A Patreon, a New Newsletter, and a Site Redesign

It’s been a long while since I’ve written on Legal Nomads. When people ask how I’m doing, I’ve taken to saying, “I’m hanging in as best as I can.” What else can we all do? These are pretty unusual, extreme times, and honestly I’m just impressed with anyone who makes it through each day without cracking at least once.

While I haven’t been writing much here, I have been working (in 20 minute standing increments!) on some really rewarding things, which I am excited to share with you here.

1. I’ve Launched My Patreon

Many of you have asked about ways to support me at a time where I can’t physically work the way I used to. Patreon is a great way to do so.

I released my Patreon to the world during the last week of February. For those unfamiliar with Patreon, it’s a membership platform that allows people to sign up to receive updates, behind the scenes videos, private podcasts and more from their favourite creatives, writers, or artists. A lot of you in this community have suggested I start one up, and in my tiny working increments I was able to get it up and running.

Many of my travel blogging peers have started one, but my Patreon is a bit different than the norm, because it’s support only. So instead of each tier offering more and more rewards for what you sign up for, my campaign has each tier receiving the same access and benefits as the others. But! Unlike many support-only Patreons, it still does have fun goodies (below), because there are still many fun things I can provide within my limited state.

I structured it this way because pain limits my day to day output so much that I’d rather be absolutely sure that I can deliver what I promise, vs. creating high monetary tiers and break that promise.

It’s an amazing feeling to have a community of people asking to support me from far flung places. I’ve had artists and photographers reach out as well, to provide monthly goodies that I can add to the tiers — mostly bird-related or soup-related, which seems about right!

The launch video is below. Patreon page is here. We’re up to about 170 people now, at the time of writing.

Though it is a support-only Patreon, everyone does receive a bunch of rewards!

• Your name on the Patreon thank you page on Legal Nomads.
• Your name on an Instagram thank you post.
• Early access to podcast details, Legal Nomads site redesign, and news.
• Ability to vote on future episode topics for the podcast.
• Monthly video or audio AMAs on Patreon, as my health allows. You can submit questions that I will answer.
• Shorter videos with updates about progress for the podcast, redesign, and any other updates in the Legal Nomads universe.
• Supporting me with a stable income at a time where I’m physically unable to work as I used to.
• A thank you image of your tier bird, one of Bob, Fiona, or Arthur (these are the birds in the header of this post – I love them so much.)

I may add higher tiers with specific rewards later. There are also fun goodies in the works as I mentioned above.

I saw this on the page itself, but here’s how I plan to use the funds:

• Funding my operating costs so that I can keep my websites and projects afloat.
• Supporting the launch and production of my new podcast, that will allow me to create and share content with you through a more manageable medium given my current condition.
• Helping me convert my blog posts about chronic illness into audio form in order to make them more accessible to others (I will hire a sound engineer to do this).
• Redesigning Legal Nomads to include a new home page, logo, and site flow that reflects my present.
• General support for me as I navigate this new, limited, way of life.

A big thanks to the following wonderful people, who took the time and energy to preview the page, the video, and give feedback along the way (including many testing-of-the-banner-image-on-mobile attempts) for this big launch: Ella Frances Sanders, Audrey Scott, Catherine Bodry, Christopher Nowakowski, Dalene Heck, Derek Earl Baron, Jim Fricker III, Kate McCulley, Marta Bethencourt De França, Mike Sowden, Reine Gammoh, Shannon O’Donnell, Tasha Mary, and Tim Van Der Linden.

A New Newsletter

I mentioned in my last (August 2020) post that I would be restarting my newsletter on Substack. I did so because Aweber was becoming cost prohibitive at a time when I wasn’t able to work, and Substack’s offerings are free unless you charge for your newsletter (at which point they take a percentage). Since I always plan for my newsletter to be free, it made sense to switch over.

I’ve done three so far and they follow the lines of my former Links I Loved missives: some musings about a topic of interest, personal updates, the best reading from around the web that month. The next one goes out at the end of February.

If you were on the Links I Loved list, I’ve brought you over to Substack. If you think you were but didn’t get the new publication, please check your spam folders on February 28th! And if you’re interested in receiving it, please sign up below.

You can check out the archives here, first.

A Legal Nomads Redesign

This site no longer reflects the person I am, or the life that I lead. I love it, and I’ve enjoyed writing on it for all these years through the iterations and redesigns, but it’s no longer me.

This time, colours, logo, and layout are going to change. I don’t plan to change too much given my limited bandwidth but will start with the basics: the homepage, some of the category flow, and the about page and basic text.

Also changing? The slogan. I’m not telling stories through food any longer. I’m also not a legal nomad, but after 12 years here I am sticking to the domain. The new slogan is Curious About Everything, same as the newsletter. The main theme colour will be a green-blue, below. I’ve also chosen a mascot, a raven I’ve named Arthur, since corvids are insatiably curious just like this community.

The main page will have similar categories as right now, but will ask the question, “What are you curious about today?” to browse them. Other than that and the look-and-feel of the home page, I may make changes bit by bit but the content from the last decade will remain. I’m excited to have a site that reflects a little more of my present mindset, though of course curiosity is what fuelled my life of travel all along.

Podcast Progress

I was never one of those “I’m going to write 4000 words every morning” people. Unless I was under deadline, my writing held the same kind of whimsy as my travels: when inspiration struck, I pounced. And then I basically went feral. When the tingly, “I need to write” feeling started, I knew I needed to stock up on snacks, get a shower in now, and cancel plans with friends. I would forget to eat, live, and do day-to-day tasks; writing blotted everything out.

It sounds manic, I’ll give you that, but it worked for me because I never knew where the writing journey would lead me. I never had a set arc before I sat down to my laptop but found the joy partly in the process of my brain’s wandering.

(Case in point: I stood up to write this post now, and realized I missed something I was supposed to do at 8pm… because I got lost in writing.)

My point is here is that the act of writing is itself such a big part of what makes me feel creative and alive, and it’s been very hard not to have it in my life. I’ve realized voice-to-text does not bring me the needed tinglies, nor do other accommodations for my CSF leak. So as I said in my 12 years of Legal Nomads post, I’m going to be moving toward a podcast instead.

The podcast was going to be called Ask a Jodi, but I’ve changed the name to be “The Way Through” – because at its core, it is a podcast about getting through the ups and downs of life. If you have topics you’d like me to cover, I’d love to hear from you! Email me at jodi-@-legalnomads .com or via my contact page. Thus far, I have a list I’ve kept from your questions, which includes how to be more resilient, how to be less anxious, and how to sleep better.

That’s it for now! Thanks for all your support, love, and enthusiasm as I navigate through this complicated time. I hope you’re staying safe and well.

xo,
Jodi