Come over for coffee and cake!

Hi everyone, and hello if you’re new! I’m Catherine Greer, author of The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe, copywriter in Sydney, Canadian-Australian, wife of twenty-seven years and mum of two grown sons. You’re receiving this Sunday newsletter because you signed up after reading my books or finding me on Instagram.

You are so, so welcome here.

I have a little story for you today…

I was walking the pup, Evie, and I met a woman on the sunny autumn street. I was admiring all the Tibouchina trees…those purple blossoms, and how they stuck to Evie’s coat when she rolled in the grass.

(Evie loves grass the way I love making Sunday breakfast when the kids are home.)

“Love these trees,” I said, while Evie rolled in the grass. “I look forward to the Tibouchinas blooming every year.”

'“But the MESS,” the woman answered. “And they’re slippery on the ground and they stick to my car. I cannot get rid of them.”

She was right. And I was right.

Everything is bittersweet.

Maybe because it’s so easy to lean into the negative, I work hard to keep my mind trained on what’s beautiful and good. The research is pretty shocking:

I try to remind myself of this when the merry-go-round of my brain gets a little off-kilter, imagining the worst.

And I take comfort in the fact that I have some power over my thoughts — even when I wish the world would deliver continual sunshine and good news.

If you ever feel a little wobbly, like you’re leaning too much into thoughts that are making you unhappy, it’s good to remember what your brain is doing. 60-80% negativity is too much, right? And we need to pull that back into a more realistic picture of what’s going on.

I come back to the basics:

  • So many people in the world are good.

  • There’s always beauty around us, if we take a second to see it. (Even if it’s just messy petals on the driveway or on our car.)

  • And we have some control over our own brain, to direct it to a better place. (I always remember the “your brain is like a toddler with a sharpie / marker” analogy. Wrangle it in a bit!)

I know lots is happening in this big old world of ours, but I hope you have a beautiful Sunday. I’m going to make the Rosemary Olive Oil Greek Yogurt cake from The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe, above. It is so, so worth it.

Honestly wish you were here to have coffee and cake with me.

I hope something beautiful and unexpected happens to you today.

Love, Catherine x

P.S. The Fun Stuff!

  • Authors need readers like people need cake. Check page 371 of The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe for the recipe. American photographer Karen Pavone took the photo above after reading my book…so much prettier than my photo at the top!

  • You can find my new book, The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe, in Australia in all bookshops, at BigW and Amazon and here overseas. Reviews are strong and women are loving it! Thank goodness. And thank you:

  • One of my favourite spots in Sydney is swimming at Barangaroo at Marinnawi Cove, right by all the office towers. Have you tried it yet?

  • Remember from last week and how I’m not a make-up person? Well, I bought this Australis blush and it was on sale 50% off. Sorry, sale is done but this is fabulous. You can also use it for cream eyeshadow. Only in Australia, but this one looks similar.

  • Why are these shoes so, so comfortable? From last season and the black is all sold out (I’m so sad because perfect for work). But the taupe suede ones are still available and only in one size but 50% off. I love mine. Weirdly, you can walk 10,000 miles in these block heels.

  • Maggie Smith’s “Good Bones”. Oh, please take a minute to read this one! America, you have (and have always had) beautiful poets. I remember this, and repeat it to myself.

Why I Decided to Go Grey at 49

Hi, my friends. It’s Catherine Greer writing to you. If you’re new, you’ve likely signed up to my Sunday newsletter after reading The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe. You are so welcome here…I’ll send you an upbeat note every Sunday to chat about life and cheer us on down the road.

While launching my book, I got my first shot at journalism and was asked to write a piece for the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age weekend magazine. I hadn’t done it before, so you can let me know if I did an okay job…I was pretty pleased by how it turned out, and it caused a tiny, minor flurry in the office on Monday when I was asked to do an impromptu ABC radio interview, and then another podcast.

So that was fun — and those opportunities let me talk a little more about my new novel.

In the Herald / Age article, I wrote about going grey, and why I chose to do it.

It’s such a personal choice. In case you’re sitting on the fence, or just ‘grey hair curious’ I thought I might recap for you here.

I’d been colouring my hair since age 28…a very long time. Twenty years of cost and time, and also when my hair was wet in the shower, it felt like candy floss (fairy floss for my Aussie friends). When it was styled, it felt brittle and dry. To be fair, I don’t have the gorgeous, strong hair many of you do…mine is fine and slow-growing and only okay. But anyway, it felt so unhealthy.

I figured I should just get my ageing over with. And so I did. Over 18 months, I slowly grew out my roots without the help of any blending or a hair stylist. I just started to tuck it behind my ears (remember, your hair greys along the hairline first), so close to my face I looked silver almost straight away. If you’re curious and if you have grey roots just now, slick it all back and you’ll see — I’m betting that you look prettier than you think you do.

For me, coming to terms with my own ageing was the key: I wanted to be done colouring and I was ready to see what I looked like.

The upside?

  • My hair feels like it did when I was eight years old. Soft, silky, healthy.

  • The compliments from strangers. (I never, ever had hair compliments before I went grey.)

  • The time I’ve saved. (This is huge for me…I was feeling like a prisoner of the hair salon, and my roots needed doing every two weeks, which was so unmanageable.)

  • The expense.

  • I got my ageing over and done with. I haven’t had to think about it for years and years.

The downside?

  • I look older than my friends. It’s true, and I know I do.

So there you have it: an honest assessment from me. Yes, I look older…but I’m okay with that. And remarkably, it hasn’t impacted my ability to land a great job at my age, and work in a corporation where there there’s only one other women who has silver hair.

If there’s a little tug inside you wondering how it would be for you, you can always test it out for a few weeks, pull your hair back and just see how you look. You’ll know if you’re ready or not.

You’ll know if it’s for you (or not).

Your decisions are 100% your own, and I’m cheering you on…wherever you land.

I hope something beautiful happens in your world today.

Love, Catherine xx

P.S. The Fun Stuff.

I’m not a make-up person and never have been, but a few of my favourites are on sale for 50% off NOW at Priceline and so worth it. Love to share!

Are you interested in reading The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe? Is it a bit tricky for you to get your own copy right now? I can help. Email me if you’d like me to send you one as a little gift. (And for the lovely people last week, books are in the post now!).

  • The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe is now on Audible - 🇨🇦 Canadians 🇨🇦, at the moment this is the best way for you to get my book. My publisher is still trying to sort out distribution and I am so frustrated! Lucy Bell, exceptional actor, does a brilliant job. I hope you love it.

  • Everyone else, thank you for your beautiful support. You can sink into Aussie beach living at The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe here in America, here in the UK, in Australia at BigW, all bookshops and online.

  • Aussie authors Sophie Green and Rachel Johns invited me to their podcast. I’m excited because I’m a Sophie Green fan, and Sophie’s new book is coming soon (will link soon), and her latest is here: Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel.

  • Want to help spread the word about The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe? Gift a copy, tell a friend, request it at your library. Thank you! 🩷

On a Rainy, Rainy Sunday...

Hello, my friends! And hello to all the new people here this week. I’m Catherine Greer, author of The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe, Canadian-Australian living in Sydney. Thank you for joining us…we’re a group of amazing women from all around the world. 🌼 I’m guessing you’ve signed up to my Sunday newsletter after reading my new book. I’m so glad you’re here!

Every week you can expect a little inspiration from me, or a life lesson I’ve learned. This week, it’s something so very simple — are you ready?

I don’t know about you, but i’ve had a wild, wild week.

I’m a bit tired from work deadlines (I work full time as a copywriter in a large organisation in Sydney, and I travel to Melbourne a lot, too. Love it, but BUSY.). And I’m lucky enough to be launching a book this month, a book that means so much to me!

And at the same time, there is life for all of us, right? Kids we’re worried about, family stuff, tricky work situations, new people we meet.

I’m trying to take a deep breath and think: every person is a lesson for me.

How I want to show up. How I want to love. How I want to speak to others or walk through this world.

Every person is a lesson.

In admiration (not envy).

In patience (not harsh words).

In love (not worry or fear). Why is this so hard with kids?! We want them to be okay, we want them to be happy, we worry-worry-worry when they’re going through their own trials, don’t we? I often forget to ditch the worry and invite in the LOVE.

This mind-switch helped me this week, and I hope it helps you, too. I’ve reminded myself that people are lessons for me…to help me learn as we all walk each other home.

I hope you have a beautiful Sunday, filled with unexpected tiny joys.

Love, Catherine xx

  • Lucky enough to have an article in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Melbourne Age today. It’s locked unless you subscribe, and weirdly the photos are different everywhere. In print or online. But here’s a link to the final PDF if you’d all like to read.

  • Loved this fun photo shoot of women as goddesses.

  • Thank you a million for your support of The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe! I’d love you all to have a copy. Means the world to me to have you read my book. If you’re in a tricky place in your life and not buying books, email me and i’ll get a copy to you. Also, you can check your library in Australia.

    • Audiobook is here on Audible - so funny! Read by Aussie actor, Lucy Bell!

    • Kindle here in Canada (distribution is getting solved, but slowly. Ugh. Still so painful for me to have these problems in my home country, but the publisher is working on it 🇨🇦).

    • America - forever the land of incredible, beautiful poets, you can find it here.

    • Australia (Amazon, BigW, all bookshops, airports).

A Little Weekend Love 🩷

Hi my friends,

We’ve travelled to regional Victoria this weekend, with a stop in Melbourne on Monday to visit bookshops, and we’re enjoying this lovely old hotel. Details next week! I can highly recommend the continental breakfast…the flakiest croissants, the best butter, the most delicious apricot jam.

After a fabulous book event yesterday at the Castlemaine Fringe Festival, hosted by the lovely team at Northern Books (check out all their upcoming events here!), we’re now exploring country living…and it’s so peaceful and warm-hearted.

How are you today?

What’s happening in your world (in your heart)?

Were you also up at 3am for an hour, and should we talk? Ha! I bet that ‘3am Wake Up and Overthink Things’ happens to a lot of us. So for today, here’s your beautiful reminder. (Apologies, I took a screenshot of this and promptly lost the creator’s name…but thank you to whomever made it!)

Remember, it’s the repetition of any idea that really helps calm the heart and mind when things feel wobbly.

Whenever my world is shaky — my people, my kids, health, work, books, or anything that feels like a big challenge — the repetition feels like hope, feels like prayer, feels like a mantra, feels like love.

I hope you have a beautiful Sunday.

Thank you for being here!

Love, Catherine x

P.S. The Fun Stuff!

Hello to all the new people this week! You’re receiving this Sunday newsletter from me, Catherine Greer, author and copywriter, baker and mother, Australian-Canadian. So happy you’re here.

  • That pink dress. It’s very pink…but also perfect for book events. Yesterday in Castlemaine I matched my book cover. Pink dress, red shoes. Fun combo. It’s 20% off now. Size down…it’s quite a big fit. (I wish I had, but I ordered online…)

  • Red shoes in the colour “tomato”— I’ve talked about these before. You can walk a million billion miles in these. I don’t know why. Chunky heel? Perfect for being a wedding or party guest on the grass.

  • If you’re new, learn more about some of my books here. Thank you for your beautiful support of The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe!

  • Melbourne on Monday: I’m at Avenue Bookstore in Richmond at 1:30, Dymocks on Collins Street at 2pm, and Readings in Carlton at 2:30. Come and give me a hug and a wave if you’re free!

  • Manly Writers Festival - you’re warmly invited to come along to a book chat next Friday 28 March at 12:40pm. Tickets still available!

How do you like to celebrate?

Good morning, my friends!

I’m up at dawn doing the final party prep for my book launch party…but first, thinking of you. Wish you were here to sit with me among the clutter and the un-frosted cakes, the last-minute vacuuming and the table cards that say gluten-free and lamb and sage sausage rolls and carrot cake!

As the youngest of six, it always feels a little odd to be front and centre…but The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe deserves some celebrating. Wish me luck! It’s supposed to be 37C in Sydney today.

How do you love to celebrate?

The easiest way to have guest over, for me, is to put out a spread and let everyone self-serve. I like to set up a beautiful table with a table cloth and a bit of glitter (links to the sparkly table runner and YAY sign below!) and always a white tablecloth because food just looks better on white.

I also use the white IKEA side plates and boxes of champagne flutes, and all my white platters of various sizes. Savoury food always includes fresh sandwiches (I have boys, and they have friends…so something delicious and hearty to fill them up), along with some kind of quiche (today it’s carmelised onion and feta), special homemade sausage rolls, various wraps (easy to make and slice into pieces) and always a big platter of fruit.

Then I bake an assortment of cakes for a dessert table (Carrot Cake, my famous Dark Chocolate Cake — both of these recipes are in The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe), my white chocolate raspberry shortbread cookies (also in the book)…and off we go!

Today my oldest son, the cellist, and his friends will be playing music together…and we hope to do some singing, too. I’ve got a song sheet with a few favourite tunes, and my son’s picking up one of his friends who is interning at the hospital (how did high school Stephen become old enough to be a doctor???) — so he’s on deck for piano show tunes!

Wish you were here today to celebrate with me!

So much to do, and it’s just hit 7am for me…so off I go, into party-land!

Love Catherine x

P.S. The Fun Stuff!

  • The IKEA side plates - perfect for parties.

  • The boxes of champagne flutes.

  • Sparkly silver table runner — these are perfect. Buy two. Silver is prettier than the gold.

  • YAY light up sign — photo is horrible on their website but SO CUTE in real life. I love this! You can use it for any occasion.

  • Flowers are a gift from my publisher, and they are OUTSTANDING. From Lush Flower Co in Sydney. If you’re sending flowers, these ones are worth your spend.

  • And, of course, the hero today: The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe! Your support, reviews and love mean the world to me…and make it so I get to do this all over again. (Canada 🇨🇦 - my publisher doesn’t have distribution or pricing sorted out yet. Please hold on…news soon, I promise.)

  • Author-talk with the lovely, extremely talented and bestselling author, Monica McInerny…I was so lucky. Fan girl moment!! Watch here. We reveal a LOT of secrets. Monica’s many, many books are here.

International Women's Day...and us!

Happy Sunday!

Ohhhh, my friends! Come over to my kitchen table today in Sydney and I will share my figs. I’d love to slice them for you fresh, and serve with some beautiful soft cheese and biscuits. Or I would poach in a rich caramel sauce, and set a gorgeous white bowl in front of you with a cup of tea.

Can you tell I’m feeling a little bit stretched at the moment? And female friends are ALL I want around me: friends and sisters and friends-like-sisters and female colleagues and smart women in shops. I want the sisterhood this week because I’m tired, and that’s what International Women’s Day is all about.

We lift each other up. We carry the load for one another. I had this image the other day that all of us know how to greet each other: we sling that backpack of rocks to one side, we pop our heavy baby on the opposite hip, and we look into one another’s eyes and ask, “How are you? (How are you really)? What can I carry for you?”

That is what it is to be women.

Way back from the dawn of time we’ve been doing this for each other. And it makes me think of Julian of Norwich, the first known woman to write a book in English.

So many of you here are English and / or you love to travel, and I wonder if any of you have been to the fabulous exhibit in the British Library: Medieval Women: In their own words? Julian of Norwich’s The Revelation of Divine Love is in that collection, and this is the first book definitely authored by a woman. Julian was a mystic who lived from ~1342 - 1416.

She wrote these brilliant words that still resonate with women today.

I wonder if there were women before 1360 who were able to get the supplies to write their own books? I wonder how hard it was for women to get any tools to create art?

We’ve come such a long, long, way…and we stand on the shoulders of giants who just kept pushing. Julian wrote a BOOK when she’d never seen another woman do it before her. That’s why her reassurance still reaches us today. I say it to myself often: it’s the repetition that’s the wisdom. “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”

  • ALL things - the big things

  • And all things - the everyday

  • And all manner of things - the tiny, the hurts and worries and niggles that maybe mattter only to you

ALL OF IT shall be well. Somehow we grow through it, and come out on the other side.

Thinking of you all on this beautiful Sunday. I hope you are well. Thank you for being here with me, and for being internet-friends.

Love, Catherine x

P.S. The Fun Stuff!

  • Chatting with a favourite bestselling author on Wednesday night at 8pm AEST — Monica McInerny! Link is here for our Facebook Live chat. Please join us! (Irish friends, that’s 9am on Wednesday morning for you!)

  • Learn a little more about the exhibit at the British Library, Medieval Women In Their Own Words.

  • Thank you for all the love and patience while I launch The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe into the world. Reviews are dropping now, and women are loving it 🩷. But here’s the behind-the-scenes…we’ve got to get this book into women’s hands one by one. When you’re Lee Childs or Liane Moriarty, there are stacks of books everywhere. When you’re a debut author, not so much 😊 and this makes sense because publishing is a business and big names sell. The best way for women to find my book is through you! If you’d like to…and if you enjoyed the book:

    • Tell your book club, your female friends and share a link.

    • Request it at your library.

    • Gift a copy to someone, if that’s in your budget.

    • Write a review.

  • What’s the big rush? Launch week is so, so important. And more behind-the-scenes: bookshops simply can’t carry all the new releases indefinitely, so it’s important to support a book early if you can. I’d like to get a chance to write another one!

A Few Fun Things!

Happy Sunday!

Hello to all the new people this week. I thought it was time for a photo of me and Evie — I had a chance to do a new author photo shoot. And look at how cute Evie is! She’s coming up to her second birthday in April. She’s the best little girl.

Quickly, I’d like to share a behind-the-scenes update, and then I have a special bit of inspiration for you, too.

Last week I asked for your help (and that was hard to do!). I’m launching The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe into the world on Tuesday, and so many of you showed up with beautiful support!

  1. Book clubs: 5 so far! Yay! Three in Australia, one in Canada, and one in America. (Thank you, Jules, Claire, Marg, Wendy and Victoria 🩷 )

  2. Preorders — links below and thank you, thank you!

  3. Sharing on social media: yayyyy, LOVE IT!

  4. Word of mouth: chatting is what I do best, hahahaha! Thanks for sharing in your chats, too!

  5. Sister / cousin / friend / daughter love: I can feel the women gathering beside me to keep me running. Makes me tear-y just writing that.

  6. Requesting at your library: thank you for letting me know Tara and Sophie and Rachel! (If you have a library card anywhere, you can “Request to add to the collection” on the website or in the library.)

You are THE BEST. Thank you!! Next steps: please keep on sharing. (I’ve got a busy month of book launch party, a few events, and LOTS of work deadlines that are pretty heavy, not gonna lie. But on we go!)

Now…on to you and your world.

I saw a piece of art by Emily McDowell that I loved and have to share. Isn’t this an amazing reminder?

Original factory settings are LOVE and JOY and FUN.

For all of us.

Can you remember being a child and being so absorbed in something that you didn’t want to stop doing it? LOVE and JOY and FUN.

That’s where we begin, and we can still access that side of ourselves now.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately on my commute into the city, and I’ve been considering how to feel good in my body right where I am. More on that in April, when I get The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe out into the world and standing on its own strong legs.

But for now, there’s this: let’s remember our Original Factory Settings, no matter what the world brings. They’re still in us, and available today.

Love Catherine xx

P.S. The Fun Stuff! (And The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe)

If you want to read for joy, about a woman who fixes up a run-down apartment with endless views of the sea, and creates a life for herself with grit and resilience and what she’s got in her own two hands…this is the book for you! The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe is fun, easy, inspiring and big-hearted.

Ladies, rev those engines. Can you help?!

Hello, friends! (And hello to the new people this week).

How are you? And what’s going on in your world?

Mine is a little on the wild side, not gonna lie. It’s time to put this Catherine Greer Author show on the road, when mostly I enjoy having a quiet lunch with a girlfriend or making a beautiful family dinner on a Sunday.

But. But!

My new book, THE BITTERSWEET BAKERY CAFE, is really good. I knew it was, because I wrote it for me and I loved and needed every word. I wrote it because I needed more:

  • Grit

  • Self-belief

  • Joy

And of course, you know me by now: I figure out what the heck is going on in my mind by writing about it. So I wrote THE BITTERSWEET BAKERY CAFE for myself, and I love it with my whole heart.

It’s about a woman who learns to fall in love with herself, in the middle of her life.

It’s inspiring, funny, beautifully-written yet easy to read, FUNNY, warm and big-hearted.

And it needs a chance now out in the world, and the way to do that is pre-orders and sales. And reviews and word of mouth.

And I’d love to ask you to help me, if you can. Here are 6 options, and you can pick whatever combination works for you:

  1. Buy a book and review it, or give it 5-stars if you love it.

  2. Gift one to a friend (or a few, if you can).

  3. Library - If you can’t buy it (or even if you can) please ask your library to order it in.

  4. Tell your friends about it, and that you know me.

  5. Share a picture of it on your socials, if you don’t mind. (It’s getting a beautiful groundswell in Australia with midlife women who are falling in love with it! So you can trust it’s good)

  6. Text a link or photo to a friend - it’s an impulse purchase, and I love receiving a text with a link to a bookshop or retailer so it’s easy to buy. This is a great way to share.

  7. Your bookclub - could it be a bookclub book for you? I can attend by zoom or in real life in Sydney.

Debut authors don’t get a huge marketing budget or a lot of help from the publisher, so it’s up to us to sell enough books that we can keep writing. You only get another chance if your book sells.

So thank you for your support. Now’s the time, and the links are below.

Next week, I’ll be back with fun inspo to make your day a little brighter. But for now, it’s true that I really do need you — and would love your support. So if you can generously share your recommendation, a photo, the links or an actual book (or many books, if you can), that would be amazing.

Thank you, thank you.

Love Catherine x

P.S. If you’d like to help launch The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe today!

Sunday Pick-Me-Ups

Hello and happy weekend!

Wherever you are, I hope you have a weekend filled with all the right kind of love: rest and peace, a little treat and time to daydream the best thoughts about your life.

Here in Sydney, the air is so unbelievably crisp and lovely in the mornings…and the new season coming soon makes me feel like turning over a new leaf.

This month, I think it’s time to surprise myself.

Are you with me?

I’m just doing a few silly little things….like this unexpected nail polish colour yesterday. Because…WHY NOT? Why not surprise ourselves a little?

  1. Make your brekkie different than your usual. Try a new coffee?

  2. Go a little wild with the fingers or toenails.

  3. Pick up a book that’s not normally your thing.

  4. Do a little room fakeover, not a makeover: rearrange a few things and see how you like it.

  5. Part your hair in the middle, on the side, on another side.

  6. Avoid and replace your usual morning routine: get out of bed and stick your head outside and breathe that air, first thing.

  7. Shake. It. Up. (Whatever this means for you).

Our brains love novelty; it makes us feel more alive. This week, that’s what I’m going to try…and I hope you join me.

Love Catherine xx

P.S. The Fun Stuff!

A To-Do List for This Week (not kidding!)

Hi everyone,

It’s Catherine Greer writing to you, Canadian-Australian author and copywriter, lover of little dogs, not a fan of painting. You’re receiving this newsletter because you signed up possibly via one of my books. THANK YOU for being here every Sunday.

This week…I have a To Do List for all of us.

Ready?

Going back to basics always works.

We know this, but sometimes it’s very hard to get back there. If that’s you (or me), we already know that numbers 1 and 7 are the most important, with the quickest results.

I hope you have an unexpectedly AMAZING week ahead, with good news popping up that you never saw coming.

Love, Catherine x

P.S. The Fun Stuff!

  • Up first, book launch info! Do you live in or around Melbourne? Want to meet up? I’ll be at the amazing Castlemaine Fringe Festival on Saturday 22 March. Tickets are here.

  • Do you live in or around Sydney? If you and a plus one would like to attend my book launch on 16 March, email me (Free event, with books available).

  • In Australia, you can preorder The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe here. (Still only in Australia! Hang on…getting there for our overseas readers!)

  • This salad is happening tonight for dinner. Oh…wow.

  • A foot peel that works (maybe too well)?? Here it is, at an amazing price. Made in Japan, and wow! Okay, you will do this for 60 minutes and think…nothing has happened. Then weirdly, a week later you will shed all your foot skin like a snake. And you’ll be left with the softest feet imaginable. But trust me…I’m not lying about the “one week later ALL your skin will shed.” It’s messy, but worth it.

  • Going a little bit country today. Can’t beat this one…

A Little Big Magic

Hi friends,

I’m writing to you very quickly in the middle of a busy weekend. I’m attending a creativity workshop given by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of many books, including the wonderful Big Magic.

Here’s a very quick shot of Sydney Town Hall above, and of the workshop below. There are around 1,000 of us attending, so the energy has been massive.

I’ll share more when I’ve had time to digest, but until then…if I had to choose a favourite Liz Gilbert quote, it would probably be this.

If you’re feeling a little wobbly or unsure about all you have on your plate, it might be time to look at your life this way.

The impossible decision you made? Maybe you did it right. Maybe you should simply trust yourself to move forward and figure things out. And if it all doesn’t seem as perfect as you’d like, maybe that’s okay, too.

We’re here and we’re learning. How are we supposed to do anything other than put one foot in front of the other, and see where we land?

Enjoy your weekend, everyone. I hope you have a brilliant rest.

Love, Catherine x

P.S. The Fun Stuff!

The #1 Tip for Figuring Out Your Next Step

Hello, my friends. We have a long weekend in Australia, and of course we’re enjoying summer. Lucky us!

At a beautiful dinner party last night, my friend Jenny made my favourite Summer Peach Salad…I’ll add the recipe for you below. Roasted peaches, pomegranate, toasted pine nuts, buffalo mozzarella: this is the salad of women’s dreams!

While we were talking at dinner about the future, and soon being empty-nesters and all the change that will bring, I kept thinking about this idea. It’s tied to gratitude and also to being present in the moment, but it’s slightly different than that, and even more subtle. I couldn’t wait to wake up this morning and share it with you.

I don’t know about you, but my brain is always so busy trying to sort out the next thing. I’ve been this way forever…I want the plan, I want the roadmap, I want the stability.

But strangely, this next life stage for all of us — the last half, the last third — is very different to the ‘building time’ we have in the first half of life.

Now our lives are more about taking stock and realising we have to be prepared for change. We get such a long run from age 20 to 50+ where we do our thing. We’re handling careers and building a home for ourselves (and sometimes a family). Then we step into a different stage.

I’ve been occupied (preoccupied??) with trying to figure out what that looks like. Will we move, and where? Do we have any idea where our children will live? (No, we don’t). And our childhood families are in Canada, while we’re here in Sydney. So…I’ve been thinking a lot about our next steps.

That’s why this idea gives me so much comfort.

Slow down. Want what you already have, Catherine.

Instead of wanting everything sorted out, want what you already have.

Want how things are now. Want the problems you’ve got in the moment. Want the ability to consider your options. Want midlife, and not knowing what comes next.

Want what you already have.

Why?

Because there’s peace, contentment and gratitude in accepting that we don’t know everything, and in trying to live (also) in this moment.

We’re here now. Things are changing. Those changes come for all of us. No one gets to say how life is going to turn out. Wanting what we already have feels like the key to appreciating now.

Let me know if you ‘try on’ this thought, and how it goes for you.

I hope you have a beautiful weekend!

Love, Catherine

P.S. The Fun Stuff!

  • Summer Peach Salad recipe - it’s so delicious.

  • Young Australian composer, Alexander Lau, has a new classical music release on Spotify. I’ve worked with Alex on my children’s books and he’s incredible. If you’d like to support his creative journey, please download. That’s all it takes to support an artist. Thank you!

  • Love Seed Heritage in Australia…so many beautiful pieces right now. Like this ring!

  • The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe is out March 4th! In Australia, preorders are here - best price is on Amazon. If you’re in Canada, America, The UK and elsewhere…stay tuned for info! You guys - I’m so excited for you to read my beautiful, fun book!

Have a beautiful Sunday

Hi friends, and hello to the new people. You’re receiving this email because you signed up for it after reading one of my books or visiting my author’s website. I’m Catherine Greer, writer and mother, Canadian-Australian living in Sydney with my family. I’m happy that you’re here!

This week I have a few updates for you, and I wanted to share a huge lightbullb moment for me. When life is tricky, I often have a tendency to wish things were different.

Have you ever done this?

The problem with doing this is that it actually results in intensifying our suffering. All the woulda shoulda couldas make me feel angry at life (or people, including myself), or hopeless and exhausted and trapped in my own brain.

It’s hard to look for solutions when we’re suffering.

Here’s the trick. Say this to yourself.

No matter what has happened before this moment, we’re here now.

No matter who has done (or not done) something, we’re here now.

No matter what we’re expected to face, we’re here now.

So what’s next?

I hope this little phrase helps you as much as it’s helped me this week. Even now, I’m spending my day writing an article for The Sydney Morning Herald Sunday Life Magazine today to promote my new book…and I’d really rather be doing some serious relaxing. But I’m here now, so what next?

It’s time to begin.

Enjoy your Sunday! I’ll see you next week.

Love Catherine x

P.S. The Fun Stuff!

  • Aussie Blue Swimmer Crabs in my local fish shop. They’re so beautiful that I snapped a photo! I don’t have the heart to clean or cook them, but here’s how if you want to watch. (If you’re an animal-lover, you may want to skip this one, but if you’re a foodie, you’ll probably love it.)

  • Here’s what my publisher is saying about my new book, The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe!

  • Preorders - best price is on Amazon. Even better will be BigW (coming soon - it’s the biggest book retailer in Australia, believe it or not.) If you’re in Canada, America, The UK and elsewhere…stay tuned for info!

  • Take one moment to read “Invitation” by Mary Oliver. You’ll understand this poem, I promise.

Your New Year's Guarantee

Hi everyone, and hello to all the new people this week! I’m Catherine Greer, author and copywriter, and I’m writing to you every Sunday from Sydney, Australia — where summer is in full swing and the cicadas are loud! It’s the Sunday before “back to work” and everyone needs a little pick-me-up.

How are you today? (How are you really?)

We’ve been through the holidays, where all the women do a lot of heavy lifting. And now we’re into the New Year, New You season, where people are making resolutions and moving forward with excitement. If you’re ready to race into the new year, I’m cheering for you!

But for those of us who need a gentler start and a little inspiration, I’ve been thinking about change lately. I can feel my life shifting into this murky water of what came before, and what’s coming now.

The problem with change is that until you face it, it feels so far away, like things might stay this way forever—the Sunday dinners with family, the spring in our step, the job, the city we live in, our health, the health of people we love. Our ability to simply decide and make a thing happen. Our sense of control.

Until life topples, or tilts a little sideways, and we have to step into a new season.

The journalist, Sydney Harris, really did say it best:

Ah, the new season. It would be fantastic if it always felt better…but let’s be honest: sometimes it feels worse.

If this is your world this morning — not so shiny and new, but full of change and overwhelming — remember the oyster.

I know it’s a cliche.

The lessons from nature are always so simple. You have to plant seeds and give them time and love so they’ll grow, not neglect or impatience. You can’t plant and harvest all in one day. (Remember this when you’re exercising today.) And the oyster…you know what it does.

Something beautiful and valuable can grow out of change and pain.

Whether we’re lucky enough to get “the same, but better” in 2025 or we’re walking through what feels different and worse, the grit can lead to the pearl.

How? I think in tiny ways…it starts with trying to make ourselves feel a little bit more at ease. Reach for the relief. Let your brain relax for a moment. Walk and stretch and hum. Do the double-breath (the physiological sigh).

And know that you matter, and that we’re cheering for you.

Love, Catherine x

P.S. The Fun Stuff!

Those Lazy In-Between Days

Hello from the in-between days between Christmas and New Year’s Eve! Is your fridge finally un-crowding? Has the lounge room been tidied now, with gifts mostly put away?

We’re playing games, watching movies at odd times of the day, and finishing up the leftover Christmas baking.

And I’ve been reading and writing.

One book that’s caught my attention this holiday has been Oliver Burkeman’s Four Thousand Weeks. The premise of this book is that we have, roughly, four thousand weeks in a lifetime. But what’s really got me thinking is Burkeman’s assertion that things are never, ever going to match the perfection in our minds, so we might as well accept that…and get started. He writes about how it’s better to choose curiosity over worry.

2025 will not be perfect, of course, and everyone has their worries. But it’s a good reframe to approach this year with curiosity instead.

I’ve been thinking about these three questions:

  • How can I take smaller steps towards my next goal?

  • What are the everyday things I do that actually make me feel good?

  • If I had to plan the perfect date with myself, where would I go and what would I do?

This little space of downtime is the perfect week to think about 2025 with some curiosity and joy. Things may not unfold exactly as we want them to, but we can know what we love…and what makes us feel good…and try to do more of that.

I hope you have a beautiful weekend.

Love, Catherine x

P.S. The Fun Stuff!

  • Four Thousand Weeks might appeal to you if you like to think about how you’re using your time.

  • I’m loving the look of the jewellery from Mejuri. This ring!

  • Yum, this Asian-inspired cucumber salad is a ‘need to try now'!

  • Our favourite game of the holidays….you can play with up to eight people. So fun! The game board is in the photo above today. A tip: it’s from the 1940s and when we were kids on the farm, we played this with pennies, so we went to the Aussie bank and got bags of five cent coins. Way more fun than using game chips. It’s 85 years old now, so it might be a little hard to find, but you can also look for Michigan Rummy.

  • Santa brought me new runners…let’s see how I go with these in the early mornings of 2025. If you have wider feet, they may work for you. Now on an even better sale here in Australia!

Have Yourself a Merry Massive Christmas

Hello, my friends around the world. We’re heading into a hot and lovely Christmas in Sydney. It’s time for family fun and holiday cheer, and all of us rubbing shoulders together in a world that’s magical and bright, and also possibly noisy and busy.

Last night I arrived home from walking Evie to find a giant Costco bear on our roof — a hilarious and huge Christmas gift from one of our sons. So we’re the house with a bit of this going on…plus a massive bear on the roof!

Ahhhh, Christmas!

If you’re lucky enough to be with some of the people you’ve been given to love, I wish you so much laughter…movies and treats, snacks that you definitely don’t need at night, and starlight walks to look at the sparkle in your suburb or neighbourhood.

I hope you have a moment to pause in the morning before everyone else gets up, and appreciate this time of year.

All the joy.

All the work.

All the love.

I don’t know why, but I keep thinking about all of us women spread across the world…and the kind of lives we lead and what we do to contribute. We work, we love our people, we get stuff done.

We gather up the heartache in a suitcase and walk miles with it to help someone else, and often we carry the joy and pain of our families and our friends.

We live. We care. We keep going.

When I think of you, I think of these words from Maya Angelou…a woman who knew a thing or two about living.

This Christmas, while you share your song, I hope you have a wonderful time — and that you’re appreciated and celebrated for who you are, and what you do.

I’ll see you on the other side of this beautiful holiday season.

Love, Catherine x

P.S. The Fun Stuff!




Time to Turn on Some Fun.

Hello, my friends. Yes, ten days until Christmas — and here’s the tree in Martin Place, Sydney. We’ve had some beautiful, hot weather and songs on repeat about snowfall and a cosy Christmas.

In my mind and heart, I am more than ready for a Christmas break. Work finishes this week — hooray! — and soon it’ll be time to sink into the season of joy.

I don’t know about you, but for me it’s time to have some fun — and be more fun.

Here’s my quick list:

  1. Put on a dress. It’s so simple, but it always makes people feel good to see a woman in a lovely dress. (Little kids especially love this. Why? It sings out, “Let’s celebrate!”)

  2. Ask for what you need. I’ve prepped the family that I want more games nights, less movies. More laughs, less of couples watching tv. More help in the kitchen. More help running up to the shops for groceries. Ask, ask, ask…and delegate where you can.

  3. Notice the joy. Sit by the tree. Look at decorations in your favourite shop. Wrap the gifts and think about the person who will receive them.

  4. Use puff pastry. Seriously, make that Christmas tree with Nutella and puff pastry. Fill puff pastry squares with spinach and ricotta. Or cut it into strips, sprinkle with cheese, twist and bake. It’s easy to pull something warm from the oven.

  5. Be imperfect. (This one’s for me. As a novelist, I love having control over the ending…but life is decidedly imperfect. So go on, CATHERINE…let things unfold. See what happens. Live in the now, and not an imaginary Christmas holiday).

  6. Walk a lot. Walk off the puff pastry. Walk to meditate. Walk with someone or by yourself if you need a reset. When something’s wrong, walking never makes it worse.

  7. Use the ‘pretty’ everything - that’s why you have it stored in the cupboard. The best glasses, the best dishes, the Christmas crockery and napery. You do have a little more time right now, and it feels good when things look pretty.

I wish you were here this morning while my house is quiet and everyone’s sleeping. I’d invite you out to the patio for our coffee by the pool and a loooooong girl chat about how it’s going.

If things are easy, I’d celebrate with you. And if things are hard, there’s this: remember who you are, and how hard you work in this world to bring your people together. You keep things ticking over, and you’re still going, and you’re about to gather together with some of the people you’ve been given to love.

I saw this beautiful hand-lettered sign this week, and I wanted to share it with you here. Made by Lori Hetteen - link to her work below. If we could see inside the heart of you, this is what we’d find: effort and weariness and beauty, a woman who has tried so many times to make the world at least a little shiny, someone with a huge, huge, beautiful heart.


Take care, and I’ll see you next Sunday. Sending you so much love from sunny Australia.

Catherine x

P.S. The Fun Stuff!

Ladies, Start Your Engines...

Hello, my friends!

Yes, it’s time to start your engines. The holiday season is soon kicking off, and if you’re anything like me, it’s time to get busy with the wrapping and the love, the baking and the party-planning.

Not gonna lie, some years I go into the Christmas season with a readiness to BE THE JOY, but this year I’m feeling a little more like cosy-ing up in my pjs and then into my swimmers, and back again. I’m truly craving REST and PEACE.

How are you? How are you really?

Wish we could have coffee and croissants together this morning! I could use some girl-talk.

I met my beautiful friend, Claire, for coffee in a neighbourhood cafe. (And it was so funny — when I walked in, my husband and his friend were there after a long bush walk they’d done, my friend’s husband was there having coffee and I had to laugh…because where could I sit to talk about ANYTHING with everyone there!? Anyway. shout out to the local cafe for being brilliant!)

But back to Claire. She said something that stopped me in my tracks.

Joy or service.

Claire’s words felt right to me. I want to do things that help my people, that spread love in my community, that are useful and relevant. And I want to do things that bring me joy. (Writing - baking - coffee-ing with friends - gift wrapping and tree trimming - gifting ornaments I love - having lunches - all the fun things that brighten my own heart and the hearts of others.)

What I don’t want to do is carry the crap that does not matter:

  • Regret

  • Comparison

  • Paralysing fear

None of those things will help me. They just ruin now, and squeeze the joy out of everything. This season, it’s time to deliberately seek the joy wherever I can find it. That’s my plan for Christmas. Would you like to join me? Would you like to let your shoulders down and be present to each moment that might contain a glimmer of good?

I hope you’re having a relaxing weekend, filled with at least a few things that you love to do.

Catherine x

P.S. The Fun Stuff!

  • The red sandals you can walk in forever are on sale. Ideal for Christmas barbecues down under! They’re the perfect shade of red (in person).

  • Welcome to Christmas in Australia! Ha!

  • Speaking of cafes, let’s go to Paris!

  • So cute for my sons’ girlfriends for under the tree. Can you imagine heading out for New Year’s Eve with one of these at age 19 and 23? I’ve got two wrapped up already.

  • Mangoes! Yum! It’s the season around here…

  • How fun is this…went to a meeting at my publisher’s office and this was there to greet me. I love how publishers do this. You kinda feel like it’s your “paparazzi moment”! Hahaha! The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe will hit the shelves in March 2025!

The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe proof is here!

Hello, my friends. It’s time for an update about all the things. Wish you were here to have coffee with me at my kitchen table. If you were, I’d hand over the Advance Reader Copy (ARC) of my new book, launching in March 2025.

The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe is looking fabulous and I’m so happy with the cover design. Last weekend I had a virtual meeting with my Reading Team and I filled them in on the behind-the-scenes so they’d have the first look at the cover. (Thank you, thank you! Loved meeting up with you!)

Here’s one more peek at the final cover for you. The designer and publisher were aiming for something that pops online, with strong typography and a modern feel.

This one will hit the shelves on 4 March, so that’s just 90 days away! I’m excited about everything that’s to come.

  • We’re finding the right actor for the audio book — hooray!

  • We’re planning the marketing and PR activities!

  • The final version was sent to print on Friday!

Here’s what you’ll find inside: laughter and sorrow and wildly unique people, Aussies and a gorgeous white sand beach village, a woman’s struggles to find her new home, a bit of DIY on a beautiful but dilapidated apartment, a mouthy teen who needs some love, a little hint of romance, shocking betrayals, new friends, a midlife reinvention and more.

The more is…my favourite family recipes are included in my beautiful book. All the cakes I make and love, and quite a few extra treats, too. We’ll talk again in upcoming months…I’ll let you know about pre-orders and how you can get a copy. Thank you for being excited for me.

But now, over to you…

the holidays are coming!

How are you doing in your holiday prep?

I am behind! Too behind! But the tree is up, a few gifts are wrapped, and I’ve done a bit of shopping online this year. I’m truly looking forward to a break from work, and time to relax with family and friends.

This week I read something beautiful about women:

It’s true.

Holidays are absolutely a labour of love, and women stand at the centre. Spokes in the wheel, the strength and the planning and the getting people places — this is what we do. It’s who we are.

Over upcoming weeks, I promise to give you a few hints and tips that I use to bring the joy at holiday time…with the hope that I can make your load a little lighter, too.

As always, I’m wishing you a beautiful weekend. If no one has asked you yet today, how are you (really)? And if you need comfort or joy, I hope you find it in the simple things:

  • Step outside for a walk

  • Light a Christmas candle

  • Put your feet up and rest a while

Love, Catherine x

P.S. The Fun Stuff!