Last Tuesday we were doing our usual Blogging Therapy thing, and I ended up wondering out loud about who among my lovely readers was putting this stuff into practice.
In other words, which people had either started a blog, revived a blog or restructured a blog after getting all hot and bothered (in a good way, yes?) by this series.
Partly because I was wondering whether these posts were having any effect in the real world, other than making people feel better.*
*Which is also important — I’m not trying to downplay the sparkly wonder that is feeling better … yay for feeling better.
And partly because I could really use some more good stuff to read.
And not just to read, but to be able to tell people about. Stuff that’s so real — so alive — that reading it will help the people I care about feel joyful and reassured and full of love.
Ahem, I’m talking to you, Ms Wormy! Tell me when I can link to you!
But I digress.
Here’s what I’ve learned, so far:
Eight people reported that this series lit the spark and gave them that friendly push to go ahead and launch a blog already.
Five people said they’d drastically changed the focus/style of their blog due to this series.
Also we’ve got two resuscitations of blogs that had been fairly neglected.
And I’ve lost count of the number of people who wrote and said that they’re feeling good about moving forward with this, and will be working on writing some exploratory posts over their holiday vacation in the upcoming weeks.
No really, I have lost count. Don’t make me go back and count them.
Additionally, three clients that I had sessions with with this week also mentioned their plans to “get this thing rolling already”. And there was much rejoicing.
Which gave me an idea …
Actually, that wasn’t at all what gave me the idea. What gave me the idea was a very intense round of wacky yoga brain training, but I’ll tell you about that on Friday.
Getting to the point …
If you guys (or several of you, at least) are going to be spending a good part of the holidays making progress on blogging it up — or on thinking about blogging it up — I am committed to making space where I can be there with you to hold your hand.
If you want me there, of course.
So I’ve put together a mini-course. A Let’s Get This Show On The Road course. A Screw Therapy and Get Blogging course.
A You Know, Even if You’re Not Ready Yet, I Love You Just The Same So Please Let Me Whisper Sweet Words of Guilt-free Encouragement In Your Ear Course.
Fine, so I don’t really have a name for it. That’s not the point.
There are two (well, three) parts to this course.
Class #1: Moving through the fear
A small, cozy group of us spends two hours together working on the various fears and scariness that comes up for us around this theme. Taking what we’ve started in the Blogging Therapy series and going way, way deeper.
I won’t try to talk you out of being scared, because that would be obnoxious. You’re absolutely allowed to have as much fear as happens to be there at the moment.
We’ll use some great techniques to make things feel more comfortable and more do-able, but no one will tell you that you’re wrong to be afraid.
By the end you’ll feel that tingly excitement of possibility. The spark. We love the spark.
And in addition to being destuckified, you’ll also have some Useful Tricks for calming yourself down whenever you need it.
Class #2: Oh, the technical details
This is where you bring all your “what-ifs” and “I don’t know how to do thats”.
My duck will be there and my wonderful web-guy/designer genius will be there for extra support.
And if there is anything that comes up that one of us isn’t able to answer, we have access to a whole cadre of biggified experts, so you will absolutely get answers on whatever it is.
Two hours on working through stucknesses that are related to the technical side of things or the fear of the technical side of things. And you’ll come out of it knowing what all your Next Steps are.
But I thought you said there were three parts!
There are. Kind of.
You can do the classes individually, or sign up for both together, which saves you money and also gets you an invitation to the mysterious Part Three.
Should you decide to sign up for both, you get invited to a follow-up class (Class #3), which happens two weeks later. That’s where you get to show up with every single question or worry or setback that came up for you during the two weeks you were working on it or thinking about it.
And Selma and I will help you with them.
Small print, sign-up details, etc.
Each class by itself is $99. Selma and I would love it if you’re able to do both, which you can do for $129 all told, and that also gets you an invite to class #3 — my treat!
Classes happen by phone — you’ll get a call-in number. But we won’t spend the whole time on the phone. You’ll also get a short chunk of time to yourself to work on an assignment.
Class 1 is Saturday December 20th
Class 2 is Sunday, December 21
Class 3 (if you’ve signed up for both 1 & 2) is Sunday, January 4th.
All classes take place from from 12:00 pm – 2:00pm PST.
If you’re not sure what time that is for you, ask the time converter nicely and he’ll tell you.
But yeah, that’s this weekend!!
Limited to ten people in each class. First come first served and all that.
Sign up happens right here:
If you’re reading this in a feed and can’t see the buttons, just click through because they’re definitely here!
[Ed. This course sold out in a day and a half. Thanks guys!]
And now for an apology and an unrelated gripe …
Apologies to everyone reading today who couldn’t care less about this.
I’m sorry. That’s no fun for you. Luckily, we’ll be back to working-on-your-stuff stuff tomorrow!
Yes, I said stuff stuff. Because I can.
But I mainly said it to get back at Lauren Collins for saying “de-stuffification” in the last New Yorker. Ahem. Lauren, we all know you’re a fine writer. You don’t need to steal my made-up words and then rejigger them for a restaurant review. Really!
Also, is de-stuffification supposed to be a removal of stuff or a removal of stuffiness? One hardly knows.
*sniff*
That’s it!
See you guys tomorrow with real, live Blogging Therapy …
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I have to report that my blogging has taken off in an amazing way. I can’t manage the course, but I think the blogging posts have helped me a great deal not just with blogging but with all my other writing and getting that out into the world.
The key was something entirely unexpected. I’d had an online diary for years (six, in all), where I wrote masses every day and didn’t care what people thought. Then it wasn’t right for me anymore. After that, I had my main blog, which is under my real name.
For some reason, this is really intimidating. There’s a massive extra layer of pressure. As it happens, last week I came across a new site called posterous, where you post to everywhere at once, including the posterous site itself. I set myself up there under a pseudonym. Everybody can see my name underneath, but there was something about the pseudonym that helped me just let go.
It’s incredibly liberating, and completely freed everything up. I began writing about what I’m going through now, and I’m not bothered by comments.
What I find about this process of freestyle, stream of consciousness blogging is that it unsticks so much stuff. I go to bed in the morning with so much resolved; each day is a process of undoing the done, and discovering the new. I recommend it to everybody. Just sit and write without thinking about it. All the feelings, the Stuff. It’s so freeing.
Joely Blacks last blog post..Where do you have your best revelations?
Havi, what a brilliant idea to create this course!
I hope you’ll be offering it again after the holidays. That whole weekend for me is taken up with doing early Xmas with an aunt we can’t see on the holiday because we’ll be nine hours away, thanking someone for being an incredible friend, practical helper, and saint to my mom when she was ill, and doing mom-estate stuff. It’s pretty full.
I hope the classes go well and that you’ll let us know if you’ll do them again!
As an aside, I also wanted to say how helpful it has been for me to have your advice on the thing that’s often a setback for me in blogging: feeling like other people are doing my subject better. That my blog is redundant. It’s nice to be reminded that the internet is a big place, with lots of room for my little opinions.
Maryann Devines last blog post..Socially Networked Membership
Havi, you can make that 9 new blogs, thank you. 🙂 I’ve been meaning to send you an email. You’ve done a lot for me. As someone posted a little while back, I always feel better after reading your posts. Many thanks.
I’m curious, what makes you think she ‘stole’ it rather than made it up herself?
10 – I started a blog. Still scares the crap out of me. Well, half the time it scares the crap out of me, and the other half it stresses my tiny mind with the huge queue of stuff that wants to be written trying to push its way through all the other projects I have on the go right now. And that in itself is one of the subjects waiting to be written about. Gah. I feel like a woman giving birth to a never ending line of babies while simultaneously trying to hold them in long enough to go to work for a day between each one.
Kates last blog post..Selective Sound Sensitivity Syndrome
Is there any chance you’re going to record this Havi? That’s like, 4.00am my time and there’s no way I can wake up enough for it. Seriously, the snoring would put everyone else off! LOL! I’d love to be able to download the audio later though, if you plan on having that option!
Hi Sweetie,
I also hope that you will offer this course again in the new year. I just can’t do it right now. However, I am certainly one of those people who have been influenced greatly by your blogging therapy posts. I am taking greater risks to be more personal and vulnerable and transparent in my posts which I attribute to your modeling and support. I am also being less perfectionistic ( well, at least by a little bit) and more willing to expose my wacky, nut head, goofball self. Which is waaaaaay more fun.
I also know that you don’t want any Hanukah gifts ( although I came THIS CLOSE to buying you a yellow, toy duck, key chain last week) so here is an end of the year, non-Hanukah appreciation for you:
Thanks for all that you do and all that you bring to the world. You are a gorgeous, shining soul of true service and compassion, a fearless warrior of the heart who is not ashamed to publicly shake in her shoeless yoga feet when necessary, a language revolutionary who boldly throws off the shackles of word count conventions, and an ongoing source of inspiration in the art of gentleness and kindness to heal, transform and destuckify!
chris zydels last blog post..PAIN FREE CREATIVITY: YOU DON’T REALLY NEED TO SUFFER FOR YOUR ART
Havi,
I’m sharing the boat with some others … can’t swing this just now, but really wishing I could. Any chance of a repeat performance at some later date?
christys last blog post..The Home of Independent Thought . . . or . . . On Not Taking Things at Face Value
@Chris – You are a such a sweetheart! Thank you for your gorgeous words and wonderful heart. Love it.
@Christy, Melinda, Maryann – we will do the course again. Though there’s sort of a big huge caveat there, which I’ll post about today.
Am not going to record because it’s an intimate group. I want us to be able to talk freely about the scary. But there was enough interest from people in Australia, New Zealand etc that I will look into a different time slot.
@Kate and @Karen – Yay! Yay! Yay! That is beautiful. And Kate, just keep jotting them down. I keep a stack of notecards by my desk to write down post ideas, most of which I never get to. 🙂
The flow is good, even if it is kind of overwhelming at times. Everything will get written in the time it needs to be written. We are all channeling good stuff all the time. Just keep letting it move through you.
I’m totally celebrating with you for having started. Awesome.
@Joely – Hope you’re patting yourself on the back, my dear. This is a lot of old stuff you’re working on, in a really brave way. Good to see you releasing a lot of old gunk and writing your way out of it.
okay – I’m in, I’m in, I’m in!!! I may be late to Sunday (taking my daughter to the Nutcracker that afternoon) – but I just couldn’t sit back and wonder what you were talking about – I want to move past my blogging “issues” and am ready to jump in! yeah!!
Are there any plans for a second series? I would lovelovelove to get in on it. 🙂