Janice MacLeod's Blog, page 9

I will accept this gift as it is not entirely Christmassy.

Yes, I was born soon after Santa parked the sleigh in the barn. Yes, I’m one of those who remind you that, though you’ve purchased all the Christmas gifts, you’re not done yet. I’m the one who will remind you, to insist, will offend easily. I am a December Birthday Baby.

Sorry. Not sorry.

December birthday babies have rules, so many rules:

Don’t forget the birthday… that’s the biggest one. Don’t worry, I’ll remind you.
Don’t wrap gifts in Christmas wrapping paper.
No combos unless expressly suggested by the birthday baby if she wants something HUGE.
No leftover pie from Christmas as a stand-in for a birthday cake.
Did I mention to not forget the birthday?

 

There are perks to being born around the winter solstice. If born after Christmas, you never had to go to school on your birthday, or even get out of your pajamas. And for me, I have managed to never work, not once, on my birthday… mostly to keep the pajama tradition alive.

This year, in a fresh lockdown, the birthday changed very little. The party has been postponed. Somewhere someone has a freshly baked cake sitting in the freezer awaiting COVID numbers to go down.

“Ice palace for one! Ice palace for one!”

We celebrated another year of moi by watching travel shows about Italy and France. For many birthdays I was IN these countries, so a TV version is less than ideal, however… pajamas. So it worked.

As the title of this post suggests, December birthday babies… and we really CAN be babies about it… are also amazing. This article gives 6 totally scientific reasons December babies rock… Two of which is that we are more likely to live to 100 and we become “strivers,” having to keep up with the older kids in our class. But I think we are strivers because the end of the year evaluation mixes with New Year’s resolutions energy and is topped with a thick icing of birthday self-reflection.

All this means, we’re driven when it comes to achieving New Year’s resolutions, as you can plainly see by my entire book ABOUT it, which is about how I had a resolution to write in my journal every day and it landed me in Paris:

The next book is travel journal that starts in January and ends in December…

Aaaaaannnnnd the new book also starts in January and ends in December, but has 10 years of Paris Letters in between…

Even more, I created a new writing course that, as you see, starts in January and ends in December.

I’m super psyched about this writing course simply because it forces me to be reflective and poetic about each week of the year. I don’t think all that daily writing will land me in Paris THIS year, but if there was any year for a reset, 2021 is the year. Join the course if you’d like to adopt or be more consistent with your writing practice. Starts Jan 1, 2021. Who knows, it might land you in Paris. Be warned… something like this might also happen:

Clearly in her birthday suit.

Sending you oodles of good vibes this season, aka, our birthday season… the presents neeeeverrrrrr endddddd.

Look at that. Two ecourses in one week. The first one, the book writing ecourse, took for-eh-va to build. After I posted it, I had feedback from a few people who wanted to adopt a writing practice but didn’t necessarily want to sign up for a book writing course.

I get it. Book Writing. Sounds worky. 

Plus back in 2010, I started my own creative writing journey by making a New Year’s resolution to write in my journal every day for a year so I totally understand. Writing for a year led to quitting my job, traveling, meeting the lovely Christophe, books, glory… and a lot of cheese. Oh the joys of French cheese.

So if you like cheese, sign up. 

Just kidding. Sort of. Maybe not. We’ll see how it goes.

A Writing Year is a 52-week ecourse, starting January 1st. Each week there is a new lesson that includes a topic, inspiring prose written by yours truly, plus a few open-ended questions to provoke thought and get those thoughts on the page. So if you’ve liked my writing thus far, the course is like a really long blog post that lasts all year, but divided into complete and luscious bite-size pieces. (and not nearly as salesy as this post)

I’m doing this course for a few reasons. A little bit for you, based on the feedback about the book writing course, but also, now that a few big projects are done (the letter writing, the new book), I wanted to write nicely about each week of the year. I suspect near July there will be a lot of prose regarding tomatoes. I do so enjoy growing tomatoes. I’ll try to keep my tomato obsession to a minimum.

If you want to be swept away by the NICE things about going through the seasons of 2021, join me. It’s $97 USD and I think it will be a very good time to delight ourselves with quiet contemplation over a pen and paper. Already, I’ve been indulging in creating ads for it.

Because I love the orange journal.

Because the coffee, blanket, journal trifecta is perfection.

Because I like the gold, pink combo so I’m willing to overlook the heavy-handled pen.

And because yellow is cheerful and we could all use some cheer. Pantone agrees. The Pantone Color of the Year is a Yellow and Grey Combo:

For more information on A Writing Year, the ecourse, go to my swanky new landing page… oh ever so fancy, and LET’S GET WRITING.

The ecourse starts January 1st. FUN!

Did you have any particularly LOW moment during 2020? I mean, there is the obvious collective letdown brought on by ALL THE THINGS. Except that one very relieving thing.

Ifyourepickingupwhatimputtingdown. 

For me, days were spent either “toddler butlering” in my kitchen or working in my office putting together the new book, filling orders from the shop, general taking over of the world. Very little time was spent in silent contemplation since all the moments in between were taken up with the news, exponential graphs and shared stories of who got it and where… followed by WHO DID YOU SAY and WHERE?!?!?

A year ago, there were articles questioning how much screen time is okay for children. HA! Those articles died a quick death the moment we were all snug at home, vacillating between “Parenting Is Wonderful” and “Parenting is Boring.”

Thank you Disney+. 

A year ago, the news was filled with protests. Now we look back at all those mask-less protests and think “germs… all those GERMS.”

During a rather low point this summer, I was at home but I wasn’t butlering or at the helm. I was watching gardening shows. One after another. Each one, same theme: plant the seeds, water, prune, feed, look at final blooms and vegetables. Repeat.

I even created a mini theatre for Amélie… big chair, blankies, snacks, stuffies, iPad. An *ask mommy for nothing* zone. Even the lovely Christophe was watching me, visibly concerned.

The only moves I made were when I clicked “Next Episode” and “Skip Intro.”

Then a glorious thing happened.

This miraculous, wonderful thing that is a non-event for most people. I was sitting at the beach with Amélie. We have a small secluded beach near our house that only locals know about or use. An elderly couple was walking out of the water and the man was wearing a shirt that said simply: 2018.

What a weird funny shirt.

And I thought back to 2018: Cancer, baby, living in between houses, renovations, care, needles, drugs, drains, waiting rooms, gowns, fear, hope, hats.

And I laughed. One thing 2020 is not, it is not 2018, which reigns supreme as the worst year of my life.

Then ZOOM happened, and ecourses about how to make ecourses, and exercise dance on YouTube.

Humans are so very adaptable. 

This little gem is the direct result of my pivot after that moment with the 2018 shirt:

I made a whole ecourse after not even knowing how to post a video with my phone. This is what 2020 does to us. It propels us forward with complicated technology that makes us weep right before we master it and feel like super heroes.

But I think it’s an upgrade from gardening shows, mental health-wise. 

It gave my mind something to chew on as I filled cups, wiped spills, peeled apples, changed channels, etc.

The course is a collection of all the things I know about writing books, all the things other authors have said, and all the things learned along the way. And it is full of videos and handouts and homework. Very scholarly.

Then I had to learn how to activate the thing, which was another week of watching gardening shows.

But I got there and it works. Check out the fancy landing page. Had to learn how to do that as well. Glory be!

For you, dear reader, it’s up and running. It starts officially on January 1st, but I opened it up for us here in this little acre of cyberspace. And for a special intro price of $97 USD. For readers of Paris Letters, we all know why. Hundred bucks. Easy math. It’s worth much more, but I’d rather get the information to many people rather than a few who can afford things with $$$$’s attached to them. And, like I said, easy math.

If 2021 is your year to write a book, let’s do it together. Or if you simply need something for your brain to chew on rather than exponential graphs of COVID, the course is good for that as well. It was certainly good for me.

Do you ever feel a sigh of relief when the BLACK FRIDAY SALES emails are over? Like there is a collective sigh. “Ahhh, glad the inbox is done yelling at me.”

Well, one more little shout out, then no more crazy sales emails from me.

SALE ENDS IN TWO DAYS!

That’s it. No more yelling. Visit the shop to take care of your philatelic holiday needs. (Philatelic… challenge to pronounce.. Phil-A-Tell-EEk)

The hottest ticket item is the 12 pack of the 2020 Paris Letters Collection:

Some people have asked for ANY 12 letters, rather than the 2020 collections. YES. Absolutely. A few from the collection (and sent flat for framing)…

 

Another fun holiday bunch of goodness are these note cards…

Best for anyone on your list who has a hankering for the Eiffel Tower.

And the annual Paris Letters Holiday Card Collection… bien sur.

 

The post office is threatening me within an inch of my life to get my orders in Santa’s sleigh. Take care of your holiday shopping at the shop before December 2nd.

 

Ta daaaa! A whole book of Paris Letters awaiting your perusal. How sexy is THAT?

A few other cover options that were considered…

Pas mal, as they say. I like how that Eiffel Tower looms in the back.

Very springy.

And of course, the beloved Seine.

But it was a café that won, in the end, and it looks good with these other two books in the series. .

 

You can pre-order it online and off. It will arrive just in time for spring, around March 2021. Read all about it and where to pre-order here. 

Now back to us, you and me. You, dear reader, and me, lazy blogger. I feel sometimes that so much time goes by between blog posts that when I finally do get to it, I have so much NEWS to give you and not much in the way of pretty pictures and funny thoughts. C’est comme ça. 

Etsy shop is FINALLY filled with recent letters. 

This is the letter that graced the cover of DEAR PARIS. It oozes literary Paris café scene. It’s about feet.

I love my stamp man. He’s a hot older dude who can barely stand how I care so deeply for worthless stamps. This was the March 2020 Paris Letter.

The November Paris Letter is about silent monuments around Paris. You don’t even realize they are there until you’ve done a deep study of Paris. Then you realize the glorious thought behind this museum city. It features a clock that is outside the main post office, obvs.

 

January’s Paris Letter featured perfumes of Paris. The paintings turned out so nice, I’m going to offer a note card series in the shop… but currently the paintings are in a pile somewhere in my office. My sister was looking for something in my office and laughed that the Eiffel Tower painting on the cover of DEAR PARIS was slipped in a pile of papers titled VARIOUS. I know you have piles like this. Admit it.

This is the August 2020 letter titled The Dancer. I don’t usually write what the letters say in my blog posts, but this one is nice and I love this broad, so here it is:

Dear Áine,

I’ve been tracking The Lady. Her window faces my window. Our courtyards are divided by an ivy-covered stone wall so that we cannot see into each other’s courtyards but we can talk to each other from the windows. She calls out for her cat, I peer into my courtyard and report if the cat is on my side. She is a good mouser—the cat, not The Lady. I don’t know her name and by now it’s too late to ask. She’s ancient and wears a pillbox hat wherever she goes. I spoke with her on the street and asked if she was going on vacation like most of Paris in August. “Too old,” she said. “Don’t want to spend the money to struggle on stairs by the sea. I have my own stairs in Paris for free. I just hope I don’t die in August. No one will be here for the party. All on holiday!” I asked about her health. “Same! But at my age I could ‘expire’ at any moment.” Then she went “Pouff” with her hands.

So I’ve been keeping an eye out for both her and her cat. I have also recruited Christophe to report when he sees her on the street. Today I saw her dancing at the Sunday market. Every Sunday on rue Mouffetard there is music, dancing, and a sing-a-long. She was dancing with a handsome man. She had a sparkle in her eye that led me to believe there might be other reasons she’s not interested in going anywhere any time soon.

Janice

PS “Screen door slams, Mary’s dress waves. Like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays.” – Bruce Springsteen, Thunder Road

And here’s the December Paris Letter, which is also the last one… as in ever. Incroyable! 

 

Many have already received their final December Paris Letter. I sent it early because 1) the post office told me to, and B) I was excited to get it in the shop for this silly Black Friday event, and iii) to feel the feelings of being done a very big project.

When I sent out my final letter of the Paris Letters series, I felt the usual relief at being done a giant pile of mail, but also peace, like the air around me was thick with loving kindness. I don’t know if it was emanating out from me or me coming into contact with something, but there was SOMETHING in the air. I thought I’d be more sad about it. The grief might arrive in January when I prep to send out a letter and… do not have a letter to send.

Why on earth would I quit this job? 

I know. Sending letters is the best job ever. And to be the first who made it a success on Etsy, well, that’s a feather in my cap as well. Now people are sending out all kinds of fun letter subscriptions.

Why would I end this wonderful thing?

Simply to do other things. It takes a lot of time to whip these out. I’m focusing on learning these days. I’ve been revamping my site and am gradually moving to another platform. Gone will be the glitchy wordpress plugins. Oh rapture!

Over at yonder new website, I’ll be offering fun courses on all kinds of great things. I’ve often wanted to teach writing, creativity, hatching evil plans, but the learning platforms were clunky and tiresome. Now, technology has caught up to my vision. It’s gonna be fan-ecourse-tastic!

I’d also like to get back to blogging. It’s funny how life works. A blog starts, it becomes a platform for a letter writing business that gets so big that the blog goes quiet. I’d like to just blog even though some say it’s all sooooo 2015, but I don’t care. I love it. And in this modern age, I created a letter writing business with letters sent in the mail, so I’m kind of into reverse technology. Stay tuned for that.

Thanks, reader. You’re the best.

 

Ta daaaa! A whole book of Paris Letters awaiting your perusal. How sexy is THAT?

A few other cover options that were considered…

Pas mal, as they say. I like how that Eiffel Tower looms in the back.

Very springy.

And of course, the beloved Seine.

But it was a café that won, in the end, and it looks good with these other two books in the series. .

 

You can pre-order it online and off. It will arrive just in time for spring, around March 2021. Read all about it and where to pre-order here. 

Now back to us, you and me. You, dear reader, and me, lazy blogger. I feel sometimes that so much time goes by between blog posts that when I finally do get to it, I have so much NEWS to give you and not much in the way of pretty pictures and funny thoughts. C’est comme ça. 

Speaking of… Black Friday sale in the shop… 20% off Nov 22 to Dec 2. Etsy shop is standing by to take your order. 

This is the letter that graced the cover of DEAR PARIS. It oozes literary Paris café scene. It’s about feet.

I love my stamp man. He’s a hot older dude who can barely stand how I care so deeply for worthless stamps. This was the March 2020 Paris Letter.

The November Paris Letter is about silent monuments around Paris. You don’t even realize they are there until you’ve done a deep study of Paris. Then you realize the glorious thought behind this museum city. It features a clock that is outside the main post office, obvs.

 

January’s Paris Letter featured perfumes of Paris. The paintings turned out so nice, I’m going to offer a note card series in the shop… but currently the paintings are in a pile somewhere in my office. My sister was looking for something in my office and laughed that the Eiffel Tower painting on the cover of DEAR PARIS was slipped in a pile of papers titled VARIOUS. I know you have piles like this. Admit it.

This is the August 2020 letter titled The Dancer. I don’t usually write what the letters say in my blog posts, but this one is nice and I love this broad, so here it is:

Dear Áine,

I’ve been tracking The Lady. Her window faces my window. Our courtyards are divided by an ivy-covered stone wall so that we cannot see into each other’s courtyards but we can talk to each other from the windows. She calls out for her cat, I peer into my courtyard and report if the cat is on my side. She is a good mouser—the cat, not The Lady. I don’t know her name and by now it’s too late to ask. She’s ancient and wears a pillbox hat wherever she goes. I spoke with her on the street and asked if she was going on vacation like most of Paris in August. “Too old,” she said. “Don’t want to spend the money to struggle on stairs by the sea. I have my own stairs in Paris for free. I just hope I don’t die in August. No one will be here for the party. All on holiday!” I asked about her health. “Same! But at my age I could ‘expire’ at any moment.” Then she went “Pouff” with her hands.

So I’ve been keeping an eye out for both her and her cat. I have also recruited Christophe to report when he sees her on the street. Today I saw her dancing at the Sunday market. Every Sunday on rue Mouffetard there is music, dancing, and a sing-a-long. She was dancing with a handsome man. She had a sparkle in her eye that led me to believe there might be other reasons she’s not interested in going anywhere any time soon.

Janice

PS “Screen door slams, Mary’s dress waves. Like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays.” – Bruce Springsteen, Thunder Road

And here’s the December Paris Letter, which is also the last one… as in ever. Incroyable! 

 

Many have already received their final December Paris Letter. I sent it early because 1) the post office told me to, and B) I was excited to get it in the shop for this silly Black Friday event, and iii) to feel the feelings of being done a very big project.

When I sent out my final letter of the Paris Letters series, I felt the usual relief at being done a giant pile of mail, but also peace, like the air around me was thick with loving kindness. I don’t know if it was emanating out from me or me coming into contact with something, but there was SOMETHING in the air. I thought I’d be more sad about it. The grief might arrive in January when I prep to send out a letter and… do not have a letter to send.

Why on earth would I quit this job? 

I know. Sending letters is the best job ever. And to be the first who made it a success on Etsy, well, that’s a feather in my cap as well. Now people are sending out all kinds of fun letter subscriptions.

Why would I end this wonderful thing?

Simply to do other things. It takes a lot of time to whip these out. I’m focusing on learning these days. I’ve been revamping my site and am gradually moving to another platform. Gone will be the glitchy wordpress plugins. Oh rapture!

Over at yonder new website, I’ll be offering fun courses on all kinds of great things. I’ve often wanted to teach writing, creativity, hatching evil plans, but the learning platforms were clunky and tiresome. Now, technology has caught up to my vision. It’s gonna be fan-ecourse-tastic!

I’d also like to get back to blogging. It’s funny how life works. A blog starts, it becomes a platform for a letter writing business that gets so big that the blog goes quiet. I’d like to just blog even though some say it’s all sooooo 2015, but I don’t care. I love it. And in this modern age, I created a letter writing business with letters sent in the mail, so I’m kind of into reverse technology. Stay tuned for that.

In the meantime, head over to the Etsy shop and take care of your holiday shopping needs. Save 20% on everything until Dec 2.

Thanks, reader. You’re the best.

My ability to list and share my Paris Letters has corresponded directly to the date daycare was closed due to Covid. Note to self: Toddlers are not good office assistants. These are all in the shop now… finally. Also, scroll down for an even bigger reveal…

March 2020: Stamp Man

This letter is about a charming moment I had with my stamp man in Paris… the guy who I turn to for pretty old stamps. I’m still not sure he likes me, but he puts up with me.

April 2020: The Flower Shop

My flower lady is a master bouquet maker. Watching her whip up a bunch of flowers is dizzying and magnificent.

May 2020: Sundials of Paris

Did you know Paris has more sundials than any other city in the world? Many are hidden by overgrown vines or shadowed by newer buildings, but they are there. This letter is about the glorious scavenger hunt of searching for sundials.

June 2020: Train Stations

Trains come, trains go. Friendships come, friendships go. This letter is about the tricky art of traveling with a friend and how it can be the catalyst for ending a relationship.

July 2020: Writer’s Cafés

Paris is not only the ultimate city for writers, it is also the ultimate city for avoiding writing. This letter reveals why.

If you would like any of these letters personalized to you and sent in the mail, head over to my shop. They also make nice gifts.

Oh, and one more thing:

That’s right. New note cards featuring that darling of monuments, the Eiffel Tower, that has recently reopened.

*Thunderous applause*

Super exciting. I listed these and a bunch of other sexy note cards over at the shop to slake your travel cravings. Now you can get them all in whopping 5×7 for longwinded moments of literary brilliance.

*Happy dance*

I uploaded some printables at my Etsy shop so you can print these with your printer at home, wrap a ribbon around it, toss it on your mother’s porch and BAM, you’ve saved a Pandemic-laden Mother’s Day.

I don’t know what I like better. Making the art or making the idea collages that go with the art. So pretty.

Look at you with your smart mom bun writing letters. Currently, my mom bun is more of a mouse bun, but my hair is growing lush and wild after the ol’ chemo business. I think cancer survivors are the only people very keen on not getting their hair cut right now.

In other wonderful news, Paris Letters is a Kindle Monthly Deal. So for the month of May, it’s cheap as chips. Plus, it is price matched so get it at your favourite ereading store. We all could use some armchair travel these days.

The most delightful photo of the book, from the beautiful, inspiring blog madefromscratch.

These days, I find myself volleying between extreme activity and extreme lethargy. There is no in between. But with books, you can feel both extremes at the same time. Thanks, books!

 

So I was going for the daily constitutional walk with Amélie. She is mastering the tricycle and is super exasperated by our self-isolation. She pedals, I walk. We feel lucky to have a place to walk as so many in this world are truly stuck inside. Saw another parent on his yard with his two yard apes. He was working on a garden box. I asked how it was going.

“Can’t get ANYTHING done with these two around!”

And so, that’s how it’s going. Sometimes, as I watch Frozen II again, I wonder how much I would have been able to accomplish during this time indoors in my life before a toddler. Or maybe I would have squandered it away looking at exponential graphs online.

My friend Terry shared this online. I don’t know who made it, but it’s the most accurate chart I’ve seen lately.

Luckily (luckily?) Christophe’s work is closed for so we can quarantine together in a toy-filled, TV-noise bubble of crumbs.

These days are strange.

I keep feeling out of breath, but only when I look at the charts, so I’ve simmered down on the chart gazing and started… scrapbooking.

I know…. I know.

Look. You’ve got to use what you’ve got. And what I’ve got is a toddler, art supplies, and nowhere to go.

Oh how hopefully we all were when we bought our little day books back in January. Oh how we would fill them with quotes and lists and all kinds of Things… To… Do. So, now what?

There’s a lot of heartbreak out there these days. Making art is one way to keep the mind occupied. I find that I’m somewhat in union with something when making my scrapbook pages. Ideas on what should go where reveal themselves as sparks of AHHAHAHHAHA YES. A sticker pops out, or a sketch, or an old paper from a book. And then, after some time of glueing and arranging, that thing vanishes and I can’t make anything nice.

It’s hard to explain the whoosh in, then the whoosh out. Even those on in spiritual realm can only take so much scrapbooking.

To help you get started, if you’re so inclined, I’ve listed some of my most popular art on my shop as digital offerings for you to download and print at home. I’ve included note cards, labels, stickers, and full pages of art for printing and framing. Personally, I like to write letters on them to send to people these days.

For so many of us in the world, getting the mail becomes the highlight in the day. Look at this gorgeous letter someone wrote with Paris Letters stationery…

The swooshy capitals have me swooning. It’s a prettier letter than I can write. Especially in between picking Cheerios off the floor.

Download some digital art for your printing pleasure over at the shop. And stay home.

It has been a long time. I’ve never gone so long without blogging. I miss it so. Really. I even had a dream last night that my mom asked me if I was ever going to blog again and she never asks in real life.

And I’ve received sweet, kind messages:

I also worry when I don’t post, especially after the ol’ cancer situation. People are thinking the worst.

But the truth is very very different.

First, I got a book deal!

Second, I got a book DEADLINE!

Third, I did get the flu and a cold, which didn’t help. No COVID-19s over here. Just regular old germs from toddler toys and winter life.

But now the book deal is signed, the book is in the publisher’s hands, and I’m well enough to bleach everything in sight. So with singed nostril hairs, I bring you the Paris Letter I did in October. (I have catching up to do.)

Our girl is looking into the middle distance, thinking very deep thoughts like, “This dress is itchy,” and “I’m always cold.”

And from November…

This letter is about looking for all the evidence of Paris being designed for horses. All the archways, all the courtyards, all the stables and places to park your horse and wagon. They are all still in Paris. You just have to know what you’re looking for. Example, I’ve been through the Louvre countless times and never realized I was walking through a stable:

Then came December and a cute little romantic moment I had with a stranger over a pepper grinder. That doesn’t sound right, but I assure you, it was a cute, innocent moment. Many of these moments can happen in Paris if you walk around with glee, which is often the case with me. Because… PARIS!

January and the transit strike, when you had no choice but to walk around:

This letter talks about how all the major fashion houses created perfumes to basically finance the rest of the show. Does this mean the government should design a scent to fund the pensions? I’m not sure how well that particular eau de toilette would sell.

And before I knew it, we were in February. Here’s a letter about my sweet friend Vincent on St. Vincent Day.

Speaking of sweet men, March brought another lovely moment with yet another older gentleman in France. This time, the stamp man.

I didn’t realize the older gentleman theme, but in Paris there are a lot of older gentlemen, and usually they are the bartenders or cashiers, people with whom one must interact. Anyway, this is a letter about me and my stamp man… the guy who sells me a lot of worthless but pretty stamps.

I’ve listed everything in the shop. A reminder, 2020 is the final year of these Paris Letters, after 10 glorious seasons. You can subscribe for the final 9 months over at the shop.