Easy Garden Frittata

by Maria

Late August is a cook’s favorite time of year. Especially if you happen to know a gardener with an overflowing veggie patch.

We’re out on the farm this week, and we were so lucky to get baskets and baskets of gorgeous produce from a neighbor. We had insanely delicious heirloom tomatoes, corn, every color and shape of pepper, leeks, fresh dug potatoes, cantaloupes, lacinato kale, curly kale, purple beans, and cukes. Man, it is good to be in with a gardener.

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But the best part of all was the farm fresh eggs. Oddly shaped, blueish, orange-yolked eggs.  I dream about these eggs all year. No matter how much I spend on cage-free, organic, humanely raised, pampered and petted eggs from the store, they never come close to these. You just can’t buy this kind of freshness.

afterlight

The only thing to do with a bounty like that? Garden frittata! We sautéed the peppers, leeks, and tomatoes in butter with s&p, added some store-bought chopped portobellos, and then covered the veggies in beaten egg with a splash of half and half. I like to cover the pan so the top can cook, or you can just pop it under the broiler for a few minutes to cook the top.

I meant to take a picture, but Jarrett ate the whole thing too quickly. That’s how most of our meals end.

Hope you have delicious meals and relaxing days ahead of you over the long weekend! I’ll be back next week with more book news and thoughts on publishing.

Books on Books!

by Maria

Ereader

When we moved apartments a few weeks ago I realized that I have a book problem. (This should have been obvious, no?) But really–I didn’t quite realize that I had too many books. Way, way too many books. Right now I have boxes of books in two different storage units. And I want to keep them ALL.

I poke fun at Jarrett all the time for being a little hoarder-y about certain things (he owns 3 back-ups for his favorite hat), but I am a major hoarder about books. I have a problem. I have a clutter aversion to every single other thing, but books… You really can’t have enough, can you?

Yes, it turns out you can. And you don’t realize it until you have to pack all the darn things into boxes and lug them down the East Coast.

So. I’m trying three tactics in our new apartment in an effort to stop the madness:

1. Limit space: We had to throw out an old bookshelf that was bowed from too much book weight, so I’m tasking Jarrett with building me two new bookshelves. We’re using these plans from Ana White, and we’re so excited to try our hands at our first furniture build. (Also, she has a fabulous book called The Handbuilt Home, in case you need more books…) But I’m limiting us to only building two big bookshelves. One I’ll keep in my office space for author/agent copies, and the other will be for my non-work books. So if anybody wants some free books this summer, let me know! A big clean-out will be happening early- to mid-September.

2. Virtual bookshelf: I have certain books that I hold on to just because I think they’re wonderful resources, and I love to recommend them to others. Most of these are books about books–books about writing, publishing, and platform building. I’m now putting those here, on my Bookshelf page, so that they’re always there if someone’s looking for extra resources.

3. Ebooks!: I am probably the last literary agent on this green earth who doesn’t own an e-reader. I usually have 2-3 books that I’m in various stages of reading, and I stuff them in my too-big purse like a lunatic. It’s like I refuse to acknowledge that this handy device called an e-reader would solve all my problems. But no more! I am getting myself an e-reader before I give myself scoliosis. But Nook or Kindle? Anybody prefer one over the other?

So in my imaginary perfect life in our new, uncluttered apartment, we will not have a book problem. Let’s see how this goes…

Reading on the Beach

by Maria

August in the publishing world means long vacations, a slower pace, few new submissions, and a LOT of reading on the beach. One of the funny (and by funny, I mean sort of sad) truths about working in publishing is that we rarely have time to catch up on reading. Maybe this is because our to-read lists are too long? Maybe it’s that, with all the work-related reading and editing we do, it’s easy to forget about extracurricular reading?

Whatever it is, I can’t seem to ever make headway on my long to-read list. There isn’t nearly as much shutting-the-office-door-and-sitting-with-a-good-book-for-hours as I want there to be. And so, August is going to be all about kicking back with a paperback and forgetting the world. I don’t think I’ve read for 12 hours straight since my Harry Potter days, and that just has to change.

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My office during our trip!

With the slower pace in the industry this month, I’m off to Punta Cana for two weeks with my sister. I’ll be catching up on some work projects, editing some proposals, and systematizing a few things. But there will also be a lot of cooking, a lot of sipping cold drinks, some major reading, and maybe even some naps, if we’re feeling really crazy.

Here’s what I’ll be reading on the beach:

Merchants of Culture

I know–a book about the publishing industry sounds totally wonky and like the very opposite of a relaxing beach read. And when I got this book delivered and saw that it was nearly 500 pages of small print, with charts and all, I was sure it would bore me to death. But it’s AMAZING! Really. Anyone in the industry should make this a must-read–it gives such a big picture, 360 degree view of the evolution of publishing, which we sometimes lose sight of in the day-to-day. And it’s written in an engaging, straightforward way, so you won’t find yourself snoozing through it. I promise.

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How to make yourself do work, even when you don’t want to

by Maria

How to make yourself self-motivated–these 5 easy tricks will help you do work even when you don’t want to. Learn how to make yourself self-motivated, stay self-motivated, and get more things done so you can finally stop procrastinating and feeling guilty.

Here’s what Wednesdays used to look like for me:

  1. Get to work; plant butt in cubicle.
  2. Stare at my to-do list, read some things online, daydream.
  3. Get a few things done.
  4. Go home and start over again the next day.

I was working at a small publisher at the time, and the pace was s-l-o-w. I had just come from another editor gig that was relentlessly fast-paced–each day was chockfull of meetings, paperwork, and dozens of things only I could do each day.

Now suddenly I was plopped in a quiet office, with almost no meetings or urgent to-dos. The 8-hour day stretched endlessly, and I couldn’t figure out how to structure my time, keep up momentum, or get things done when it was just so much easier to put things off until tomorrow.

I was bored, unproductive, and definitely not living the How to Get Sh*t Done life. I realized I would have to teach myself a key skill: how to make yourself self-motivated.

how to make yourself self motivated

Now my Wednesdays look like this:

  1. Wake up, grab laptop and coffee, and write a blog post before 9 am.
  2. Reward myself with a shower and getting ready for the day.
  3. 8 hours of emails, proposal editing, contract review, calls, etc.
  4. Shut my laptop promptly around 6-7, make dinner, relax.

It took a long time, but I finally learned how crucial it is to do the most important thing first in the day. So now, every weekday, I start the day by proposal editing, pitch letter writing, blog post writing, or whatever else is going to take the most brain power and concentration.

That was so game-changing for me. I finally (mostly) beat back my lifelong habit of procrastinating and avoiding tough projects. I’m not perfect and definitely still fritter away time, but now I know a bit more about how to make yourself self-motivated.

But that was just one of a few productivity tips that have completely changed how I work and stay self-motivated. So today I’m sharing one of the essential articles that has changed my life–it’s from one of my all-time favorite writers, Leo Babuata of Zen Habits.

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How to make yourself self-motivated: the Zen Habits way

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