Open If You Love To Learn...
It’s back to school week for my son and, as always, it’s bringing up all the nostalgia. I’ll be honest…I didn’t always love school, but I always loved to learn.
A few days ago I stumbled across an entire series of videos about building your own personal curriculum and I was immediately hooked. Yes, to all of this! I realized I’ve been trying to do this for years, but without the structure to actually stick with it.
“There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning.” ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti
Launching our new book club this month with Attitudes of Gratitude made something click into place for me. What I’ve really been chasing is a passion for learning… this craving for improvement and curiosity that doesn’t go away just because we’re no longer in classrooms.
I can thank my parents for that. Growing up, our family vacations revolved around historical sites. Most weekends were spent in museums. Weekdays were full of reading. In other words…my childhood was one big personal curriculum.
And that’s the best thing about continuing your education outside of traditional school… you get to choose the subject matter.
Want to explore gothic architecture? Go for it.
Curious about alchemy? You can start today.
Have ladybugs always fascinated you? Learn more about them.
It’s entirely yours to curate.🫶
So the little inspiration I want to leave you with this week is this… renew your joy of learning. Let yourself become a student again.
Here’s a great video to get started (especially perfect for readers and writers). Check it out.
Also…exciting news!
I’ve officially launched a brand new newsletter called Moving With Melissa. Every Sunday, I send out a curated list of 5 free YouTube workouts plus 5 free gentle walking videos specifically chosen for women over 40 (a mix of yoga, Pilates, and rebounder exercises). We’ve had over 1,200 women join in the first three days and I would absolutely love for you to join us.
👉 You can subscribe here: Check It Out
To wrap things up, here are 3 romances featuring teachers to keep you in the back-to-school spirit…
Juliet Baldwin.
Type-A Teacher.
Sam Ford.
Ruler of Classroom Chaos.
I, Juliet Baldwin, have my hands firmly on the wheel of life at ten-and-two, steering in the opposite direction of heartache. Teaching comes first, and nothing can stand in the way of bettering my students and achieving my professional goals.
Except, of course, technology.
When a grade level shift moves Sam Ford—everyone’s favorite rambunctious teacher, baseball coach, and technology wizard—to my seventh grade team, we butt heads more than we grade papers. But I need someone to help put together a video for my prestigious grant application—a project that I have invested a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into over the past several years. And while I can barely work my phone’s selfie camera, Sam just so happens to be the tech guru of the building.
Suddenly, as I let him take over the video project for my grant, my reins are in Sam’s hands—someone I don’t trust, and someone who could very well break my heart. But as the layers slowly peel back, revealing much more than a charming smirk beneath his sexy beard, I start to wonder if placing my heart in someone else’s hands will be good for me, or if it will just further upset the apple cart.
Check it out HERE.
Aryn Murphy loves her family and friends, sports, and teaching school. What she doesn’t love is all the wrong attention she receives from men who don’t know the first thing about her.
When her childhood friend Wesley moves to town and lands a job working at the same school where she teaches, she has the perfect idea – he can be the decoy that keeps all the men away while she focuses on her otherwise perfect life. After all, Wesley has always been someone she’s felt safe with.
Wesley Baker harbored a secret crush on Aryn in high school, and when he arrives at his new job to find Aryn there too, that crush comes raging back. Now she wants him to play the part of doting boyfriend by night, and forgotten coworker by day.
But he had enough of playing pretend all those years ago. This time, he’s looking to play a different game – one with high stakes, and the potential to make them both winners.
Back To Class is a kissing only, sweet and clean romcom, with all the swoon but no explicit content.
Check it out HERE.
In the sweeping tradition of The English Patient, a gripping tale of love and betrayal set in war-torn Hong Kong
In 1942, Will Truesdale, an Englishman newly arrived in Hong Kong, falls headlong into a passionate relationship with Trudy Liang, a beautiful Eurasian socialite. But their love affair is soon threatened by the invasion of the Japanese as World War II overwhelms their part of the world. Will is sent to an internment camp, where he and other foreigners struggle daily for survival. Meanwhile, Trudy remains outside, forced to form dangerous alliances with the Japanese—in particular, the malevolent head of the gendarmerie, whose desperate attempts to locate a priceless collection of Chinese art lead to a chain of terrible betrayals.
Ten years later, Claire Pendleton comes to Hong Kong and is hired by the wealthy Chen family as their daughter’s piano teacher. A provincial English newlywed, Claire is seduced by the heady social life of the expatriate community. At one of its elegant cocktail parties, she meets Will, to whom she is instantly attracted—but as their affair intensifies, Claire discovers that Will’s enigmatic persona hides a devastating past. As she begins to understand the true nature of the world she has entered, and long-buried secrets start to emerge, Claire learns that sometimes the price of survival is love.
Check it out HERE.
What subject would you include in your own self learning curriculum?
I’d love to hear!
Reminder, upgraded subscribers can join our read along chat of Attitudes of Gratitude this month. Unsure of where to find that chat? Just send me a reply and I’m happy to help.
As a community we have now donated 16 books to women who need them.💝
For every membership upgraded to $5, we donate a historical fiction or romance book to a local women’s shelter.
Affiliate links are used at no extra cost to you, but they help me earn a small amount—just enough to grab a tea and keep writing! ☕
When I retired and wanted to write fiction, I considered enrolling in an MFA. But I already have multiple degrees and felt an MFA would not be as helpful as personalizing my learning around what I needed to know and when I was ready to learn it. So I invested in editing services, went to writing conferences, read craft books and Substacks like yours, attended webinars, joined writing associations, and became part of a critique group. This kind of self learning requires financial resources, for sure, but there is so much out there available at no cost. The most important prerequisite for self learning is motivation and persistence. That's what counts most of all.