KILLER CRAFTS & CRAFTY KILLERS HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE, PART 5

Is there anyone among us who doesn’t wish she had more hours in the day? We’re all constantly looking to save time so we have more time to do what we need to do or want to do. Today’s book suggestion is one that will help do just that. It makes a great gift for the busy working moms on your list or anyone else looking for timesaving dinner recipes and timesaving tips.

We'd Rather Be Writing

88 Authors Share Timesaving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips

Have you ever wished you could find more time to do the things you want to do, rather than just doing the things you have to do? Most authors juggle day jobs and family responsibilities along with their writing. Because they need to find time to write, they look for ways to save time in other aspects of their lives.

Cooking often takes up a huge chunk of time. In We'd Rather Be Writing: 88 Authors Share Timesaving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips you'll find easy, nutritious recipes for meat, poultry, pasta, soup, stew, chili, and vegetarian meals. All of the recipes require a minimum of prep time, freeing you up to read, exercise, garden, craft, write, spend more time with family, or whatever.

Within the pages of We'd Rather Be Writing: 88 Authors Share Timesaving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips you'll be introduced to authors who write a wide range of fiction—everything from mystery to romance to speculative fiction to books for children, young adults, and new adults—and some who write nonfiction. Some of the authors write sweet; others write steamy. Some write cozy; others write tense thrillers.

Some are debut authors with only one published book; others are multi-published and have had long publishing careers. Some are New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors who may or may not be familiar to you, but being a bestselling author doesn't mean they still don't have to juggle their day job along with their writing.

The authors who contributed to this book are a rather creative and resourceful bunch when it comes to carving out time from their busy lives. So in addition to timesaving recipes, within the pages of this book you'll find timesaving and organizational tips for other aspects of your life. And if you happen to be a writer, you'll also find a plethora of great ideas to help you organize your writing life.

Authors who contributed to We'd Rather Be Writing: 88 Authors Share Timesaving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips include: Lisa Alber, Reggi Allder, Judy Alter, Krista Ames, Rose Anderson, Cori Lynn Arnold, Judy Baker, Beverley Bateman, Donnell Ann Bell, Paula Gail Benson, Kris Bock, Maureen Bonatch, Ava Bradley, Susan Breen, Lida Bushloper, Michelle Markey Butler, Ashlyn Chase, Judy Copek, Maya Corrigan, Mariposa Cruz, Melinda Curtis, Lesley A. Diehl, Conda V. Douglas, Nancy Eady, Helena Fairfax, Jennifer Faye, Flo Fitzpatrick, Kit Frazier, Shelley Freydont, Mariana Gabrielle, Rosie Genova, Marni Graff, Joanne Guidoccio, Margaret S. Hamilton, L.C. Hayden, Linda Gordon Hengerer, Heather Hiestand, R.Franklin James, Kathryn Jane, M.M. Jaye, Elizabeth John, Stacy Juba, Gemma Juliana, Carol Goodman Kaufman, Melissa Keir, Kay Kendall, A.R. Kennedy, Lynn Kinnaman, Marie Laval, B.V. Lawson, Claudia Lefeve, Alice Loweecey, Cynthia Luhrs, Sandra Masters, Lisa Q. Mathews, J.M. Maurer, Sandra McGregor, Kathy McIntosh, Claire A. Murray, Ann Myers, Tara Neale, Stacey Joy Netzel, Jayne Ormerod, Alice Orr, Laurel Peterson, Irene Peterson, Pepper Phillips, Caridad Pineiro, Kathryn Quick, Renée Reynolds, Josie Riviera, Elizabeth Rose, C.A. Rowland, Cindy Sample, Sharleen Scott, Terry Shames, Susan C. Shea, Judy Penz Sheluk, Joanna Campbell Slan, Karen Rose Smith, Lynette Sofras, Kaye Spencer, Skye Taylor, Lourdes Venard, Lea Wait, Regan Walker, Lois Winston, and Aubrey Wynne.

A percentage of the profit from We'd Rather Be Writing: 88 Authors Share Timesaving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips will be donated to No Kid Hungry.

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--GUEST AUTHOR JUDY ALTER

An award-winning novelist, Judy Alter is the author of the Kelly O’Connell Mysteries, the Blue Plate Café Mysteries, and the Oak Grove Mysteries. Her work has been recognized with awards from the Western Writers of America, the Texas Institute of Letters, and the National Cowboy Museum and Hall of Fame. She has been honored with the Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Achievement by WWA and inducted into the Texas Literary Hall of Fame and the WWA Hall of Fame. Learn more about Judy and her books at her website and blog.  

Cookbooks? They’re a dime a dozen these days. And what do writers know about cooking—they spend their days at computers and order in pizza, right? Hold on and take a look at We’d Rather Be Writing: 88 Authors Share Time-Saving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips. The title is a tip-off—most writers would rather be writing than cooking (disclaimer: not always this one, and I do have a recipe in the book). But there are some great recipes here, from meat dishes to fowl and fish and soup and chili, vegetarian and even a few vegan ideas. Some recipes will be familiar sounding—stews, enchiladas, and the like. But they’re shortcuts, much quicker than the way you’ve been doing them.

And a few were downright new and intriguing to me. As the author/contributor writes, “Peas are polarizing—you either love them or hate them.” She loves them and so do I, so I’m going to try peas pureed with crème fraiche, Parmesan and mint. Want to make soup out of it? Add chicken broth. Or blend with mashed potatoes and top with a fried egg.

How about eggs in a tomato-spinach sauce? Or eggs in purgatory, which is much the same thing and one of my favorite dishes. Recipes suggest main-dish smoothies, a good yogurt sauce, all kinds of things that writers rely on and you’ve probably never thought of.

But the unique thing about this cookbook is the timesaving tips, divided into cooking tips, household tips, organizational tips, writing tips, and miscellaneous. In the latter category, I like “Let it go.” If it’s not major in your life, don’t waste time stewing over little things. A tip we all know about but don’t always do: meditate. And one from me: nap.

In the cooking tips, I found an old friend—the soup pot. Just put leftovers in a refrigerator container and once a week, see what you’ve got. I called it soup of the week, but my kids called it “brown soup” because that’s how it always came out. This book has better instructions than my haphazard version.

One tip that appears in several sections is to list, list, list. Errands to run? Make a list of them in geographical order. Grocery shopping: organize your list according to the layout of the store. Too many extraneous details demanding our attention? List them and then check them off one at a time.

And a tip for all of us: if your plate is full, learn to say “No” to that extra volunteer project, that speaking gig you don’t have time to prepare for, even that charitable cause you can’t fit in. You can only stretch yourself so far and trying to accomplish more only results in stress.

In short, this is much more than a cookbook. It gives ideas for feeding the body, of course, some of them outstanding, but it also gives ideas for feeding and caring for the inner you, the soul if you will. It’s a great book to explore.

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Judy's latest mystery is:

Murder at Peacock Mansion

Arson, a bad beating, and a recluse who claims someone is trying to kill her all collide in this third Blue Plate Café Mystery with Kate Chambers. Torn between trying to save David Clinkscales, her old boss and new lover, and curiosity about Edith Aldridge’s story of an attempt on her life, Kate has to remind herself she has a café to run. She nurses a morose David, whose spirit has been hurt as badly as his body, and tries to placate Mrs. Aldridge, who was once accused of murdering her husband but acquitted. One by one, Mrs. Aldridge’s stepchildren enter the picture. Is it coincidence that David is Edith Aldridge’s lawyer? Or that she seems to rely heavily on the private investigator David hires? First the peacocks die…and then the people. Everyone is in danger, and no one knows whom to suspect.

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