Catherine Greer's Blog, page 6

What's on your To Don't List?

Hello, all the new people this week! And hello, my internet & real life friends. I’ve been enjoying family these last few days; my Mum and sister & brother-in-law flew in from Canada yesterday and the house is all turned around with gifts and food and graduation celebrations for our oldest son. So I’m happy/tired this morning, up with the kookaburras!

I have a very cool question for you today.

What’s on yourTo Don’t list?

I first heard this phrase from the lovely Erin Loechner, and I told her I’d quote her and share it! Such a great idea, right? We’re all filling our lives with To Dos.

What is on your To Don’t List?

Okay, I’m getting real here. My short list:

I don’t vacuum the corners.

I don’t worry about the garden I can’t see (e.g. down the side of the house…)

I don’t get up and race around in the morning. I always have slow-coffee first (for as long as I can manage!).

I don’t colour my hair anymore.

Erin says that for everyone with big To Do lists, it’s good to have a healthy To Don’t List.

Who are you, and what DOESN’T matter to you? What DON’T you do? What isn’t worth it, to you? Where do you draw your line in the sand? I’m so curious about your To Don’t list.

Enjoy your beautiful weekend, everyone…and, as always, be fun to live with!

Love Catherine

PS. One last To Don’t for me — I truly DO want to help new writers get their books written; I DON’T want to spend hours in cafes explaining how to do this with interested and lovely people! So I created a course and an e-book to help you, if you’re a new writer.

I teach How To Write Your Book This Year online for five weeks. (Starts 2 Jan!)

I wrote an e-book: How To Write Your Picture Book. You can download it NOW here! Everything I’ve learned in all my courses and by signing a publishing deal for Jacaranda Snow, my debut picture book.

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My One Piece of Paper Solution to Overwhelm

Hi, friends!

I’m loving November (Hello, Summer!) but I’m also a bit tired. Are you the same?

Whenever I feel overwhelmed, I do this simple thing. I’m almost embarrassed to share it because it’s so basic, but it helps me EVERY TIME. Maybe it will also help you.

I keep a block of A3 paper on hand, and whenever I feel stressed and overwhelmed, I grab a sheet and a sharpie. Then I brain dump everything major that’s waging war in my head onto the page. I usually chunk out my thoughts by month, with a few lists as well.

It’s become my go-to coping mechanism. (So much healthier than chocolate, right?)

One big piece of paper, with everything on it.

Sometimes I stick the page up on my wall in the study, replacing as I write new ones. Sometimes I just look at everything in one spot, and then I transfer jobs to To Do lists. Sometimes I stare at the sheet and breathe and remind myself that it’s do-able and not as jumbled and overwhelming as I thought.

Why does it work?

There’s magic (for me!) in the relief of putting everything in one place, outside myself, and in seeing it visually at one time…not in a series of lists. Maybe it will also work for you!

And now for some fun…

Since Jacaranda Snow launched, I’ve had SO MANY people ask if they can meet me for lunch or coffee to talk about writing their own picture books. You guys, it’s a super fun thing to do. But I’m running out of time to meet up and share (cue: feeling overwhelmed!), so I put together an e-book for anyone interested.

Here it is:

My e-book distills everything I learned in two years of expensive writing courses (plus the 10 years I spent doing it all wrong). It’ll set you on the right track to write your first viable picture book, if you want to!

It’s easy, fast and streamlined. I’m a good teacher!

If this sounds like fun and you’ve always wanted to try writing your book, you can buy it here. You’ll get it now, because it’s an e-book! You could write your book today!

Enjoy your weekend, everyone. Be fun to live with!

Love Catherine x

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The 10 Minute Fix

Let’s talk about avoiding stuff.

Do you ever avoid a job that needs to be done? I wanted to wash off the pendant light hanging outside on our patio, covered in winter grime. I hate that job (okay, I hate cleaning.)

Enter: The 10 Minute Fix.

Here’s how I motivate myself: I set the oven timer to 10 minutes. I promise I’ll clean until it goes off. Grab the bucket, fill with hot water and soap, drop in a cloth, wipe the pendant lamp: messy, slimy, but I keep going until it’s done. I have time to spare, so I sweep the patio, get rid of cobwebs, swipe my cloth over the messy barbecue.

Beep beep. Time’s up. And it’s done.

Why is it so hard to remember that most yucky jobs take 10 minutes?

Seriously, what if we ALL did 10 minutes of exercise right now? Squats and push-ups, my friend, for 10 minutes. Or how about this: 10 minutes of meditation. 10 minutes of stretching. 10 minutes of working on your book. De-cluttering. Cleaning your underwear drawer.

It always surprises me how much I can get done in 10 minutes.

Choose the thing.

Set your timer for 10.

Do.

Enjoy your weekend, everyone! May your lights get cleaned, your barbecue wiped off, and your push-ups done! And thank you, truly, for being here if you’re new this week!

Love Catherine x

PS.

Love all things French & English? And Canadian & Aussie? I want to tell you about Educalme, because Kailey and Josianne partnered with me to create a full FREE online Growth Mindset / Mindfulness course to go with my new picture book, JACARANDA SNOW. (You can take a peek at the free course here) Access Code is: JACARANDASNOW Educalme is an awesome initiative that truly helps kids, teachers and parents. Merci, Kailey and Josianne! This week I was on their incredible podcast: The Balanced Educator. Listen here!

Did you know that so much of JACARANDA SNOW is or feels French?? Helene Magisson is French / Australian, so the beautiful illustrations look French; Kailey & Josianne are bilingual and everything at Educalme is in French & English; and Alexander Lau, who composed a piano quintet that we printed in the book … his piece sounds like it was written by a French composer from the Romantic period. I’m the only non-French part of the book! Gotta work on that!

Books I posted overseas should be arriving to you soon! I’ll check with my publisher on Monday. Thank you! Available here and in Aussie bookshops.

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