Posts about - PersistenceCatherine MatthewsAuthor

My new goal: Beat Fredrik Backman in Best in Show.

by Catherine Matthews | Aug 30, 2025 | Creativity, Inspiration, Perceptions, Persistence, Writing

Last spring, I wanted to be Fredrik Backman. I don’t mean famous. Or Swedish. Or brilliant. Or a guy. No, I wanted to be the writer whose words could cause a quinquagenarian former high school principal, not prone to emotional outbursts, to weep openly in an auto repair shop full of men to awkwardly examine the ceiling tiles while praying for their trucks to be done soon.

I’ve been devouring his work. His novels knot my heart and mind until I can’t unravel where all the feelings start. I have to pause and do that Navy Seal breathing strategy from TikTok just to be able to analyze how he can turn ten ordinary words into a tornado of universally felt emotion. I read three of his novels before I realized that I’ve been thinking about this all wrong. And not just because I cannot actually be Fredrik Backman.

I am reconceptualizing my goal modeled roughly after a dog show.

Critique Partners: For Writing and Living

by Catherine Matthews | Dec 18, 2022 | Gratitude, Growth Mindset, Inspiration, Life Lessons, Life Long Learning, Persistence, Writing

Before I began writing seriously, I saw it as a singular pursuit. I imagined a disheveled person at a desk in a windowless room with a half-drunk cup of cold coffee and maybe a sleeping dog. I don’t know why the writer in my mind was unkempt, perhaps because I...

Headwinds, Tailwinds, No Winds: In sailing and cycling, as in life

by Catherine Matthews | Apr 24, 2022 | Growth Mindset, Inspiration, Life Lessons, Life Long Learning, Perceptions, Persistence, Social Emotional Learning

When we were on Guemes Island a few weeks ago, we watched a large sailboat come up from the south. Even without binoculars, I could see the sail straining as the wind filled it. The boat tilted slightly and then glided across the water. As it came around the tip of...

10 Reasons to Navigate Your Life Like Google Maps

by Catherine Matthews | Dec 16, 2021 | Growth Mindset, Inspiration, Life Long Learning, Persistence, Social Emotional Learning

I have two routes to work. My preferred route is a winding country road cut into the base of a hill. It meanders through farmlands that abut the Snohomish River. When the temperatures drop below freezing or the river threatens to jump its banks, I am forced onto the...

How a Box of Rocks Made Me Smarter—and Calmer

by Catherine Matthews | Apr 18, 2021 | Growth Mindset, Inspiration, Life Lessons, Mindfulness, Persistence, Social Emotional Learning

When we were at the beach, I noticed a stack of rocks on an old log. I have seen towers like these before, but I never really thought about them beyond noticing the inexplicably calming sense that I get from staring at them. I find rock formations, natural or...

Rejection = Redirection

by Catherine Matthews | Dec 13, 2020 | Change, Inspiration, Life Lessons, Life Long Learning, Persistence

Rejection doesn’t have to be evidence of failure. It can be a redirection toward a better opportunity. It is one of the most important lessons on the road to publishing.

As Easy as Learning to Ride a Bike

by Catherine Matthews | Oct 4, 2020 | Change, Growth Mindset, Inspiration, Persistence

I find that sometimes I hold onto things far too long because, even if they are clunky or difficult, I know how they work, and I know how to fix them when they don’t. As long as what I am doing is working for me, I am not likely to change. But there is this tipping point between comfortable but always difficult and uncomfortable but eventually easy. I know when I am desperately reaching over the fulcrum trying to tip the balance toward comfortable.

Letting Clouds Get in the Way

by Catherine Matthews | Aug 21, 2020 | Children, Inspiration, Life Lessons, Perceptions, Persistence

I got up Monday and went for a ride, as I do every weekday morning. The skies were clear. I couldn’t see them, because it was too dark, but I could see stars for miles. I knew the sun would come up on a beautiful day. At the end of the ride, that is exactly what...

The pointless pain of wanting it to be different.

by Catherine Matthews | Aug 31, 2019 | Change, Children, Inspiration, Life Lessons, Parenting, Persistence

Suffering usually comes from wanting things to be different than the way they are. - Pema Chödrön I have always been a driven person. I don’t spend a lot of time bemoaning a situation. I am a hunter by nature. I see a problem. I hunt it...

A Lesson in Leadership

by Catherine Matthews | Aug 18, 2019 | Inspiration, Leadership, Life Lessons, Persistence

Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others. -John Maxwell Leadership is a burden. That is the truth. It is far easier to follow. It is even easier to do nothing at all. I remember, when I was a...