The best way to make time to read

It can be hard to make time to read in our busy lives, but this is the best, most enjoyable way to make time to read that I’ve found yet!


I woke up one morning last week and did. not. want. to. write. Not one email; not one proposal; not one sentence. I wanted to roll over, reach for a book on my nightstand, and burrow into the covers for a day of reading with Pepper.

make time to read

But here’s the thing: spring is such a busy season in the publishing world, so I can’t make time to read during the day. And after a long day of work, I’m usually too drained by bedtime to reach for the stack of books on my nightstand. So sometimes, it feels impossible to make time to read.

The solution? Reading Night.

(Doesn’t that just sound fun?!)

Reading Night is a pact between you and whoever you live with—husbands, roommates, toddlers, unemployed dogs named Pepper—to throw your cares to the wind for a night and do nothing but read. It’s by far the best, most reckless, and enjoyable way to make time to read.

Anyone can declare a Reading Night whenever they need it, and everyone joins in on reading something. It’s kind of like a pause button on life–it slows and hushes the house for just a few hours in an otherwise insane-o week. It reminds us that very little is more important than slowing down to make time to read.

make time to read

Here’s how you make time to read with a Reading Night:

  1. Cancel or reschedule all your plans or appointments (it’s okay to be this person every once in awhile).
  2. Pop something stupid-easy in the slow cooker or oven (might I recommend this or this?) or order in pizza.
  3. Collect blankets, pillows, and other nesting apparatus. Leave cellphones, iPads, and laptops in another room.
  4. Help kids pick their own book or other quiet activity.
  5. Park yourself on the couch with a book and a glass of wine.
  6. Repeat for the rest of the night, until you feel better about the day and basically all of life.

But I get it–pressing pause to make time to read is not always easy.

I know how hard it is to extract ourselves from our everyday pressures for even one night. Some nights, I try to relax, but all I can think about is the 1,000 things I should be doing and how I just can’t make time to read that night.

But a Reading Night is something families, marriages, kids, you need. That’s because it’s not only about books. It’s about a few precious hours of quiet, without screens, without to-dos, where we can “read to know we are not alone,” as C.S. Lewis put it.

So to celebrate how good it feels to come home to a book and to a Reading Night, I created this free book art print to inspire you to make time to read. It has my favorite Kathleen Norris quote: “Just the knowledge that a good book is awaiting one at the end of a long day makes that day happier.”

make time to read

 

Click here to download this free book quote art print!

 

 


5 quick reads for the week

  1. I am so thrilled to see my wonderful client, Nik, be nominated for a James Beard award in the Photography category for his book, Season! And by thrilled I mean jumping-for-joy, hugging-everyone-in-sight way too excited!
  2. This Native American artist is bringing representation to comic books and bashing stereotypes, one frame at a time.
  3. How to simplify your submissions to literary journals, because simpler is always better.
  4. I know I always cringe when I throw away mountains of plastic after putting together dinner, so I love that The Salt has some recommendations for reducing plastic waste in your kitchen.
  5. And here’s your publishing meets politics intrigue of the week.

What we’re eating this week

I cooked ONCE this week. Bitter laugh. But it wasn’t my fault, I swear! I was only home one day between a very fun weekend at The Greenbrier and a trip to NYC for work.

So this week let’s cheat—I mean, curate—our reporting.

A Highly Curated and Extremely Accurate Account of This Week’s Eating

Monday: Delicious cheddar brats made by a family friend, and sad boiled broccoli made by me.

Tuesday: Instant Pot Shrimp Scampi Linguine! See? I made a thing.

And that’s it. The End.

Cheers!

Get one free tip for reading more + living better each week!

A free John Burroughs printable art print on books

A free printable art print with the famous John Burroughs quote on books: “I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see.”


When I was 21, I walked into the lobby of Simon & Schuster for the first time. I remember stopping to look at the lit glass displays of books lining the front hallway and thinking “Wow. This is where they make them. I’m going to be working on books.”

Books. The word still has magic for me.

I remember the first time a Senior Editor handed me a manuscript as an editorial assistant and said, “Here. You edit this one.” I thought even the word “manuscript” was amazing–here I was, a very regular girl from suburban New Jersey, working on a manuscript. For a book. Those two words were so sweet, and I loved rolling them over in my mind like a jolly rancher.

At that first editorial assistant job, I had amazing women mentoring me, and they actually let me do books–they let me acquire a big book from Animal Planet; they let me have my own list of authors; they never once put me through the phone-answering and schedule-handling years that most assistants have to go through.

I couldn’t believe how cool their jobs were. So I decided right then: I was going to be a Senior Editor by the time I was thirty. That was my goal, and I was going to get there, have that job, and do all the exciting things the editors I admired were doing.

In two weeks, I turn thirty. I’m not a Senior Editor at a publishing house–even better, I’m a Literary Agent to a whole crew of authors I get to call mine. I get to do all those exciting things that go into making a book, and I get to live a life that seems more awe-inducing by the day. It’s a little weird, honestly. It makes me sappy just thinking about how very good it all is.

Tomorrow, Jarrett and I leave for a week in El Salvador with Habitat for Humanity. I don’t have a clue what to expect–I mean, guys, I have a desk job. I’m an Olympic level sitter. With a bronze medal for lying on the couch and reading.

I’m going to be a puddle of wobbly bits by Day 1, but if I can squeegee myself back together, I’ll be back next week to catch up with you all. But in the meantime, here’s a new printable art print to tide us over and add to our collection! Last week I wrote about how much I love this John Burroughs quote:

“I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see.”

And so I turned it into an art print, so we can all stare out the window and daydream about having the gift of enough time.

john burroughs quote books printable

Click here to access the archive & download this free John Burroughs quote art printable!

 

Get one free tip for reading more + living better each week!


The c&b gift guide is here!

By the way, if you’re feeling like you don’t have enough time and the holidays are getting stressful, my 2017 Gift Guide for Writers and Book Lovers is just what you need. It shows you how to give–or ask for–the gift of time. It’s perfect for ending the year on a creative note and then starting the new year feeling replenished and reinvigorated.

Click here to check out the 2017 Gift Guide for Writers & Book Lovers!

 


We’ll be back next week with publishing links and dinner plans, but if you want to follow along on our trip to El Salvador, follow me on Instagram!

Cheers!

 

The 31 best quotes about reading

The 31 best quotes about reading—an insider shares the best quotes about reading, including short quotes about the importance of reading and quotes on the reading habit.


90% of the time, I would rather be reading.

I like to read first thing in the morning, rolling over to grab a book from my nightstand. I like to read after work, when my mind is drained and a story is the escape I need. I like to read right before bed, to help me fall asleep.

I like to read in my favorite armchair, while Pepper stares at me, not getting the whole literacy thing.

best quotes about reading

And since I was about 8 I’ve dreamed of finding a way to read in the shower. Nothing annoyed me more as a kid than to be told to take a shower when I was in the middle of a chapter. (The nerve of parents.)

I’ve had this reading habit for as long as I can remember, but it didn’t start from nowhere. To this day, I can remember everything about the moment I signed my first library card at 5 or 6, and I still remember the cheesy posters in the school library with quotes about the importance of reading.

best quotes about reading

I loved that at the library I was surrounded by the best quotes about reading—they made me feel like I was part of a secret society that understood that a book was the door to everything else. And now that it’s my job to make books, I collect every single quote about reading that I can find and stockpile them for those days when motivation is low.

(I keep much of that bookish stockpile on Pinterest–follow me there for even more of the best quotes about reading + my very favorite book illustrations!)

Filling your house with the best quotes about reading is one of the most effective and enjoyable ways to instill a love of reading in kids, and it’s also the perfect reminder for us grown-ups to turn off the tv and get lost in a book instead.

So if you’re looking for inspiration and motivation to turn off the tv, put down the phone, and pick up a book, here are the 31 best quotes about reading:

The 31 best quotes about reading

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10 quotes that remind us how much we love books (+ free book art print)

The best famous writers’s inspirational quotes about life, writing, books, and reading.

I walked into my favorite bookstore last week, and I was immediately hit by a wave of relief. I stood at the front of the store, looking at a table covered in books, feeling a weight lifting from me.

There was something so luxurious and indulgent about having 15 whole minutes to take in the store, to wander from shelf to shelf and see all the beauty and knowledge bound up and displayed.  I had only a few minutes to pick up a gift before the parade of to-dos set in for the day, but as soon as I got that first breath of bookstore air, I stopped checking my phone and my clock.

i have always thought of paradise as a library quote art print

Isn’t there just something magical about walking in a bookstore? There’s something holy and sacred about it to me, and sometimes it catches my breath how good it feels. It feels like the whole world laid out before me, thousands of interesting voices and people and places and wisdom and adventures to pluck into an afternoon.

It reminds me why I believe in books, and it reminds me why it’s important that writers keep writing and keep sharing their work.

I also know how easy it is to lose sight of that.

Trust me: when you’re working on the nitty gritty of making a physical book, it’s easy to lose touch of that end payoff, that holding-the-book-and-feeling-the-magic moment that we all work so hard for.

But over many years of working on books and flowing through cycles of inspiration and overwhelm, I’ve found that there are other ways to keep the magic alive, even when you can’t get yourself some time to soak up a bookstore.

And by far, one of my favorite ways to get book inspiration is by scrolling through Pinterest (follow me there!) and finding inspiring quotes from writers and cute illustrations about the book lover’s life. (For instance, how cute is this book art?!)

The quotes, especially, give me such a jolt of remembering why I do what I do. And since I love saving my favorite inspirational quotes and turning them into book art, I created this printable art print with the Jorge Luis Borges quote, “I have always imagined paradise to be a kind of library.” You can download it for free here!

I have always imagined paradise as a library jorge luis borges quote

Download this free book art print here!

 

And in case you also need a little more motivation and inspiration today, here are my 10 best inspirational quotes about writing, as well as my favorite quotes about books and reading. I hope they remind you how good being a book lover can be!

10 Quotes That Remind Us How Much We Love Books

best quotes by writers about books

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