen King, Salem’s Lot 

This is a much more poetic way to describe September than the key moment when I knew September was in full gear at our house.

We ate the last ice cream cones. 

You don’t realize how much room a box of ice cream cones takes up in your house until September arrives. Suddenly, school snacks get top billing, you’re buying brown sugar, and have no room for a giant box of cones that happens to hold just one or two cones. You finally say to the box:

“Get outta here!”

Just like that, summer is over. Swim suits are faded. The beach towels slowly make their way to the bottom of the pile in the linen closet. The beach sand is still here.

Because beach sand. 

But it is less and less the more we wipe and sweep.

Today I went for a walk wearing long leggings on and was glad for it against the brisk morning breeze. 

Sayonara summer.

Our daughter is in kindergarten. There was a time when I was deep in the fatigue of toddlerhood when someone told me, “You just have to get her to kindergarten.” This person happened to have 4 (FOUR!!!) toddlers of her own. (A two year old followed by triplets. Unplanned but a delight… or at least an adventure.) She used this mantra, “Get them to kindergarten.” If she could use it to calm down, so could I. And it did work. 

Five whole days of school all in a row. I feel like doing carpet angels on my living room floor every day at 8:45. 

But instead, I’m sitting down at this vintage friend:

The Typewriter Letter subscriptions are so much fun I almost don’t want to admit it to people. It really does feel like new love. I send a lightly illustrated typewritten letter out every week to subscribers.

Harley told me I needed “a stallion of a machine” to really GET THERE. He didn’t explain the THERE I was to get to, but there are whispers on the wind when I pull out one of my 6 machines.

SIX. I know. Hardly anything.

So far, I’ve done a lot of writing about typewriters.

I just can’t get over it. Remember that time I went on about Paris? That lasted 10 years. I don’t think I’ll be going on so much about the typewriter itself. There is a whole world out there to describe at the helm of a clunky word processor that thinks it’s a classic car.

I’ve been pondering perfection.

With typos being a natural side effect of life with manual typewriters, I have been pondering the pursuit of perfection.

I have come to the conclusion that perfection is overrated. Writing on a typewriter feels like one long run on thought, warts and all, and the writing is better for it. 

I wonder back to Paris, whether or not it would have been good to have a typewriter back then when I was describing this new lovely world.But no.

I needed to become better at describing so I could become better at first drafts. With a typewriter it’s ALL first drafts. 

Writing just one draft is like swimming straight across a lake rather than swimming around to the other side along the shore. There is no shallow end on which to rely. 

Even this blog post has taken me hours of editing. Shocking, I know. I have written forward and back, and have deleted as much as I have left on the page.

This is wonderful, of course, and I surely cannot imagine writing an entire book with a typewriter, but this is very different than living LIVE when typing up a letter.

Same same but different.

How do I make an interesting first draft? Simple. I write a letter every day and pick the best one to send out to subscribers. A lot of work? Not if you’re in love.

You know you’re in love when you take fun photos of the subject matter in all manner of scenarios: 

Look at the autumnal splendour.

This workhorse is sitting outside right now because I gave it a mineral spirit spruce up. The paint thinner aroma is a bit thick around here.

If you would like REAL fun mail, subscribe to the Typewriter Letters. They also make a great gift for anyone who could use a little pressie in the post every week. 

PS.

WRITE BETTER with these ecourses.

READ more blog posts.

BUY me a typewriter. 6 is never enough

Typewriter Letter Subcriptions are happening

I heard that if you park your car with a typewriter inside, when you return to your car, you’ll find your original typewriter plus two more.

That’s kind of how it is. 

Right now, we have FOUR typewriters sporting all manner of features, from TABS (which tab wherever they WANT to tab), an Automatic Repeat Spacer for forms and such, which must have been HUGE for ad agencies everywhere.

“It comes complete with a new-age Automatic Repeat Spacer to fill out those important forms with ease.”

Speaking of ease and grace, look at these darling digits:

And…

Was the typewriter a precursor to the Ouiga board?

A little creepy. A lot cool.

Though there are also nasty little surprises that come along with old typewriters (beyond the smell).

Looks innocent enough until you read “Who will use this typewriter: Student, Housewife, Businessman.

YA!?!?!? How about this business WOMAN right here?!?!!?

Honestly. This card had me irked for a week… maybe more. I’m still irked.

Despite the blatant misinterpretation of what makes a business person, regardless of body parts and choices, I am still so in love with the typewriter… unless a breeze comes through the window and then the place smells like a charity shop.

STINK-EEEEE.

Our dining area looks like an office space with the workers on break.

I’m so in love with the typewriter for one BIG reason:

With a slowing of the scene, the mind writes differently. Kind of a glorious stream of somewhat edited thought.

There are typos. Plenty of those.

But sometimes they are FUNNY and add an extra ZING to the letters. Speaking of ZING, look at the letters I’ve been getting lately from Harley who introduced me to the magical reverse tech of typewriters.

In typing letters in response, I have been reflecting on the decade I sent out Paris Letters. There are certain things I loved, and a few things I didn’t. For instance, it has been promoting the new book DEAR PARIS without the strain of doing the letters as well. A Paris Letter really did take me all month to complete, from concept, painting, writing, putting it all together and getting it out the door.

But I loved writing out addresses and talking to customers. I loved the medium itself. Getting a letter in the mail is FUN.

So I created this:

It’s over at my Etsy shop.

The subscription is a letter EACH WEEK instead of one a month. The graphics are simpler so I can get them out the door. And the more letters I get out the door, the more fun for everyone.

I’ve also noticed something with gift subscriptions. Those who need it really need it more than once a month. Getting fun mail every week for a few months is helpful during hard times.

Look at these beauts so far:

With a tablecloth I also picked up at a charity shop, that also… like the typewriter STUNK before I washed it.

Bits of sketches.

Fun graphics.

All kinds of fun things can go in these letters. But mostly, it’s the writing. Since kindergarten started (best invention EVER) I have felt this massive WAVE of WRITE WRITE WRITE. Then angels with typewriters show up and help take the writing to a whole new level.

Learn more and subscribe to the Typewriter Letters. 

 

 

The tale of two typewriters

So I’m fulfilling letter orders over in the shop, as usual. In one order, the customer states “If it’s not blank on the back of the letter, I don’t want it.”

Curious, I inquired further.

Harley tells me he plans on typing letters to friends on the back of the letters. So my illustrated letter on one side, his typed letter on the other side.

This intrigues me. Like, with an actual typewriter?

I love the idea of all of this and I tell him so.

“I’ll send you one” he says. I immediately forward my mailing address to a stranger.

wonders about this… shoulder shrugs… carries on

A week later the UPS guy is standing on my porch with a big box. I don’t remember ordering anything so he looks at the packing form.

“A typewriter?”

I didn’t order one but I nod and say it’s mine.

mine mine mine

It’s a package from Harley who has sent me a robin’s egg blue ROYAL typewriter.

I am astounded for a few reasons. First, I thought Harley was sending me a letter. Just a letter. Second, this is a heavy package that probably cost a fortune to ship. Third, a random gift from a stranger doesn’t happen every day… or ever.

Look at this beauty:

How kind and wonderful is this gift?!?!?!!?

It’s gorgeous and has a pleasant clickity clack. His letter, explaining his gift, has been rolled in like it was just written on the typewriter before popping the whole thing in the mail. Clever.

What a pressie!

We’ve been clickity clacking ever since. Amélie feels very accomplished when she can type all the way to end to make the bell ring.

Everyone who comes over takes a turn.

Then my mom and sister are at a yard sale on the weekend and come across this beauty for $20.

It’s the Majestic 800 and it’s as majestic as it sounds…

Now that we got it working.

The thing with manual typewriters is that you can see inside at all the mechanics; how wires hook to other wires, gadgetry and movement. It’s all rather symphonic and majestic, in fact.

So now, inside the space of a week, we have two typewriters and I’m fully Tom Hanks about the whole typewriter craze. I’ve learned how to clean them, replace ribbon, set margins, and even make minor fixes.

Also this week I’ve been prepping for a writer event over at the local winery. It’s part of their WINE AND WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS. My writing workshop is all about THE MAGIC OF JOURNALING and I take us through a process by which we can actually redesign our lives within a couple hours. High promise but it actually works. Plus it includes a glass of wine, which is a nice touch. Anyway, it’s Wednesday August 25 from 7-9 at Burning Kiln Winery if you’re around.

While prepping for the event, I was collecting bits of writerly wisdom. Then I started looking up typewriter photos online.

Sexy like a librarian!

Plus, I’ve been making bouquets galore with the flowers in the garden. Look at this creative use of thyme:

I put together typewriter fun + writing wisdom + plants and flowers and created a cute 15 page magazine:

This magazine includes:15 pages of writerly advice3 type written lettersPretty pictures of typewriters with plants

I admit that calling this PDF a magazine when it’s only 15 pages is a bit rich, but it’s FUN. So there. Maybe there will be more issues. Dunno.

already plenty of issues

It’s so FUNNY to me to search for two random words like “typewriter plants” and be presented with WONDERFUL TYPEWRITERS IN THE WILD. Download the magazine for FREE and behold the fun weirdness for yourself.

What can I say. I like making book-like structures.

I’m fully aware that part of my enthusiasm for manual typewriters is due to my complete fatigue with fixing my website over the last few months. Having Amélie exploring the world has also made me realize that it’s important to have tactile tools, whether it’s a page she can type on or a record she can play herself. Feeling like an independent person doing her own thing is important to her. She gets exasperated having to ask for drinks and snacks. Being able to pull herself up to a desk and click clack away without anyone having to show her how has added a level of glee to her life.

Mine, too.

Janice

PS.

Download the FREE magazine.Sign up for the writing workshop. *Christophe rolls his eyes*

PPS Almost forgot! This is happening over at the shop. Canvas prints, framed. YES!