10 gorgeous art prints that will bring you focus and clarity

by Maria

10 gorgeous art prints for writers: the best art prints for writers to bring focus + clarity!

Here’s a thing I do all the time: think about something I have to do, think about another thing I have to do, think about TEN more things I really have to do, panic and worry, start to feel like life is one long to-do list, trudge through it.

Let me tell you, it’s super fun.

The funny thing is that I can do this about anything. Beautiful honeymoon in Greece? A long weekend to catch up on errands? As soon as I have a list or schedule in front of me, I switch into checking-off-the-boxes mode and out of enjoying-life mode.

Basically, I can turn absolutely anything into a to-do instead of a fun experience.

That’s why I need constant reminders—and I mean daily wallops across the head—that I need to take things one thing at a time and focus.

art prints for writers

Focus is my holy grail. And according to a study done by the Journal of the Association of Consumer Research, us Americans are losing focus daily just by being near our smartphones. (I hope I’m not the only one who glanced guiltily at my phone when I read that.) 

So if you’re also craving some focus and clarity this month, and you’re finally ready to do That Most Important Thing and actually enjoy the doing, then I have 10 sweet little reminders to get you through it.

These 10 gorgeous art prints for writers will bring you focus and clarity—save them as your screen background, or computer background, or print and hang them by your workspace.

Wherever these inspiring art prints for writers end up, I hope they help you remember that life is anything but one long to-do list.

10 gorgeous art prints for writers and creatives

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The best cookbooks of 2018 to buy + gift

by Maria

The best cookbooks of 2018: these are the best cookbooks of 2018 to buy and gift this year!

I’m still not ready to talk about fall, but I do want to talk about all the cookbooks coming out this season-that-shall-not-be-named.

Because, guys. The coming crop of cookbooks is INSANE. AMAZING. BANKRUPTING. DIET-CRUSHING.

And I’m ready.

We’ve got the heavy hitters like Ina Garten, Ottolenghi, Dorie Greenspan, Chrissy Teigen, Gina Homolka, Melissa Clark. Then we have the up-and-comers: Naz Deravian, Nik Sharma, Julia Turshen, and many, many more. The best cookbooks of 2018 might end up being the best cookbooks of the past five seasons.

The Best Cookbooks of 2018

If you don’t know what to cook, don’t have any motivation to cook, or don’t think you need more cookbooks, there are approximately 50 reasons coming up to change your mind.

That means the real problem we’re faced with is selection: how do we find the best cookbooks of 2018 for us? How do we know which voices we’ll jibe with and which are better for gifting to someone else?

If you haven’t heard of the Salt + Spine podcast yet, I think it’s the perfect solution to finding the best cookbooks for you. Brian Hogan Stewart launched Salt + Spine only this May, but it’s already had an all-star roster of guests—cookbook legends like Nigella Lawson, Diana Henry, and Samin Nosrat.

And if you love to talk about food, books, and books about food, I can’t think of a better listen than this. It’s basically the podcast I’ve been waiting for my whole life.

You, too? Then come on over to the blog and get to know Brian. I interviewed him about how he got started in food media, how he fell for cookbooks, and best of all, his picks for the best cookbooks of 2018. (There are a few that will surprise you!)

Brian Hogan Stewart of Salt + Spine on almost going to culinary school, cookbook podcasting, and the best cookbooks of 2018

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4 tricks for finding time to write with a full-time job

by Maria

 Finding time to write with a full-time job can be hard, but a literary agent shares the four best ways to find time to write, no matter how busy you are!

Last week, we spent a few nights at a tiny cabin near the Blue Ridge Mountains. The first thing we saw each morning was a peaceful forest with rain-soaked leaves.

We’d roll out of bed whenever we felt like it—there was no alarm clock blaring in our faces—and make ourselves coffee. Then we’d fire up our laptops. But instead of jumping into work emails, we did something we wish we could do every day. We just started writing.

finding time to write with a full-time job

We wrote each morning for a few hours straight, without the distraction of Twitter, Facebook, or Gmail—because, gloriously—there was no Wifi at the cabin.

We spent each of those three mornings living our best writer’s life, waking up with nothing to do but write or edit. I finally finished a few book proposals I’d been working on, and Jarrett made great headway on a white paper. And most importantly, we felt like we wrote better in our little cabin in the woods. Heck, give us a few weeks like that, and we’d make it rain Pulitzers (ha!).

Pepper begging us to keep writing

So today I’m letting Jarrett take the spotlight and talk a little bit about what we learned at our beautiful little Getaway House. (Pepper finally learned how to look at the camera. Big stuff for her.)

Here’s Jarrett:

Back #IRL, Maria and I struggle with finding time to write with a full-time job. Even though our full-time jobs require writing, we still find ourselves sucked up in day-to-day to-dos (like responding to work emails, ugh) that prevent us from actually doing the writing part of our jobs.

So how can we fight back against all the forces in our life—stressful full-time jobs, social media, addictive TV shows—that constantly conspire to deprive us of writing time? Maria and I have come up with a few ideas over the years that have helped us with finding time to write with a full-time job, even during the busiest seasons of our lives.

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Best summer cookbooks 2018: new cookbooks for fresh, easy dinners

by Maria

Best summer cookbooks 2018: these are the best summer cookbooks of 2018 for making the easiest, freshest meals!

Lately, I am completely drunk off the smell of fresh mown grass and the feel of warm sunshine on my face. It makes all my usual nerves and worries melt away and makes me almost giddily, irresponsibly ready to run outside and play instead of plugging away at my to-do list.

Can it be summer forever, please?

So here’s what I want to tell you this week: if you do just one thing differently now that it’s summer, cook outside. Or picnic outside. Or pour yourself a boozy lemonade, round up charcuterie board scraps, and stretch out on the grass for dinner.

The less you do, the more I will be high-fiving you.

And if you need ideas for how to eat better while doing a lot less, here are the 7 best summer cookbooks 2018 edition. These are the cookbooks coming out this summer that will get you out of that dark kitchen and into the delicious outdoors.

Best summer cookbooks 2018: new cookbooks for fresh, easy dinners

This article originally appeared on The Kitchn.

best summer cookbooks 2018

In the deepest part of our hearts we all believe one thing: you don’t really have to cook in warm weather. (You can blow it off entirely, in fact, if you cover your tracks well.)

That’s because the vegetables are blooming and the ambition is wilting just in time to call in sick and head to the beach with a bag of apricots. But after we’ve had our fill of unadulterated spring produce, our stomachs might finally start grumbling for cooked food.

Luckily, there’s a fresh batch of cookbooks this season that are going to let us outsource the thinking-and-planning part, so we can pull together easy spring dinners that hardly feel like cooking at all.

 

Click here to keep reading on The Kitchn!

 

For more cookbook recommendations, try:

how to use cookbooks more to cook    best cookbooks for cooks who love travel   cookbooks to help with healthy eating

5 quick reads for the week

  1. The cutest cartoon of kids at the library (“I sing the body electric!”).
  2. Great questions to ask when you’re creating a new culture in your story.
  3. Hurrying is a state of mind.
  4. The science of sabbaticals. (And maybe a sabbatical is just what you need to refresh the ol’ idea well?)
  5. So sad we missed the season this year.

What we’re eating this week

I’m here, there, and everywhere this week with work travel, and I would like to know why it is so hard to find something delicious, healthy, and not soul-suckingly boring to eat on the road. Why, why, why? Answers are demanded.

Monday: I’m in NYC, which luckily means Brazilian food at my Yaya’s. The very opposite of a sad away-from-home meal.

Tuesday: ?? Question marks for dinner? Can that be a thing?

Wednesday: Screaming at the top of my lungs at the airport until someone brings me Shake Shack. (Works e’ry time!)

Thursday: We’re blitz-flying to St. Louis, meaning I’ve hit a new personal record: 4 nights straight in a different bed. This is what New Orleans–>DC–>NYC–>St. Louis in 5 days looks like, and let me tell ya, it ain’t pretty.

Friday: I’m told I will be home on Friday, but I won’t believe it until my butt hits the couch and my Pepper Ann hits my lap.

Cheers!

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