Empty Your Mind & Fill Up Your Trello Board

By Maureen Bonatch

Clutter causes me stress. This often includes the clutter that I can’t see, which is the rapidly-filling email box and the endless to-do list on various sticky notes. Some hastily written and illegible when I refer to them later…or the to-do list  in my mind that tends to start scrolling when I’m trying to go to sleep at night

Empty that Email Box

I, like most people, have a never-ending number of emails and feel compelled to continuously check, and reduce that bulging inbox. But like that weed overtaking my front lawn, it's often hard to wrangle those emails into submission. 

Spending a little time organizing my email means more time for what I want to do (like read books!), and less mental stress.

Get Rid of the Clutter

I love many of the newsletters that I get. But some no longer interest me, or I can’t remember why  I subscribed. 

• Unsubscribe, or use Unroll me, to eliminate newsletters that no longer interest you

Organize the Clutter

Often I have emails that I want to read but don’t have time now, or they are time-limited like coupons I want to save, or upcoming events.

• Organize your emails with folders to get your inbox to zero

• If your email box is really full, try alternating sorting emails by starred, sender, subject etc. to quickly reduce and prioritize emails

I did this for years and have many, many folders. Which means this might not be the only plan for people like me who like to save a lot of things to look at later, or need quick reference for some pages ongoing. That’s why I started using Trello.

Taking it Outside the Email Box

Trello is one of many organizational tools, which are often referred to as task managers. A few  others include Asana, Airtable, Calendly and more. Many of them have free plans, which is what I currently use with Trello.

Here’s how I organized my emails for easy reference later and empty out my email box.

1. Determine if the email needs to go into one of my email folders for reference.

2. If it’s a link to an article, a tool, podcast blog or site that I may use frequently or read later then go to my Trello board.

My Boards

• My Kanban (or To Do) List

• What I need to Do (in a defined timeframe or this list would be endless)

• What I’m Doing this Week

• What’s Done

•  Upcoming or future tasks

• Courses and Education where I link:

• Online Courses I’ve bought and have done, or am doing 

• Educational or reference Books I’ve read, or am reading (because my Kindle is also overwhelmed with info)

• Podcasts: I want to listen to or have listened to

• Writing Resources where I link:

• Resources

• Author Tools 

• Website information

• And more on creating my newsletter, book prep etc.

I have a few other Boards for my books, and author brand, but those don’t necessarily relate to my email box.

I’d Rather Be Reading 

Because who wants to spend their free time going through emails, or obsessing over their To-Do list? Not me! Organizing your emails and to-do lists can give you more time for things you really want to do, like reading.

Here are some books to fill your TBR.

Free Cozy Mysteries

Right here: https://books.bookfunnel.com/cozymysterylover/j5upp0cbs6

Get Cozy This Summer

Check them out right here: https://books.bookfunnel.com/getcozymysteries/5az8utgjp0

How Do You Stay Organized?

Just a small-town girl, Maureen Bonatch leads a double life. She lives in a magical world as a novelist, and as a nurse leader in reality. Maureen’s first novella was a paranormal romance published when blogs were a new-fangled thing. She’s since changed her focus to writing paranormal cozy mysteries as M.L. Bonatch and urban fantasy as Maureen Bonatch. 

While she’s not busy writing or doing nurse-things, she’s a mom to her twin daughters, bicycling in the beautiful woods of PA with her hubby, doing the bidding of a feisty Shih Tzu, and dancing as much as possible. She believes music can be paired with every mood, laughter is contagious, and that caffeine and wine are essential for survival.

 Follow M.L. Bonatch all through cyberspace! 

 Amazon page    BookBub Facebook Goodreads Newsletter https://www.maureenbonatch.com/free-book/

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Clutter, clothes and the love of a big, black, stretched out scrunchie

 ~ by Maureen L. Bonatch 

My beloved scrunchie.
See how it stands out from the rest?

We have a lot of stuff.  As the official ‘clutter control queen’ (I.e.: the mom), I move stuff to make it look like there’s less stuff, but later realize I’ve only transplanted stuff until that place gets too much stuff and it needs moved…or gotten rid of. 

The holidays have passed so there’s more stuff and the need to clean out old stuff to make room for new stuff festers.  Gazing into my bulging closet, knowing there’s nothing to wear...but nothing that can be parted with.  I force myself to begin, some items I’m not even aware where they came from, while others are near and dear to my heart, but only taking up space. I painstakingly fill bags to donate while trying not to pull them back out in angst regarding their imminent departure. 

But a week or two after the loss of the beloved items, the closet looks better and I don’t even realize what’s missing. 

As a writer, I’m often forced to get rid of ‘stuff’.  In other words---or I should say less words...editing. 

As a reader, I appreciate the concise flow of the sentence, the elimination of the fluff that I skip or lose interest in if I’m bogged down with unnecessary verbiage. 

As a writer, it’s painful.

      Books have changed over the years that the flowery prose isn’t acceptable as it had been years before and unfortunately, no one has time for that.

As the words work to meet the pace of the modern day and emphasis on getting rid of deadwood, wordiness, and being simple and direct. 

I realize words I use too much in my speech have overflowed to my writing…

                …actually, sometimes, only, so, or something, really…

“That’s my stuff,” I’m thinking as I chip away at each sentence.  But after going back to read through it, after it’s been squeezed until not a word is left that isn’t essential, I realize I don’t miss what’s been eliminated. 

Because they were unnecessary from the start, I just didn’t see that because like most people, I like to hear myself talk...or my characters do (they like to talk…not hear me talk J). 

I hold onto some things from my closet because they’re essential.  Like my black  Scrunchie. A relic from the 80’s, it’s stretched out and unattractive, but I can’t bear to part with it. I have a few other scrunchies, but I’d sacrifice them all to hold onto the black one.  Its role is crucial---in holding my hair up as I schlep around the house.  It could be called a unique character trait of mine. 

The scrunchie… and overused words…are essential in some places.  But a little, goes a long way.

 Trying to keep my rambling prose would be like going out wearing my 1980’s pink stone-washed jeans with the high-waist and the zippers on the ankles and my black scrunchie in my hair today.  My scrunchie has a place where it’s essential, at home, not anywhere else (or so I’ve been told).  Its time has passed, and as much as I’d like to think it’s still good…It’s not good for anybody. 

Back in the day,
when pink, side-zippered jeans were cool.

~Happy New Year! Visit my blog right -here - for a humorous look at what a five year old might think 'waiting for the ball to drop' on New Years Eve is all about :)