A Review of a Planner for Freelancers and Mental Health Journals for Adults & Children by Shari Black: Includes TWO Giveaways!

Now the kids are back at school and our old lives are starting to return, I’ve been looking at ways to organise my freelance work. I’ve also been keen to assess how both my son and I are feeling after six months in lockdown.

I came across a range of books by Shari Black, a writer and children’s author, who has written many books about Star Wars, LEGO, Harry Potter and more under her maiden name, Shari Last. She now has a new business, Little Pop of Colour, and writes books under her married name. Her main focus now is creating books and prints to brighten up your day and home.

I was intrigued by her planner for freelancers and the journals she had created for adults and children, so thought I’d give them a try…

This Freelance Life Planner

This Freelance Life is a planner, organiser and diary for those who work independently. It’s a six month undated planner and has a variety of monthly, weekly and daily diary pages. I love this, because some months I’m busier than others, so I need to organise differently each time.

If I’m overwhelmed with tasks, I can use the monthly page initially to work out everything that needs completing, before I then allocate it to weeks/days. If I don’t achieve it one day I simply add it to another day that week, and the monthly page keeps me on track.

I used to have a bullet journal and found the monthly tracking really useful as days can change rapidly and before you know it something’s been forgotten. Having three diary options helps avoid missing things, which eases the pressure and anxiety I get: It’s a win-win!

The planner also has pages for bright ideas, notes, contacts and invoices. The first thing I did was fill in the invoice page, as it’s a great tracker. Many companies pay 30 days after invoiced, so it’s easy to lose track of what’s owed.

Mindful Journals for Adults & Children

Shari has four young sons and decided to write journals for a range of ages to “help kids seek out and reflect on the best parts of each day”. This helps children cultivate a positive mindset” which is important especially during this pandemic.

My Happy Journal is a positive diary for children and adults, which encourages mindfulness, gratitude and emotional well-being. It’s perfect for helping to build or maintain good mental health. The journal prompts you to think about good things that happen daily, which over time helps the brain automatically find positives rather than negatives.

This is a must for me, because part of my depression and anxiety comes from constant negative thinking. At some stage in my life the brain got used to negative triad thinking, so journaling can help break or prevent this cycle.

The Most Awesome Journal for 8 Year Olds is similar, but aimed at your 8 year old! It enables them to keep a track of their daily thoughts and emotions, focusing on the positive aspects. Shari was inspired to create journals for children specific to their age from her own children. She said; “My eldest is 8 too and he finds it really beneficial having a journal. He doesn’t write daily, but it’s nice for him to have a place to record whenever he wants to”.

It’s filled with fun boxes to complete whenever they want, and has space for photos, doodles and notes for top secret plans to encourage creativity and imagination.

Shari’s written a range of books including a quirky one about the Covid-19 pandemic and I’m giving one away below!

Terms and conditions for the following giveaways are at the bottom of the post.

Giveaway 1: The Most Awesome Journal For Super Cool 8 Year Olds (ends 9 Oct 2020)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway 2: My First Pandemic ABC Book (ends 8 Oct 2020)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms and Conditions:

UK entrants only.
You must be aged over 18 to enter.
Entries will be checked and verified before a winner is randomly selected.
The company who make the product are responsible for supplying the prizes NOT SingleParentPessimist.co.uk
Your email will be required so you can be contacted to claim your prize if you are the winner- the email address will not be passed onto any company without your permission first. Your contact details will not be used or stored for any other purposes.

I was gifted these books for the purpose of testing them for this review. No payment was received and all opinions are honest and my own.