Last chance to join Creating Space!
Today is your last chance to join Creating Space, the 6-week journaling course I co-created with Buster Benson of 750 Words!
I first reached out to Buster a few years ago, when I had an inkling from his online writing that we could be friends. “We should meet up!” But it wasn’t until last year that I finally had enough space in my own life to follow-up and actually make a plan for coffee.
Afterwards, I reflected on our coffee conversation and all the uncanny parallels in our lives (we both live in the East Bay, have kids similar ages, are divorced, worked at Medium at different times, to name just a few!), I noticed the impulse to follow-up and say, hey let’s build something together.
I could’ve stopped there, and listened to the little voice that said well that would be weird, you literally just met. Or don’t put him in the awkward position of having to say no. But I’m so glad I followed that impulse, sent him a 5 minute long rambling voice memo 🙃, and that we can now share this course with all of you.
The creation of this course is, in many ways, the product of what the course itself is all about: creating space in our lives, and noticing what emerges in the space — all in service of building lives that are more in alignment with what we want.
I asked Buster to share a little blurb to introduce him to the list, although some of you may know him already! One thing I really appreciate about Buster is how non-pushy we both are about what’s worked for us, and we’ve designed the course to reflect that. Try it out, take what works, it’s all optional and meant to be as supportive as possible.
A note from Buster
Collaborating with Jean on this course has been a joy from the very beginning. I remember those early, sometimes awkward, conversations where we were feeling out what we might create together. The first idea Jean suggested was a course about creating space (physical, mental, temporal) as a form of self-care. It just so happened that this was a huge theme in my own life over the past few years, and the idea clicked instantly for both of us. Of course this is what we needed to make.
This course is a natural complement to 750 Words, the private journaling site I’ve been running for the last 15 years. The practice of morning pages (three pages of stream-of-consciousness writing with zero pressure to be “good” or “smart”) is all about clearing out the mental clutter so you can think, reflect, and create with more freedom and clarity throughout your day.
As we’ve built this course, I’ve been using the prompts in my own writing, shaping the experience to feel like actual space in your life, not just another task to check off a list.
It’s integrated directly with 750 Words in a way that I hope feels natural and fun, low pressure. Don’t feel like writing on a certain day? No problem...the prompts will be there when you’re ready. There’s no required length, no fixed path. Each prompt is open-ended and entirely private, so you can take it in whatever direction feels true for you.
We’ve also added a new layer of encouragement: 7 new badges you’ll unlock every seven prompts, along with the optional chance to share any reflections or insights with others in the course.
And at the end, there’s an option to get a custom report, generated by AI, that gently gathers up the themes and patterns from your writing into a thoughtful summary. It’s like having a wise friend reflect your own words back to you, reminding you of how your thoughts have shifted over time, and helping you see the story you’ve been living through more clearly. I’ve found these reports to be surprisingly moving and insightful, especially when they bring attention to things I hadn’t realized were important until I saw them from a distance.
This is the very first cohort invited to take the course, and Jean and I will be actively involved gathering feedback, starting conversations, and listening to whatever is sparked as we go along. Our hope is that it helps you carve out a bit more space in your life!
If this feels like what you need right now, we’d love for you to join us before the signups close tonight — the course will kick off this Sunday, June 29th!
Hope to see you there!
Jean
P.S. The course is just $50. I realized I never shared the price in any of my emails, and you have to click through to the sales page and then to the Stripe page, which is annoying, and also the lack of pricing makes it seem like it’s going to be one of those long sales things where at the end you’re finally convinced to pay a large sum of money. It’s not, it’s $50!