Keep scrolling down to see your special pricing offer for transformational memoir-writing course, the Art of Personal Mythmaking!
(don’t forget to use coupon code: RHONDA)
with Janelle Hardy, creator and teacher of the Art of Personal Mythmaking
(to skip the preamble and go straight to the workshop, just click over to minute 4:30)
Write your memoir while healing yourself.
When I started Janelle’s Personal Mythmaking course, I’d been working on my memoir for years, but in a practical sense, I was getting nowhere.
By the time the course finished, I had a complete outline (the spine and organs of my book with its threads and themes,) three full chapters, and the start of my book proposal.
The course also led me to generate tons of material for articles or essays.
I don’t mean to suggest that Janelle’s course whips your book into shape. Rather, she’s designed a masterful journey through unexpected detours where you discover the soul of your memoir and the most crucial essences of your story and voice.
You’ll get writing prompts that take you through myth, archetypes, fairy tales, and artwork. The sources are vast, but they synthesize together to inform and reframe your personal paradigms.
Molly Pennington, PhD
going through deep personal transitions and feeling the urge to get the story inside you onto paper
ready to step into your power and write your story (despite having doubts about whether you’re story is even worth telling)
committed to writing so you can share your stories with your descendents, family and community
wanting to help people who’ve gone through similar things as you by writing about what you went through, what helped you and how you survived
You’ve wanted to start writing your memoir and healing your relationship to your lifestory for a while now.
How do you navigate the line between being vulnerable and raw versus protecting your privacy and the privacy of others?
Where do you even get started with a big project like this, and will I actually stick with it and finish my memoir?
What happens if I write about a difficult experience and retraumatize myself?
How do I get unstuck and keep writing my stories when I feel so overwhelmed and distracted everytime I try to write?
Writing your memoir can be scary, but what’s waiting for you on the other side is so worth it.
That’s why, in The Art of Personal Mythmaking’s self-directed course, you’ll be supported and guided through a gentle healing and writing process that will help you write your memoir in a way that’s supportive.
Imagine having your body as your most trusted creative resource and advisor.
Imagine having support and guidance from a writing teacher with body-based trauma-informed training, who can help you face the painful, distressing and overwhelming parts of your life - the parts that have been stopping you from getting started.
It’s the only memoir-writing program out there that combines somatic (body) healing with memoir-writing, myth and fairy tales, all supporting you to reclaim your sense of joy and vitality.
Innovative somatic visualizations and techniques, sourced from Janelle’s extensive and unique training in hands-on bodywork and nervous system trauma healing trainings
Plentiful writing prompts sourced from Janelle’s academic background in anthropology (the study of culture), dance and somatics
An outlining and story generating process that starts with fairy tales & mythology
Tools and techniques that offer clarity, focus and structure as you write and heal
Personal Mythmaking was the closest thing that I had to a vacation in close to a decade. It’s such a luxurious and nourishing blend of creativity, self-care and healing.
Before taking this class, I had some major chips on my shoulder and I felt resigned to lug these things around with me for the rest of my life. Janelle’s class offered a fun, safe and creative way to reframe my troubling stories.
Taking this class was the nicest gift that I ever gave myself.
I’ve been working as a trauma-informed bodyworker in the hands-on healing arts fields since 2007 and as an artist (writing, painting + dance) for 20+ years. Throughout that time I’ve taught adults out of my living room, arts centres, universities and community colleges.
Through the Art of Personal Mythmaking I help passionate, curious, sensitive folks reconnect with their bodies (because our bodies are the only true home we have in this world, and contain universes of wisdom), tune in to their creative process (because it’s got a rhythm and timing that work great when we, well, pay attention instead of forcing our creations) and tap into their cultural inheritance via the wisdom contained in ancient tales (like fairytales, mythology, folktales and more.)
It just takes the right combination of skilled guidance (from me) committed devotion (from you) and right timing (which is a delicious mix of slowing down, getting gentle, trusting the process and then seeing your writing and your transformation take flight.)
Most people are raised to ‘push through’ and ‘man-up’ and ‘hustle hard’ and ‘be relentless.’ The truth is, these are recipes for overwhelm, burnout and despair. So let’s not approach our healing, our creativity or our life in these ways.
We'll write, we’ll get curious, we’ll sift through memories, we’ll learn to tap into our bodies as the storehouses of memory, wisdom and connection that they are, and best of all, we’ll transform by knitting it all together into a meaning-making product: the first draft of your memoir.
Are you ready to become a Personal Mythmaker?
I feel like every aspect of our being was examined; it allowed for all the various personalities; there is something for everyone.
There was so much information we could apply to our own lives allowing for clarity and understanding. I ended up with a much better idea of who I am and have fewer limits on what I am becoming.
"This class has been leading into some really introspective conversations with my therapist.
She's been really intrigued by how much more it's helped me open up and wade through some topics I tend to avoid, even after almost a decade of building this relationship with her.
Thank you so much for offering it."
A theme accompanied by a story (a myth or fairytale/folktale) (audio & print)
A unique teaching to help you understand and deepen into the weekly theme (audio & print)
An embodied anatomical visualization designed in a trauma-informed way to bring you into gentle relationship with your physical self and spark memory-stories and writing (audio)
Creative, playful and thoughtful writing prompts designed to deepen you into greater understanding and support writing your memoir (print)
Pep-talks addressing common healing and writing challenges (audio)
A resource list with optional extra resources for learning and deepening (print & video)
Phase 1: The Bones of Your Lifestory
OCTOBER & NOVEMBER 2024
This first phase functions like your skeleton.
It’s all about getting clear on the bones (the structure) of your lifestory by focusing on organization, outlining, preparation and getting into the writing habit.
MODULE 1: MAPPING YOUR LIFESTORY
We’ll start by building a timeline of your life, rites of passage and pivotal moments.
This provides a framework for your memoir and transformative work.
MODULE 2: THE STORIES (LIES) WE TELL OURSELVES
We’ll explore the power of stories, and how the stories we tell ourselves shape our reality.
We’ll identify your favourite stories (fairytales/myths) and start working with them.
MODULE 3: ANCESTORS, LINEAGE AND FAMILY MYTHOLOGY
We’ll ask these questions - who do you come from? And who did they come from? What stories were passed down and which were covered up? What is truth, what is untruth, and what is simply an unneeded burden?
This will help you identify the foundational stories from your lineage.
Phase 2: The Connective Tissue of Your Lifestory
DECEMBER 2024 & JANUARY 2025
The second phase functions like your connective tissue.
It’s all about establishing a sense of belonging in place and space in order to cultivate devotion and commitment to the writing and healing path.
MODULE 4: FOOD AND CULTURE
We explore the essential basics of nourishing our sense of connection and our physical bodies this week. How did you share and create food in your family? And in your culture(s)?
This will help you discover the cultural and familiar stories that are transmitted through story.
MODULE 5: PLACE AND SPACE
Mountains. Water. Sky. Seasons. Our physical environment shapes us, as does the physical environment of where our ancestors come from.
This will open up stories of kinship to the more-than-human stories of your life.
MODULE 6: BODY STORIES
Facing body shame, developing body love and radical acceptance. Engaging your sense of touch in order to more fully inhabit your body. It’s time to make it happen.
This will help you make your body your most trusted creative ally, and get some of those stories out of your body and onto the page.
Phase 3: The Nervous & Circulatory Systems of Your Lifestory
JANUARY & FEBRUARY 2025
The third phase functions like your emotional response, circulatory and nervous systems.
It’s all about cultivating healthy rooted rhythms with a connected responsiveness (with a bit of bite) in in order to have empathy and fierceness in the face of the inevitable shadows, resistance and setbacks on the healing and writing journey.
MODULE 7: FURY, ENVY AND JUDGMENT
Shadow and light and radical acceptance. Blessing the good, winking at the bad, we invite it all in and rewrite our personal challenges and assumptions.
This will enliven your stories with your very human experiences.
MODULE 8: IDOLS, HEROES AND GODDESSES
The people we admire have a lot to teach us. This week we work with your heroes by exploring celebrity, archetypes and goddess energy. Juicy, potent and enriching.
This will help you unearth and write stories of mentorship, guidance and ambition.
MODULE 9: IDEAS OF BEAUTY AND ATTRACTIVENESS
Cultural ideas about femininity, masculinity, gender and beauty. We get to decide what to believe, and what to discard.
This will help you explore, unpack and reconstruct these ideas so that beauty is not the behaviour we’re expected to perform, but the state we live in, and the stories we write.
Phase 4: The Organs of Your Lifestory
MARCH, APRIL & MAY 2025
The fourth phase functions like your organs.
It’s all about processing, integrating and maintaining wholeness in order to celebrate, appreciate and recommit to yourself and your creative transformative work.
MODULE 10: VILLAINS
Who is your nemesis? What villains do you despise? What character traits in yourself do you hate? We use your top 3 myths/fairytales/pop culture icons/real-life nemesis. Not to villainize so much as to humanize.
This will help you with your integrative shadow-work, and make your stories even more juicy!
MODULE 11: LANGUAGE & THE SENSES
What is your mother tongue? How has it shaped you? Language determines the stories we tell, how we think and how we experience the world. As do our senses. What about the ephemeral? Music? Touch? Art? Taste?
Exploring language and the senses adds dimension and rich description to your stories.
MODULE 12: LONGING & EXPECTATIONS - A LOVE LETTER TO SELF
Longings and expectations. Love letters to self. In which we get real about what we want, what we love, and start telling ourselves a new story, using the writing material we’ve worked with so far.
This will help you get clear on what meaning-making stories you really want to write and tell.
MODULE 13: CELEBRATING THE STORYTELLER/WRITER WITHIN
The story rewritten – what will you share? How will you celebrate? What has been unearthed?
This is your time to bring all of your writing and work together into the first draft of your memoir.
It’ll be a beauty-full party!
The course is hosted on the Mighty Networks.
You’ll be part of a supportive, peer-led community inside Mighty Networks, which includes course alumni.
This support includes a weekly roundup post and resource sharing by Janelle.
You’ll have a chance to ask me any questions you have during our monthly live calls, for as long as you need.
Riding the Waves: Honouring Your Grief ($40 value)
From Anger to Action: Honouring Your Rage ($80 value)
You can complete the course lessons from the comfort of your couch or kitchen table, even your favourite local coffeeshop, as long as you have an Internet connection.
The entire program is completely digital so you can access it from anywhere through our private course portal.
And you'll never miss a beat: because you have lifetime access, you can return to the material at your own pace and on your schedule (except, of course, our monthly live group coaching calls).
This course is guaranteed to open you up to parts of yourself you never even realized existed.
I couldn’t think of a better person than Janelle to guide you through this difficult but necessary life work.
This is a fun class. It got me writing effortlessly; it explored subjects and angles in writing (and creativity) that were new and expansive.
Janelle is a conscious and thoughtful teacher/facilitator and she has developed a course that is abundant with opportunities for personal exploration, insights and new ways of understanding one’s life story and personal themes.
It helped me to unify many aspects of my personal past (lots of “ah -ha” moments) that inform who I am in the present.
I think anyone could take this class and get something out of it. Well worth it and very enjoyable.
So much online marketing is hyperbole, exaggeration and inflation of skills, abilities and offerings. I fear engaging in something that promises much and delivers little. I was delighted to find Personal Mythmaking was, if anything, undersold rather than overrated.
I found a course based in scholarship and experience. The work was experiential, embodied and deepening without being overwhelming. And the support is amazing.
I enjoyed the experiential nature of the course, how much body was included, the depth of scholarship behind the prompts, how we could weave our story into a memoir and the amazing, professional, insightful, compassionate holding by Janelle through the process.
My favourite part of Personal Mythmaking was the variety of information and inspiration that Janelle shared: writing prompts, recordings of stories and guided meditations, videos, guest interviews, pinterest boards, book and resource recommendations, video calls.
There’s always more to explore, but if life gets busy it’s also easy to stay caught up by doing the writing only. This class is fun and valuable in so many ways.
What a journey Janelle took us on.
I was so amazed at how beautifully our stories came together, and how healing the process was. I loved the prompts. I loved the accountability, and I loved the embodiment exercises.
And to top it all off I left with an amazing reframe of my life so far on this planet, clarity about why I’m here, and how to use my story to connect to people – specifically my audience. What a gift!
Janelle will bring out your inner guide and create new pathways for success, love, and abundance.
She is a delight to work with, sharing deep, provocative writing and embodiment exercises peppered with giggles and heart-catching anecdotes. She will transform your life.
I feel like every aspect of our being was examined; it allowed for all the various personalities; there is something for everyone.
There was so much information we could apply to our own lives allowing for clarity and understanding. I ended up with a much better idea of who I am and have fewer limits on what I am becoming.
Take this course. Your writing practice will ignite.
But if you were led to this material, it’s your creative spirit, your very soul, that’s yearning for this original and singularly eccentric adventure.
inside the Mighty Networks platform. This includes a weekly roundup post and resource sharing by Janelle
so you know exactly which resources to use, when to use them, and never find yourself wondering where to start or what to do next, which is especially useful in this non-linear healing and writing process
because sometimes it takes longer than we’d like. You’ll have a chance to ask me any questions you have during our monthly live calls, and have access to these calls after our six month live writing process is over (because sometimes it takes longer than you’d like!)
For the readers and research lovers, each module has a growing list of extra readings and audiovisual resources, so you get get even deeper with each topic. Optional!
If I were recommending Personal Mythmaking this is what I’d say:
Hello best friend. You do not talk much about your past. I am not sure if it is because you want to forget it or you don’t think it’s important. Trust me, it is. If you take this course, you will know why and you’ll grow into a more confident and happier person. That is not to say that you seem to lack confidence or happiness, but it gets even better – inside out.
Don’t let one more year go by without starting your personal mythmaking journey.
Did you know that many people who long to write their memoirs and start their healing work put it off, not just for months or years, but for decades?
Starting now means you’ll finally stop thinking about it and just get going.
You’ll put your energy towards actual writing and healing instead of towards procrastination and denial of the hunger you have to write and heal. You’ll be so much less tired!
You’ll breathe. Because making the decision and taking the leap is such a relief once you’ve done it.
If you’ve inquired within and you know you’re ready, and you know you’ve been putting this off for a long time and you’ve delayed making a decision to start because of fear and overwhelm and it’s eating you up inside…
Because if this course is at all grabbing your attention (and I suspect it is if you’ve read this far) then a year from now, you’ll wish you had started today.
You want to get your story out of yourself and into the world.
You’re excited to better understand and rekindle a connection with a deeper part of yourself.
You’re excited to unpack some of your lost/hidden narratives.
You’re tired of putting your writing and healing off.
You long to love and accept yourself and alchemize your life and your stories into deep meaning.
You’ve hit the point of exhaustion with trying-to-figure-it-out all alone, and you want guidance and support.
You’re eager to explore and write about all the beauty, wonder and daring as well as the joys and the challenges.
You want to go through this process with kindred spirits, in a small and intimate virtual classroom setting.
You’re seeking healing and transformation sourced through your body, personal writing and story.
You want to go through a process of delight that includes engaging with fairy tales and mythology.
You only want a how-to guide on getting published. This is a generative course that supports healing, transformation and getting your first draft written. We’re aiming for up to the 1st draft stage, with plenty of space for healing as you write your memoir.
You want to push through and write while ignoring your body and healing needs.
You’re in a period of crisis and your mental, emotional and financial resources are stretched to your limits.
You don’t want to explore yourself and your stories in a wide-ranging and deep way.
You’re seeking a strictly craft of writing and/or critiquing course. There are many great teachers offering that kind of course, but very few with a highly trained focus on somatic, embodied writing, trauma-healing and personal mythmaking, so that’s my specialty :-)
Or will you continue to have the idea and the longing - for transformation, for truth, for a memoir - and circle around feeling stuck for another year, or two, or even a couple more decades?
When, at this moment, you can finally get started, with appropriate, skilled, trauma-informed guidance from someone who understands what it’s like to feel stuck, overwhelmed and absolutely hungry for change?
inside the Mighty Networks platform. This includes a weekly roundup post and resource sharing by Janelle
so you know exactly which resources to use, when to use them, and never find yourself wondering where to start or what to do next, which is especially useful in this non-linear healing and writing process
because sometimes it takes longer than we’d like. You’ll have a chance to ask me any questions you have during our monthly live calls, and have access to these calls after our six month live writing process is over (because sometimes it takes longer than you’d like!)
For the readers and research lovers, each module has a growing list of extra readings and audiovisual resources, so you get get even deeper with each topic. Optional!
My only self-doubt in life comes from sharing my writing with others. I want it to be genius and I am afraid it will suck. The group was so kind and always made me feel good about my work and encouraged me to keep it up.
Watching others come alive through sharing their vulnerabilities was the best part for me.
I don’t think we allow ourselves to shine until we are willing to explore the deeper parts of ourselves. Seeing how this group changed over the course of the program was awesome.
Typically, I recommend you set aside 2-4 hours per week to go through the program and implement the body-based visualizations and writing prompts.
You’ll also need to set 3 hours aside for our videocalls, which are a beloved part of this course.
However, the the amount of time you take depends on you and your current situation.
Although this is not the self-paced version, you have access to the material for as long as you want, and you can always return to the course after the sessions are finished, and move through the material as slowly or as swiftly as you please.
Remember, because this isn't a "quick fix" but a transformative creative process, the rhythm and timing is uniquely individual.
There is no rush and no right or wrong amount of time, because you have lifetime access to the program content and all future updates.
The discussion call is 1 hour and the live writing circle is 2 hours. These calls are recorded, for the times when you can’t make it. You are asked to commit to attending 75% of your writing circle. Click here to see the call schedule.
When you sign up you’ll get access to our online Personal Mythmaking community hosted in Mighty Networks.
Each of the 13 modules will be released on a weekly basis, including an integration week after every three modules of content.
Starting with Module 1, you’ll also get weekly classes with discussion calls and live writing circles (so you get your writing done.)
Our 1 hour discussion call is every Tuesday, 9am Pacific Time.
Then you have a 2 hour writing circle, and you choose out of 2-3 options, either Tuesday, right after the discussion call, from 10:30am-12:30pm or Thursday, 9am - 11am. These are all Pacific Time.
Your course also includes an optional monthly group coaching call, with a schedule set to cater to students in different time zones, and is always recorded so you won’t miss out.
Because this is the live version of the Art of Personal Mythmaking, the course start and end dates are predetermined.
The course is six months long. We start October 29th, and end mid-May.
At the start date, each module is released weekly-ish, but you have as much time as you need to complete the modules - you get lifetime access to the material.
There are no prerequisites except a willingness show up to the weekly writing circles, to have an open mind, and to keep showing up for yourself and your work.
That's because this course isn’t about completing a course.
This course is about reclaiming yourself and your creative work, with my support.
If you have a desire to learn, explore and grow, you’ll do just fine, at whatever stage and level of writing and transformation you’re at.
There are no other costs required. This is assuming you’ve already got the basics in order to access this course - a computer or tablet and the internet.
In this course you get support in the form of a weekly class (no more than 10 people) facilitated by a skilled instructor (me).
You also get support in the form of access to an online community of your peers - other folks taking Personal Mythmaking, in which the instructor (me) is present.
You also get lifetime access to monthly group coaching calls.
If you’d like 1-1 access to me (Janelle) you can inquire about 1-1 sessions after you enroll.
You have 10 days after purchase to request a refund. Note: the refund does not include the 3-5% payment processing fee, which never gets refunded back to me. After the 10-day timeframe, no refunds will be given.
When you sign up I ask that you fully commit to showing up, as much as possible to the calls, and that you only sign up if you’re ready and able to show up regularly.
This is not a process where you can ‘dial it in,’ skip the live calls and just watch the recordings.
It’s a participatory group process that needs your wholehearted presence!
In fact, part of the agreement is coming to at least 75% of your writing circle calls. Otherwise, why bother signing up for the live version?
Showing up for the group and the process is where the magic of the live course happens.
My live classes require a minimum of students plus my time dedicated to facilitating your process and I have found that withdrawing from, or not participating in the weekly process affects everyone, including yourself.
Because this is a months-long process, it's important to note that life can do it's thing while you're in this course.
I have had students have loved ones die, have work, relationships and responsibilities change, have significant health challenges crop up, and move cities/countries (and I've had students experience a combination of many of those things).
Although I have compassion for these stressors, with very rare exceptions (example: beginning months of cancer treatment) I do not offer refunds.
As a single self-employed person, I'm simply not able to weather my own familial and financial responsibilities when most of my annual income (and choices) relies on tuition from this one course, stretched out over the whole year.
Here's what I encourage instead - that participants really lean into the kind of committed support I, and your writing circle participants can offer to you as you go through loss, grief, challenges and heartbreak.
This is, after all, the gist of what we're coming together to do - be human in the messy chaos of life itself, and make meaning of it. And we can (and do) do that together.
You can pay-in-full or with a monthly payment plan.
This is a good question to ask.
I spend a significant amount of time thinking about, researching and developing the facilitation skills to ensure my workshops, classes and communities are inclusive, caring and free of prejudice.
This does not, by any means, mean that I’ll get it right everytime, but my commitment to you is to attune, listen, learn, and cultivate a culture of repair.
Yes. I offer limited partial scholarships for the live version of the Art of Personal Mythmaking.
I intend these scholarships for people experiencing great financial difficulty, and, in the spirit of equity, to people who carry a heavier burden of marginalization in society. People who are, for example, Indigenous, Black, of colour, differently-abled, solo parent/mothers . . .
For this live version of the Art of Personal Mythmaking (which I only teach once a year), I put out a call for scholarship applications immediately after I close the doors for enrolment.
You need to be on my newsletter list to get that call for applications.
However, if you’re certain you’d qualify, e-mail me at jaha @ janellehardy.com (put ‘SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION PLEASE’ in the subject line).
DO NOT explain your circumstances in the e-mail.
I’ll simply send you an application form link and ask you to explain again :-)
Janelle is a gifted teacher with genius instincts on juxtaposing sources and materials to spark genuine creativity.
Janelle is absolutely amazing, the real deal and a woman of integrity.
Janelle is a conscious and thoughtful teacher/facilitator.
Janelle is a guardian of your sacred truth, and will create a safe space to play, know, understand, and emote.
Janelle is amazing and any fears or hesitations you might have about taking this course she can allay them.
I credit Janelle with introducing me to the concept of embodiment, which has been an absolute game changer for me.
Write your memoirs. Reclaim yourself. Start now.
