Hi! Tammy here. So glad you have joined us. Our book clubs, including the 2018 through 2023 Refuse to Choose! book clubs I led, have been so wonderful, and I am glad to join you for the 2024 club. Great people, great insights, plenty of sharing and encouragement. I am really looking forward to reading Refuse to Choose! with you. We will do the exercises in the first part of the book, then try out the Life Design Models, Scanner Careers and Scanner Tools in the second part to find the best ones for each of us.
Also in the second part, we have a real treat: some brand new exercises and a quiz created by Barbara just for our book club!
Refuse to Choose! is all about doing everything that you love, and that is just what I have been doing with my life. I was so excited when Barbara wrote this guide to the Scanner life and let us see we are not all alike, and we need our own custom-tailored approaches to enjoying life as a Scanner. I used ideas in this book to raise the extra money I needed to join Barbara for her first-ever Scanner Retreat in Corfu, Greece.
The book: You will need a copy of Refuse to Choose! for all 16 weeks. If you don’t already have one, try Abe Books, Powell Books, Amazon, or Barnes & Noble. Any version, hard cover, paperback, Kindle, Nook, new or used or borrowed, is fine.
Our agenda: Each of our 16 weeks will begin on a Thursday with an announcement posted online, giving the week’s reading assignment and exercises. We begin on July 25 and end on November 13. The comments and your ability to reply to them will remain available for a full year, through July 24, 2025.
| Week Beginning | Section |
|---|---|
| July 25, 2024 | Are You a Scanner?, Prologue, Chapter 1 |
| Aug 1, 2024 | Chapter 2 |
| Aug 8, 2024 | Chapter 3 |
| Aug 15, 2024 | Chapters 4 and 5 |
| Aug 22, 2024 | Chapters 6 and 7 |
| Aug 29, 2024 | Chapter 8 |
| September 5, 2024 | What Kind of Scanner are You?, Chapters 9 and 10 |
| September 12, 2024 | Chapter 11 |
| September 19, 2024 | Chapter 12 |
| September 26, 2024 | Chapters 13 and 14 |
| October 3, 2024 | Chapter 15 |
| October 10, 2024 | Chapter 16 |
| October 17, 2024 | Chapter 17 |
| October 24, 2024 | Chapter 18 |
| October 31, 2024 | Chapter 19 |
| November 7, 2024 | Epilogue, Appendix, and Pulling It All Together |
The weekly announcement emails: The online announcements on each of the pages linked above are also sent to you by email if you clicked the confirmation link in the email sent within an hour after you signed up. If you opt out of the weekly announcements, be sure you bookmark this page. If you would like to start receiving emails, let me know at webmaster@barbarasclub.com.
To change the email address at which you receive these emails, use the link at the bottom of any of the emails.
Each week: You will check the assignment, read the pages, and do the exercises on your own. As you finish each exercise, come share with us a little about your experience with the exercise. Read what others had to say about their experiences and offer encouragement, answer their questions, share what you know that might help them. After you finish each chapter and the exercises in it, share a little with us about what you learned from the chapter.
Because we will all be online at different times, it is important that you make an effort to read and reply to some of your fellow book club members’ comments by Wednesday evening. You can subscribe to email notices of the comments they post, or you can make it a habit to check back during the week.
Comment subscription emails: See the Reply form down below? It lets you subscribe or not each time you add your reply. The subscription is for comments posted on a particular page, like this one. Please note that some email providers block comment emails because they suspect us of spamming you. If you are not getting the comment notices, be sure to check back, or try a different email address when you post comments. Our weekly announcement emails, with links to each page, come through a different email server and almost always reach people.
Finding others’ comments: To find others’ comments, you can use the link to each comment that’s included in the comment notices, or you can use the links to the exercise and chapter pages in the week’s announcement email, the welcome page, or your Member Profile.
That’s a lot of information, I know. Don’t worry. I’ll include reminders in your emails and on each web page. And I’ll give you a link to the Book Club Help Page every week.
Now, let’s get started. Use a Leave a Reply box below to introduce yourself. Where are you from? What is one fun or rewarding thing you have done at least once in your lifetime? And if we ever want to send you something to cheer you up, what should it be?
Feel free to use the Reply button under anyone else’s introduction to say hi, too.
Hello all: Here is an update: I finished reading up to chapter 6 and will be starting chapter 7 this week. I have written some pages about what I liked and disliked about all my jobs in order to help figure out about my “reward”. I have a scanner daybook set up and I have done the “reverse engineering” idea on writing a businesss plan. I love making aromatherapy products, and I need to focus on “just one” successful one for the business plan. I also like to make mugs with my mug press. I really enjoy that and have sold a few and yet I have no “website” yet. Once I come up with said business plan, I can get funding for advanced aromatherapy training, which would be wonderful. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has created a business plan (for a real business) and I would also love to hear from anyone who has published a book. Thank you for your help.
Hi Karen! That is very exciting⚡️. I know there are people in this group that have published and probably written a business plan 🙂 So hopefully someone will chime in!
I’ve self-published two books without a business plan. I just used Amazon KDP. However, if you want physical copies of your book in stores, there’s other avenues to peruse. Several authors have full how-to-tutorials on YouTube.
Hello everyone! FYI I used the “Backwards flowchart” method with an assistant to help create a business plan which is not finished yet but I do have a “business” facebook page. I have named my page Sons and Daughters of Leonardo in reference to the renaissance man. I am a certified aromatherapist who is also interested in writing, crafts (coffee mugs anyone?) and self-improvement. As I am semi-retired, I do not have a lot of money to spend on this “hobby” yet. What I like about my scanner journal is that I can go back and add more stuff whenenver I need to. I want to say thank you to everyone for your support! Karen Carson, Certified Aromatherapist.
Dear Book Club Participants,
Please allow me to apologize for a computer issue on my end that resulted in my not seeing your lovely posts right away and therefore not having the opportunity to welcome you properly and timely. I am honored that you have chosen to spend time here in the Book Club and I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience in your not being properly welcomed right away! All is well and on track now, and I wanted to share that you are very important and I would never intentionally wait more than a week to rejoice in you being here and extend a warm hearted welcome I also appreciate all of you who commented on each others posts and I can see already this is a jolly and caring group! Welcome!
I’m not quite certain if this is the correct thread, but I’m going to comment on my experienced with Chapter 1 exercises …
I’ve taken a blank sketchbook that was gifted to me in 2000 and turned it into my Daybook. (It’s one of those beautiful books that I’m terrified to use.). My first thought is that I have a lot of catching up to do… There have been many many projects in my head that I’ve not moved forward, or moved forward on partially. I love to look at photos of visual journals, so I decided to use color copies of photos, scraps, shapes, and my label maker. Every time I spend time working on it, I have more energy. I have not yet begun to work on the layout of my home – I’ll tackle in the coming days.
Just working on it, brightens my spirit and it’s surprising to see how many ideas have come up… And subsets of ideas…
Totally get your point about being energised from writing in the daybook. I’m just getting started and already feeling calmer, uplifted and energised. Cant wait to see where this leads!
Hi Janet: What have you learned from creating your daybook? I would love to know. Thanks a lot.
Hi Monica! Thank you for sharing and this is a fine place to leave your post. 🙂 I am happy to be here and wanted to welcome you.
Hello, everybody. I live in Florida, these days.
One thing I have done that has both given me much fun and that has rewarded me greatly is this: to have created some literature. I am a writer who currently writes mainly literary nonfiction. I wrote, for example, a true personal story that a small literary magazine published. Besides my personal essays, too, I also have written two unpublished novels.
And as for something to send that might cheer me up, sometime?Perhaps an interesting fact or observation or a surprising fact or insight might help. One could try sending something like that about anything, perhaps. I have many diverse interests. Even the subjects of law and legal history bring me joy!
Hi Jeff!
Happy you are here and welcome 🙂
Hi Jeff: Would you please share something about how you got your work published? I would love to know. Thank you. Karen Carson, Certified Aromatherapist.
Hello everyone. Joining at the last minute from Pennsylvania,USA. Looking forward to being part of this bookclub and the experience of it all.
Hi Lori!
Just being here is right on time 🙂 Welcome!
Hi! My name is Nico. I’m in Florida, USA but will be in Amsterdam, Netherlands for a few months. Not sure if this is the right place for me, but happy to give it a try. Looking forward to this book!
Hi Nico!
The Netherlands is on my wish list for sure…awesome you get to go there soon! Welcome.
Hello everyone! Greetings from the UK. Looking forward to getting stuck into the book, and exploring this learning process with you all.
Hello, Where in the UK are you based Janet?
Hey Zibby. Am down in the South East of England, Berkshire.
Hi Zibby and Janet! Welcome to the book club 🙂
Hi there,
I am joining in from Jerusalem.
I know from our book club last year, that I am a scanner. I have been reading by myself the book “Wishcraft”….
I am certain to be a scanner. I need to decide on what business I want to do and can’t figure it out but hopefully soon. My working contract ends September 30 , 24!
Hi Yiskah! Happy to see you….welcome 🙂
Hi everyone,
I’m joining in from Sydney, Australia.
I’m not actually sure if I’m a scanner. I’m interested in many, different things, but I also love to dive deep into things. Am I a diving scanner, or am I a scanning diver? I hope to find out soon enough!
A few years ago, I enrolled in two on-line poetry courses by the same teacher – a one day workshop and then a six week course. I found them thoroughly engaging and exhilarating. I hadn’t written poetry since school (although I read it all the time) and I felt like I’d reconnected to something important. Since then, I keep thinking about writing, but I never do it.
If I’m feeling down, I love to be sent silly memes. The sillier, the better.
Looking forward to getting to know everyone and to getting stuck into the course!
What was the poetry class you took? I’ve thought a lot about writing poetry but I’ve only ever written one or two poems.
Hi Joel, the classes I took were run by this teacher: https://www.marktredinnick.com/workshops-courses (I hope it’s ok to link to other teachers and classes on this chat. I’m assuming the webmaster will remove it if it isn’t?).
I did the one day course through CCE and the ‘What the Light Tells’ six week course. By the way, beginners are welcome, despite the second course being described as a ‘masterclass’.
Most classes are run online on Australian Eastern Standard time. The teacher encourages participation by people from around the world, but depending on where you are, you might find yourself being up at very odd hours!
Hi Joel and Christine! Welcome to the book club 🙂