A note from Jessa: Today, author Cathryn Cade shares her thoughts on my resolution to GET ORGANIZED. Since Cathryn is a former teacher and I’ve seen what kids can do to a schedule (heck, I think I WAS that kid who trashed schedules) I’m sure she’s learned to perfect staying organized.
GET ORGANIZED advice from:
Cathryn Cade
Author of Hawaiian Heroes III; Blooming in the Wild
I love to cook. And I love to buy cookbooks. Must be a book thing.
Confession time; I also save recipes out of the newspaper, and I sort of rip them out of magazines at the doctor’s office (shameful, I know) and I find them on the internet.
So … you can imagine what my cookbook shelf looked like. Yup, like the cooking section at Powell’s Books exploded. The good news is we moved recently, so I got rid of stacks of old recipes that I was never actually going to use. But I still had a problem. All those cookbooks.
Then a miracle happened. My new daughter-in-law asked me for some of my son’s favorite recipes. So I typed them up on my computer, saved them in a Word file in My Documents & emailed them to her for the cute new 3-ring-binder cookbook I bought them.
And suddenly (!!) I realized that now I could get rid of like seven old cookbooks, because the only recipe I ever used out of each was that one family favorite. And if I bought myself a cute new 3-ring binder cookbook, I could put my recipes in it. Tah-dah! Lightbulbs flashing, drumroll please.
I feel so stoopid. I could have done this so long ago. Oh, well. Sometimes it takes that friendly nudge, or that hard kick in the patootie.
I guess it was just time, ‘cause that organization thing started spilling over into my writing. I made more new folders in Word, and typed up notes from conferences, classes, etc. And then I threw away the papers, notebooks, etc. Whee, less office clutter!! (And yes, I back my computer up every day with Carbonite. My whole writing life is on this machine.)
And then I bought a new writing program, and started organizing the way I plot my books. And now that has become so much easier. Good grief, girlfriends, the next thing you know I’ll be running for governor and organizing the whole state of Montana. (Okay, not happening.)
But just wanted to say, when you do something positive, it can spill over in wonderful and unexpected ways. So what’s on your list? Begin today, rule the world tomorrow!
Happy New Year,
Cathryn Cade
… red-hot romance!
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Another Jessa note: Ah, this is brilliant! Put the “resolve” part of resolution on somebody else’s head! I do find it’s easier to do when someone else is expecting it of me. Although — confession time — XY just removed all his stuff from my art closet because he said he could never find anything in there. Um, I think that is NOT how I’m supposed to become more organized — by scaring people away! Today I’m posting with Cassiel Knight on how to eliminate procrastination. Even though clearly I have MASTERED procrastination by not cleaning my closet and thus forcing XY to move out of it. Victory!… Uh, I mean… Shame, shame.
Stops on the “Resolve 2013” tour: January 1-9, 2013
Maggie Jaimeson – Take a Vacation
Jessa Slade – Get Organized
Paty Jager – Volunteerism
Linda Mercury – Creating a Literary (or Creative) Life
Jenna Bayley-Burke – Eat Healthier
Cassiel Knight – No More Procrastination
Cathryn Cade – Take Time for those OTHER Creative Passions
Su Lute – Reduce Stress: Find and Follow Your Bliss
Jamie Brazil – Shrink My Closet
Jessa Slade 
Cathryn, When my kids left home, I did the same thing. I typed all the family favorites on the computer, printed them out, and put them in a binder with a photo of each one at a 4-H cooking contest. Than I printed out a set for myself and ditched a lot of cookbook clutter. But I’ve yet to take this into my writing world and really, really need to! Thanks for the advice!
Governor Cade… I like it! You would turn Montana on its head 🙂
Jamie, how unfortunate that I’m practically paralyzed at the thought of giving exptemporaneous speeches in public! Nice to know I’d have your vote, lol.
Jessa,
Thanks again for hosting me. With guests like Paty Jager, who has taken cookbook organization to a whole new level, we soon WILL be in control of our worlds.
Or at least be able to find them.
Cathryn
I had a family member who put together a family cookbook and it was really, really nice. And then I pulled out all the pages except the dessert ones and it was really, really useful!
Jessa, You should be really, really plump! There is no justice in this world, lol.
:Last Christmas I compiled all of my grandmother’s recipes (from all her kids and grandkids), put it together in a booklet with family photos and printed copies for everyone. It turned out to be more symbolic as her recipes called for a pinch of this, taste of that…. so phone calls are still necessary to define a “pinch” 🙂
Jessie, I know you are another organizational maven–all those reader luncheons you put on, etc. That is so cool you did that for your family!
Oh my all those organization of recipes is making me shake with fear. Fortunately, it is my husband who does 98% of the cooking. If he dies before me I’m going to have to check myself into a retirement home that provides meals. 🙂
I do like the idea that organization in one area spills over into another though. I can see how that works. Now, what is the one area I can do?
Maggie, I’m the cook, which I find relaxing after sitting at the computer. Except summer, when my DH the barbecue chef takes over. I’ll put his steaks up against any restaurant in Portland–really.