Write your memoirs, reclaim yourself.
Imagine how it would feel to know you’re a good writer with worthy stories.
Imagine how it would feel to get the first draft of your memoir written with ease. Without overwhelm.
Imagine how it would feel to have clarity, focus, tools and techniques for when you get stuck in perfectionism, resistance and creative block.
Imagine how it would feel to have a solid writing structure so you can stop trying to figure-it-all-out and just get started.
Imagine working with unique, creative, healing themes (drawn from mythology, anatomy, fairytales and anthropology) to spark wild insight, rich stories and deep self-appreciation.
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.
If you’re reading this and saying “yes, I want that!” I want you to know that all of this is so very possible.
You’re ready to start writing your memoirs and healing your relationship to your lifestory, but you’ve got some worries and fears.
Writing Fears
You fear you’re a terrible writer and a boring person with nothing worth writing about.
You’re afraid to claim your right to write.
You’re worried you’ll start but not finish a big project like this. Ugh - where do you start?!? There's literally just SO MUCH.
The fear of not knowing how to get started, keep going, then published stops you from even beginning.
You’re concerned you’ll overshare and not know the line between how vulnerable/raw to be vs how much privacy you need to allow yourself.
Personal Fears
You’re worried you’ll hurt people and bring shame to your family.
You’re afraid of other people’s judgment. You’re concerned that if you write your truth you’ll be told you’re wrong, a liar or unfair.
You’re scared to be vulnerable, share your faults and bring light to your more shameful moments.
A project like this feels a little scary because of its importance (both the weight of the experiences as well as the gravity of sharing those experiences.)
You want to live your life in a forward direction and fear that writing your memoir and seeking healing will keep you focused on the rearview mirror.
You’re scared that you actually are all the worst fears within you - that you’re unworthy, not good enough and have nothing to share of value or importance.
You’re worried you’ll be incomprehensible and unexceptional. What if none of it has any meaning?
introducing the
Art of Personal Mythmaking
A 13-module online course in which you’ll write the first draft of your memoir while reclaiming your sense of joy and vitality.
Education via module themes containing innovative embodiment visualizations, writing prompts, fairytales & mythology as well as plenty of tools and techniques that offer clarity, focus and structure.
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.
jess Molnar, Odd Duck Press, usa
My biggest fear working with Janelle is that I would for some reason not complete the course.
I was afraid because I knew that I would miss two or three sessions and perhaps lose my momentum and give up – but that did not happen.
Because each class is recorded and the facilitation topics are saved and easily retraceable, I was able to regroup, get back on track and carry on to the end.
Georgette Pare. Fine Arts & Language Arts Facilitator, Calgary, Canada
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.
Jennifer setterfield, cabinetmaker, canada
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
Before and After
Personal Mythmaking
Life Before Personal Mythmaking
You feel a knot in your gut as you circle around your desire to heal and the fear that stops you.
You’ve been in this state for years. Actually, maybe even one or two decades.
You’ve been living with the uncomfortable knowledge that things have to change, but have been stuck in your fear and resistance -it stops change from happening.
You love writing, but you get so overwhelmed when you try to write about your own life that you stop each time you start.
You’d love to make sense of your life, offer your story as a gift, a teaching, something for descendents to have, but you still haven’t started.
Writing feels really damn hard, even though you love it.
You’re tired of feeling this way, but can’t seem to get unstuck and get started.
Life After Personal Mythmaking
Your life makes sense to you. You know your story is a gift, your life is yours, and it’s beautiful.
You’ve reclaimed your right to write, your voice, and your self-worth. You’ve reclaimed yourself.
You have new and refreshing perspectives on your lifestory.
You no longer feel afraid to share your ‘faults’ and moments you used to think were shameful are now moments you appreciate, for the growth and wisdom they’ve offered you.
You know your truth, and it doesn’t bother you if others don’t get’ you.
You’re so equipped with tools and techniques for writer’s block, overwhelm and procrastination that you don’t fear getting stuck.
You’ve got the first draft of your memoir written.
Your life has meaning.
Course breakdown
There are 13 modules divided into 4 phases in this course.
Each module includes:
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
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 our 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?
Phase 2: The Connective Tissue of Your Lifestory
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)?
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.
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.
Phase 3: The Nervous & Circulatory Systems of Your Lifestory
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.
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.
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.
Let’s explore, unpack and reconstruct so that beauty is not the behaviour we’re expected to perform, but the state we want to live in.
Phase 4: The Organs of Your Lifestory
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?
This week we use your top 3 myths/fairytales/pop culture icons/real-life nemesis. Not to villainize so much as to humanize. This is integrative shadow-work.
We also work with the legend of Medusa.
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 music? Touch? Art? Taste? What was fulfilled? What was missing?
MODULE 12: LONGING & EXPECTATIONS - A LOVE LETTER TO SELF
longing and expectations - a love letter 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.
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!
You’ll get incredible support, community and accountability
with lifetime access to:
A private online community of peers
You’ll be supported by a peer community inside a private forum/group.
Monthly live group coaching calls
You’ll also have a chance to ask me your questions during our monthly live calls in the group.
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.
Talyn M., Writer & former organic farmer, Canada
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.
Mandy T., Herbalist, Canada
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.
Grace Quantock, Wellness provocateur, Writer and Psychotherapeutic Counsellor, Wales
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.
jess M., usa
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.
Dr. Tonia Winchester, Naturopathic Physician, Canada
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.
Jen s., canada
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.
Molly Pennington, PhD
Your personal mythmaking journey begins here.
Work through at your own pace.
Pay in full - save $50 dollars!
5 payments of
$375
- Art of Personal Mythmaking
- Includes 13 modules
- Monthly group coaching calls
- Access to private class forum
- Lifetime access
Get started today!
Pay in full
$1825
- Art of Personal Mythmaking
- Includes 13 modules
- Monthly group coaching calls
- Access to private class forum
- Lifetime access
$50 total savings!
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.
Georgette P., Canada
This is a convenient course.
You can do it from home, from anywhere in the world, and on your own schedule.
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: you can go at your own pace and do the lessons on your schedule (except, of course, our monthly live group coaching calls.)
How long does it take to do this course?
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.
However, the honest answer is, it depends on you and your current situation. If you choose the self-paced option, you can move through the material as slowly or swiftly as you please.
Most of my students are able to take a week or two per module, which means you’ll get through the material in approximately 4-8 months.
If you choose, or upgrade to, the weekly live class option, offered twice a year (which I highly, highly recommend) it’ll take 5 months to do the course, but you’ll always have access to the modules after the class schedule is finished.
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 and all future updates.
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?
There has never been a better time to start your personal mythmaking journey.
Starting now means you’ll:
Finally stop thinking about it and just get going.
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!
Start discovering how amazing your life actually is. There is no such thing as a slow and boring story-less life.
Breathe. Because making the decision and taking the leap is such a relief once you’ve done it.
What I know is this. Timing is so important. And if it’s not the right time to start an intensive creative healing process like this, you’ll know.
Please honour that knowing.
However.
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…
then It’s time to start.
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.
How do I know if the Art of Personal Mythmaking is right for me?
this course is right for you if:
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.
this course is not right for you if:
You only want a how-to guide on getting published. This is not that. This is a generative course that supports healing, transformation and getting your first draft written.
You don’t want to explore yourself and your stories in a wide=ranging and deep way.
You’re in a period of crisis and your mental, emotional and financial resources are stretched to your limits.
Your course schedule:
When you sign up you’ll get access to our online Personal Mythmaking community.
Although you get to set your own pace (many choose one module per month,) each of the 13 modules will be released on a weekly basis, including an integration week after every three weeks of content.
Your course also includes a monthly group coaching call. The schedule is set to cater to students on different time zones, and is always recorded so you won’t miss out.
Will you choose transformation and truth?
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?
Do you really want to wait that much longer?
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?
Imagine where you’ll be in 6 months. Still stuck, or wildly in love with your lifestories?
Which will it be?
Your personal mythmaking journey begins here.
Work through at your own pace.
Pay in full - save $50 dollars!
5 payments of
$375
- Art of Personal Mythmaking
- Includes 13 modules
- Monthly group coaching calls
- Access to private class forum
- Lifetime access
Get started today!
Pay in full
$1875
- Art of Personal Mythmaking
- Includes 13 modules
- Monthly group coaching calls
- Access to private class forum
- Lifetime access
$50 total savings!
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.
Georgette P., Canada
You can do this even if you don’t think you can.
I don’t have enough time.
So, I’m a single solo mother who’s juggled 3 jobs at a time - if I can do it, you can do it. I don’t say this to shame you but to emphasize this: you can pace yourself exactly as it works for you - whether that means carving out 1 hour a week for yourself, or 5, it’s very doable.
I’ll get overwhelmed. I’m already overwhelmed all the time.
I really understand, and I’ll be teaching you body-based tools to deal with overwhelm, particularly the overwhelm of stress and distress.
You’ll get body-based prompts designed to gently relieve any inner pressure and overly-attuned sensitivity to everything around you, and bring you back into a state of grounded ease.
From this state, overwhelm becomes much more manageable.
I’m not a good enough writer yet to sign up.
Well, that’s simply not true!
I’ve yet to meet someone with a desire to understand themselves and write, who hasn’t been a better writer than they think they are.
This is also true - no matter what your level, when you write, your skills improve, with speed.
The point though, is this - some days we write poorly. Some days we write brilliantly, and the most important thing is to recognize that we are always both - terrible and brilliant, and it’s ok.
We just keep writing. So don’t let your judgments of your writing skills stop you from signing up.
I’m scared.
I know. I get it. It’s normal to be scared.
There is a certain kind of wild fear that arises when we’re standing on the precipice of change, healing, and big creative projects.
Take note of this fear. Take note of the immensity of the personal and creative projects you’re yearning to bring to life. Then decide. Will I, or won’t I, start?
You don’t have to do this alone.
What happens when you buy?
Step 1: enroll in the Art of Personal Mythmaking.
Purchase the program with pay-in-full or payment plan options with either Paypal or a credit card.
Step 2: you’ll receive an e-mail with all the details.
The e-mail will share content release dates, login information and the answers to some common questions.
Step 3: you’ll get immediate access to the course and online community.
The foundation module will be waiting for you, so you can dive right in and start working on your course.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does the course begin and end?
The course begins as soon as you sign up. Each module is released once a week, but you have as much time as you need to complete the modules - you get lifetime access to the material.
Are there any prerequisites?
There are no prerequisites except a willingness to try, and to keep showing up for yourself and your work. 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.
Are there any extra material/equipment costs?
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.
Do I get support, community or 1-1 access to you?
In this course you get support in the form of an online community of your peers - other folk taking Personal Mythmaking, and you get access to monthly group coaching calls. If you’d like 1-1 access to me you can purchase these sessions when you enroll.
Pro-tip - for the richest, deepest level of support, I highly recommend upgrading to my live small-weekly-class version of Personal Mythmaking, which happens once a year, every February.
What is the refund policy?
You have 10 days after purchase to request a refund. After that timeframe, there will be no refunds.
What are the payment options?
You can pay in full or with a payment plan.
What’s the difference between this and the live version?
With the self-directed version (this one) you set your own pace.
The live version includes everything the self-study version includes, plus you participate in small-intimate weekly classes (a discussion call and a live writing lab), designed for connection and growth, taught by me (Janelle.)
You’ll always have the option to upgrade to the live version, which I highly recommend.
You’re a white, straight able-bodied woman. I’m not. How do I know I’ll be safe in your communities and care?
Thanks for asking. I spend a significant amount of time thinking about, researching and developing the 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 listen, to correct myself when I’ve caused harm, and try, always, to do better.
Do you offer scholarships?
Yes. I offer full and partial scholarships for 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 . . .
Get in touch by clicking here or e-mailing me at jaha @ janellehardy.com (put ‘SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION FORM PLEASE’ in the subject line) and I’ll send you the application link.
Please don’t share your story in the e-mail, as I’ll be asking you to do that in the form. No need to repeat yourself :-)
Hi there.
I’m Janelle Hardy.
……
I’ve been working as a trauma-informed bodyworker in the hands-on healing arts fields for 13+ years and as an artist (writing, painting + dance) for 17+ years. Throughout that time I’ve also taught adults out of my living room, arts centres, universities and community colleges.
For the past 4+ years I’ve integrated all of my expertise into supporting people in their creative healing work via the alchemy of transformational memoir-writing.
……
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.) All while getting the first draft of their memoirs written.
What I believe is this: transformation is possible, your lifestories are worthy of attention, and you deserve to feel good in your body, mind and spirit.
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.
Let’s instead hold this paradox: that by slowing down, easing up and refusing to force anything, we actually create and grow with more ease and more speed.
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?
Janelle is a gifted teacher with genius instincts on juxtaposing sources and materials to spark genuine creativity.
Molly Pennington, PhD
Janelle is absolutely amazing, the real deal and a woman of integrity.
Grace Quantock, Wellness provocateur, Writer and Psychotherapeutic Counsellor, Wales
Janelle is a conscious and thoughtful teacher/facilitator.
Mandy T., Herbalist, Canada
Janelle is a guardian of your sacred truth, and will create a safe space to play, know, understand, and emote.
Dr. Tonia Winchester, Naturopathic Physician, Canada
Janelle is amazing and any fears or hesitations you might have about taking this course she can allay them.
Talyn Martin, Writer, Former Organic Farmer, Canada
I credit Janelle with introducing me to the concept of embodiment, which has been an absolute game changer for me.
Jess Molnar, Artist, Odd Duck Press, USA
Write your memoirs. Reclaim yourself. Start now.