Leonie Dawson's Blog, page 57

Leonie’s 10 Productivity Hacks Cheatsheet

Hey precious human,

I’ve been thinking about you during these blooming wild, challenging times. Wondering how I can help.

I know you can sometimes struggle with productivity, and getting distracted by a hundred and million things in life… and finding yourself stuck on endless loop scrolling social media and making MORE SNACKS for the ravenous children and forgetting what on earth you were meant to be doing. What was I supposed to be doing again?

So I wanted to make you a quick cheatsheet. I know you’re busy so it will only take you a couple of minutes to read. It’s the 10 productivity hacks I’ve used to generate $10m in 10 hours a week. 10…10…10…. faaaark I love it when things line up!

And it sounds simple, but I promise you… it’s blooming POWERFUL and it works. If you go read it today, and do the 10 things (or even just ONE to start off with!) you WILL SEE THE DIFFERENCE.

Just head here to grab it… it’s completely free… my gift to you.

You have big and miraculous things to share with the world. We need you and your gifts.

Big love,

Podcast #016: Why I Decided To Write An Erotic Novella

Gorgeous humans!

A new episode of Leonie Dawson Refuses To Be Categorised: The Podcast has just been released… and today we’re talking about… how & why I wrote an erotic novella.

Listen below:

You can also subscribe via your favourite podcast player!





















You know guys, I am SO GLAD I decided to call my podcast what I did!

Because WHO WOULD HAVE THUNK MY NEXT MOVE WAS TO DO THIS?

Honestly, I just delight myself.


In this podcast episode I talk about:

What fears I had about writing an erotic novel
What I did to overcome those fears
How I completed the book in 10 days
Why I decided to write under a pen name
The importance of random creative side projects!


Related Links:

Wild Donkey Guide To Getting Projects Done (free ebook)
40 Days To Finish Your Book e-course
2020 goals workbooks

 

Want to see inside my brain?

Here’s my notes I used to record the episode!



So hope this is useful & interesting for you!
May you create your own ridiculous crazy side projects too!

Big love,

SALT: my new erotic romance novella is OUT NOW!

Treasures,

I’m absolutely THRILLED to share my latest offering to the creative gods… SALT: an erotic romance novella.

You can buy it now on Kindle from Amazon US, Amazon Australia, Amazon UK (and all other Amazon websites too!)

I’ve been wanting to write an erotic novella for years now.

I fell in love with the genre about 8 years ago, and have read close to a thousand romance and erotic books since then. They are my happy place, and they reawakened my love for fiction. And heyoooooo they also increased my libido – for most women, these kinds of creative imaginings go hand in hand with our sensuality!

I’ll be honest though: it took me a few years to work up the courage to do it. I’ll release a podcast episode talking about some of those fears in depth. But I just felt out of my depth with it… it was something completely new, and I realised I identified as a non-fiction writer, instead of just… a writer.

I’m SO glad I did. I wrote it in the space of about 10 days, and they were glorious, hard, happy, scary hours spent. I had to face the blank page! I had to write my first sex scene! I had to keep turning up and doing the thing!

I finished it. Well, I thought I was done. And then at night, trying to fall asleep, I knew it wasn’t complete yet. So I woke up at sun break, padded out to my studio, and tapped out the words, taking dictation for spirit. And then it was complete, truly. And I cried, and I walked out into the sunlight, and all of me was dancing. I can do wild, new, glorious things. I can tell new stories. I can be brave. And I was so so proud of myself. That I’d done it. I’d faced my fears. I’d carved out time to make this radical, random offering to the creative gods.

Salt: an erotic romance novella is published under my pen name of Lola Leigh. I decided to do it as a pen name so that when people search Leonie Dawson on Amazon, they find all my goals workbooks, and if I decide to write more novellas, I can include them under the Lola Leigh “brand.”

What’s the book about?

SALT is an erotic romantic novella of 14,000 words. It’s sexy, and it’s sweet, and it’s more.

Here’s the synopsis:

Lola is finding her way in the world, through the wily paths of growing into herself and dealing with a tangled family web. It’s only when she meets Cowboy by chance one night that she begins to find her true self and home. One heated night on a bus, and one sensual week on a farm. Will it be enough?

It’s slightly odd, and reverential. It’s a love story between two humans. And a love story for the land. It’s a love story for North Queensland, its culture and its language.

Most of all though, it’s one of the truest things I think I’ve written, even though it’s fiction.

I think it’s hard for authors to write about their own fiction though. It means something to me. And it means something for the advance readers. And I will love hearing what it means for you too.

Order your copy now

SALT is available on Kindle from all Amazon sites worldwide. (Even if you don’t have a Kindle, you can just download the free Kindle app to read on your computer, iPad or phone!)

But most of all, this is for the creative goddesses.

Thank you for moving through me. Thank you for letting me play. Thank you for letting me discover a new part of myself.

I’m gladder, and bigger, and braver, for having told the story of Lola and Cowboy.

Big love,

 

My Newest Podcast Ep!

Treasures! 

Have you listened to my newest podcast episode yet? 

If not, look no further! 

 

We’re talking my FAAAAVE books OF ALL TIMEEEE!!! 

If you know me, you know that every year I put out a post talking about the best books I’ve read during those 12 months. 

This is kinda like that, but in glorious audio!!! 

You can also listen or subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, PocketCast (or wherever else you listen to podcasts!) 

Big love to all of you! 

The Ethical Evolution Podcast!

Treasures,

I’m on the Ethical Evolution Podcast again!

How cool is that? I’m a repeat guest omg.

This time around we’re talking “Change Making Isolation”, so it’s pretty damn topical right now.

Listen HERE!

You can also listen on Spotify, Apple Pods, and Stitcher. We love a good option.

You can also listen to my first interview (about Ethical Philanthropy) HERE!

Big love,

The Edubabble Podcast!

 

Treasures!

Ohoho do I have an awesome podcast interview to share with you all today.

I was interviewed by the ah.maze.ing Tony Vallance, of the Edubabble Podcast!

Here’s what Tony had to say:

“Strap yourself in it’s time to get crazy with the amazingly creative, hilarious and full of heart Leonie Dawson. She is an award winning powerhouse in business and creativity and has also been through years of facilitating homeschooling for her kids. Listen to her experiences and advice on how we can help our kids to learn from home in these challenging times. This one is hilarious, crazy and I just loved our talk, please enjoy.”

Keen to listen? Click HERE!

I hope this offers you some peace and ease during this hectic AF time.

Big love,

FREE! Quarantine Planner Workbook To Help You!

Dearests,

What a freaking hard and bonkerdoodles time we are going through right now.

I thought being evacuated by the Australian bushfires was rough… this feels even more intense.

The last time I felt like the ground was this uncertain beneath my feet, I was pregnant with my first kid. I knew I was about to get my life changed back then, and I did the one thing I felt I could do.

I gave myself a North Star to guide me. I created a rainbowy, inspiring notebook for me to create goals & write myself love notes for what lay ahead. It became something to hold onto when things got tough.

And it worked… like magic. So much so I’ve used the same process every single year. And when I went on to share my workbooks with the world, it’s gone on to be used by over 400,000 beautiful souls worldwide.

So when I found myself restless and uncertain, shaky and unknowing again, I did the same thing.

I’ve spent the last few days with piles of paper strewn around me and ink stained fingers. My ten year old daughter (the one who started this whole thing off) looked at me knowingly and said “You’re writing a new book, aren’t you Mummy? One for being at home?”

And I was indeed. I was making myself a life raft. Crafting a new north star. I made myself a planner and workbook to dream new dreams and craft a new life… one that was firmly centred at home.

And I’m giving it away free to you.

In it, you’ll find:

100 Quarantine Projects
Habits Tracker
Daily Schedule
Worksheets to set goals for your creativity, health, mental health, relationships, exercise & productivity
Printable colouring posters to inspire your spirit!

Pop your email in below & I’ll email the quarantine planner download straight to you!

Please share this creation along to anyone who needs it

We are here, together.

We can do this. We can do hard things, as Glennon Doyle would say.

I’m thinking of you and cheerleading you along.

Big love,

Real Goddess Revolution!

Possums! 

We’re back with another brilliant podcast interview! 

I sat down with Joanne Murphy and, well, I think she says it best: 

“This episode is an absolute gem! 

If you’re looking for business success tips from a successful 8-figure entrepreneur – listen in! 

We’re also talking money mindset, time management tips and living true to your passions. 
As well as business, our conversation touches on creativity, climate change, political activism and art.

Let’s just say, it’s a pretty power-packed episode!” 

So what are you waiting for? Get us in your ears!!! 

Listen HERE!

Big love, 

 

 

 

Quarantine Diaries

Dearests,

It’s an odd, odd feeling, writing to you from inside quarantine days.

When we thought about our goals for 2020, I don’t think many of us thought we’d be at where we are now: on lockdown or close to it, unable to leave the house for fear of infection.

A month ago, I still thought Coronavirus was a joke, a hyper-inflated sense of panic. I had no idea that soon, we’d pull our children out of school, stay at home with religious fervour and change the very fabric of our life. And yet, here we are.

What strikes me is how incredibly resilient and adaptable we are as humans.

After all, that is our saving grace, the thing that has made us survive as a species as long as we have. New information? Sudden new way of existing? We will feel all the feelings: anxiety, overwhelm, fear. And then we’ll get on with adapting almost instantly. It really is an incredible thing to witness. Things I thought were impossible two weeks ago are possible, and what’s more: I’m ok. I’m adapting.

Now I should say: I know I am remarkably privileged. I am white, I live in a developed country, I’ve already homeschooled before so don’t have much of a learning curve, we have plenty of savings we can live off, and my businesses are already well established online.

I know that this time is deeply stressful and filled with pain for many: financial uncertainties, being under-resourced to homeschool and/or work from home, the huge loss of lives, the economic downturn and the massive stress of our health systems and health workers.

And yet, here we are. Humans, doing what we’ve always done. Adapting.

As Glennon Doyle would say: We can do hard things.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my ancestors lately.

For most of us, our grandparents have gone through times similar to to this. They lived through wars and great depressions. They went without and they lost humans they loved. And they carried on.

And I think: they can do that. I can do this. It’s in my blood.

And I’ve been thinking about our ancestors before them.

How throughout human history, there has been all manners of calamities and fuckups and pandemics and droughts and famines and freakouts. And yet… we’ve continued on. All of us surviving well enough to birth a new generation and bring them into the world. Our ancestors have a 100% survival rate. Isn’t that fucking remarkable?

I think about my ancestors when I work out how we’ll manage these times ahead. I think of them when I look in the fridge to see what will go off next, what needs to be used up beforehand, what meal I’ll invent next. I think of them when I plant new seedlings and I ration out the eggs.

And most of all, I think of them when I plant two new citrus trees, and I call them Marion and Audrey after my grandmothers.

They’ve done hard things. I can do this.

I think maybe just maybe this is an opportunity

Here in Australia, we cannot get groceries delivered currently. Many grocery stores have shortages, and there are rations on many items.

And so I – and so many others – turn to what we should have been doing all along. We order fruit and vegetable delivery from our local farmers. We eat less processed food out of pure necessity. And we plant seeds to make our own gardens – so much so there’s shortages everywhere of gardening supplies. We buy chickens for our backyards in such great droves that there’s now a 3 month wait before you can get them.

This is Australia panic buying our way into self-sufficiency. The thing we should have been doing all along. For our health. For our environment. For our own sweet souls.

The world seems quieter right now

There’s no place I need to be. Nothing I need to be doing.

I water my plants. I make up meals to use what we have.

For lunch, there was a perfectly ripe avocado, some wilting tomatoes, a sad carrot and spring onions. I fry up the wilting shit with garlic and herbs from the garden. Toast some 2 day old bread, put the fry on top with sliced avocado and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar glaze that’s been rolling around the bottom of the fridge. It was the best thing I’d eaten in weeks. I should have been doing this all along, I think to myself.

My kids are at home, and all the pressure is off. Don’t need to get them to school. Don’t need to make plans to see anyone. No appointments. Just sweet, quiet emptiness.

It feels like we are living in a different era.

A couple of days ago, me and the kids spent the morning riding around our yard on bikes, then laid out an extreme hopscotch obstacle course. And I watched my children play, and there was nowhere we needed to be, and nothing we needed to be thinking of, and I thought: this is a very 1970s childhood right now.

I don’t want this to be over

There’s an odd and aching feeling in my chest. Of how, when you are on holidays, you love it AND you’re always counting down what you have left of it. You know it will be over one day, and it will all be just sweet memories.

That’s how I feel. I want to hold onto these sweet, quiet days ferociously.

I don’t want these days to be over too soon. I want this time to change me, indelibly, so the me before quarantine and the me after is unrecognisable. I want this time to work its way through me and re-centre my life. I want it to show me what is tender and possible and right.

We sit on the verandah this morning.

I’ve made french toast out of that half-stale bread and extra eggs.

“Honey,” I ask my husband. “Can I pick your brain about something?”

He leans back in his chair, stretches his hands behind his head and says:

“Go right ahead. I’ve got nowhere to be but here.”

All my love,

P.S. Stay safe and stay home, my dearest loves. Let’s get full on 1800s up in these parts. And let’s celebrate the fuck out of our health workers and essential workers. They are, indeed, angels on earth.

Podcast: I Interview Josh Weed, a gay Mormon who married a woman

Dearests,

I have something beautiful and tender to share with you today.

When I was thinking of creating a podcast, I knew that I didn’t really want to do an interview podcast. I didn’t want to interview people who were just like me to talk about things I usually talk about. I didn’t want to have conversations with people who I didn’t deeply love.

Mostly I just wanted to have mammoth cups of tea with you, and share from my deepest heart the things I felt called to share.

And sometimes, when having those tea dates with you, I wanted to introduce you to some of my very favourite people. Not to interview them per se… but to share their story, their light and their wisdom with you. And get to spend some beautiful time with them as I recorded it.

I already knew who I wanted to have these conversations with from the get go. An author, a social worker, and a gay Mormon who married a woman.

Today, I have the deep honour of introducing you to my friend Josh Weed.

Of those three, he is indeed the gay Mormon who married a woman. He is a viral blogger and has appeared on The Ricki Lake Show, Nightline and ABC News.


 


He’s not just that though – how can you possibly contain the magnificence of a soul? Josh is a family and marriage therapist. He’s a soul willing to do the deep work of healing himself. He shares his innermost agonies, fears and spiritual awakenings with a raw and real and rare honesty. I believe his story of coming to accept and own his sexuality has the power to change the world.


 


Trigger warnings: Please note this podcast discusses suicidal ideations, mental health and homophobia.




This podcast is LONG AF.

And it deserves to be. Imagine you’ve been invited to brunch with two dear friends, and it becomes one of those conversations where you get to know another human’s heart… deeply. And you get to fall in love with them, just as they are.

This is that podcast. And I am so very honoured to share it with you, and introduce you to my friend Josh.

(As per ALWAYS, this podcast episode is sweary as fuck! Enjoy!)

You can listen to all podcast episodes here.

You can also listen by searching for “Leonie Dawson Refuses To Be Categorised” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, I Heart Radio… or anywhere else you like to listen to your podcasts!

Links:

Josh’s original viral post from 2012 coming out as a gay, married Mormon
Josh’s viral post from 2018 announcing the end of his marriage
Josh and Lolly’s Youtube series
Josh’s therapy listing

So.much.love.

I’m so grateful to Josh (and Lolly) for their story. They are love in action, and I am so glad they are in this world.

Sending you so much love, always,