Learning, reading, growing, life is a never-ending classroom. This classroom of life has two ever-shifting groups within it. The first group is the one making the lessons, the tests, the evaluation sheets, and offering roadmaps to guide the student forward. The second group is taking each lesson as it comes along, going through each test, periodically assessing how things are doing, and looking for the path ahead. Sometimes the teacher is the student. Other times the student is the teacher.
Every industry and every pursuit has those who have gone before us. Some of them begin to teach others the craft, passing on tricks of the trade, tips and best practices that will ensure success to those who follow them. In the multifaceted world I live in, I find myself listening to, learning from, reading and researching, and putting into practice various things I’ve learned in computer repair, singing, and writing. I’ve already written one course that I used for three weeks in Rwanda back in 2008. Trotting it out now would require a fair bit of updating in both content and format to be useful. In the 6 years since that course was written, much has and continues to change rapidly.
Also in that time, I’ve added “author” to my list of interests and abilities. Entering the world of self-publishing instead of going the traditional publishing route brought with it quite a bit of information to learn. A professional-looking book requires thought processes that simply don’t go through the average reader’s mind in a conscious manner. When those details are missing however, the reader will often comment about unprofessional appearance or flow, but not really comprehend why. Needless to say, I’d entered another of life’s classrooms. That began back in 2012. Now in 2014, my fifth book officially launches Labour Day Weekend. My third book, a tiny e-book called “Practical Thoughts on Becoming an Author” would be written in the late fall 2013 to test the waters of e-book creation.
A month-long series of emails and seminars back in May of 2014 was the impetus I needed to take that little e-book and turn it into an online e-course. This course would launch in June and had 5 students by the time the latest course launched in mid-August. As with so many of the courses a person can take on or offline about whatever subject appeals to them, the cost of most of them are well over $100 per course. The cheaper ones are down around $50 to $75 and considered cheap! Occasionally someone will offer the same subject matter for free, but free means staring at advertisements while taking the course.
I decided my courses would be different. First, they are a bargain at only $15 each! Second, I’m not going to make my students suffer through tons of ads in order to cover the cost of the course. At the same time, I wanted to offer the kind of one-on-one instruction that I would give in person. Reviewers going through my beta text have repeatedly commented how these courses are presented in a manner that speaks directly to the student. This is because to me, the teacher/student relationship is very personal. My writing does not come from the perspective of the impersonal lecturer at the front of the room who disappears after class, unreachable by the student. Instead, I believe that learning is a hands-on affair, with the teacher offering the instruction and guiding the student through the application, being available once the student begins the task for themselves.
Both author courses created so far now sit on a special page on my website: https://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/songdove-books-15-e-courses/ While it is possible to purchase them from gumroad.com on the same day, it’s advisable to begin only with one and take the other if the student wishes to take both. Discounts are available to students who have taken one course and wish to take the other. Only those with emails in my system will be granted these discounts.
Who knows what other courses may be offered in the future, but this student is sharing her publishing knowledge with fledgling authors wanting to learn how to prepare a book for the self-publishing arena. Due to my wide-ranging interests in addition to writing, you may see courses unrelated to writing in the future. We shall have to see. Right now, the little e-book that started the online e-course writing journey is available for free for those who sign up for my monthly newsletter.
The journey that is life is such the adventure hey? It sure it is for me!