Blisscraft Life With Christina Katz

Awesome lyrics. Amazing voice. This is one way to make the most of your talent.

More, please!

I was reflecting on my journey with making time for myself. “The Art Of Making Time For Yourself” was one of the first published articles I ever wrote.

This article was discovered online four years after I published it and picked up as a story by Good Morning America.

Maybe you’ve heard me tell the story of how I was flown to NYC with my then two-and-a-half year old daughter to be interviewed on GMA by Diane Sawyer.

What an awesome experience that was. Samantha still loves for me to tell her the story of how she cried on the sound stage while they were whisking her off the set and how we met Tony Danza in the elevator afterwards and how he said what a beautiful baby she was.

Today, I received a compliment about my book, Get Known, which lead me to a new-to-me Facebook page that interested me. And on that page, I found this story that Oprah ran in 2001 and then again several years later.

When my best friends from college and I turned 40, I sent everyone a copy of the book A Gift From The Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. This woman’s story of going to live by the sea felt to me like it could have been inspired by this book. If you have not read it yet, I highly recommend that you take a little time for yourself and read it.

But you don’t have to leave your life and abandon your children to make time for yourself. It all starts with the willingness to make more time for yourself. I wrote an ebook on the topic, which is a collection of many of my articles. I have decided to put this ebook on sale in PDF through the end of the month. Right before the holidays is the perfect time to remember how important it is to take time for yourself.

Trust me, as soon as the holidays kick in, you are going to forget, or decide it’s not really that important, or decide that other things are more important than your own needs.

Don’t let it happen. Read this ebook now. It will give you tons of great ideas for creating a little getaway just for you, right in the life you are already living.

Discounted to $4.99 until October 31st at midnight. Normally priced at $7.99. This blog post is the only place where you can claim your discount. PDF is the only format on sale. All other formats are at the regular price.

I know a lot of really cool creative people.

And in addition to all the cool stuff that they create on an ongoing basis, I stumble across a ton more amazingly creative stuff in my daily Internet adventures.

Seriously, not a day goes buy where I don’t hear about or spy really cool stuff that makes me want to squeal with delight.

So, once in a while–maybe even once a week during the holidays–I’m just going to mention a few things. Kind of a best of  everything I’ve gleaned lately. If you like me and my cool stuff I think you may also like some of this cool stuff.

And it feels good to give back to other cool creators. And we should all do it when it’s a genuine impulse.

So here we go again!

Creative Unblocking Courses With Eric Maisel on DailyOm.com

Dr. Eric Maisel has created some awesome pay-what-you-can courses over at DailyOm. You get to choose your price from three options. How cool is that?

How to Overcome Depression

http://www.dailyom.com/cgi-bin/courses/courseoverview.cgi?cid=104&aff=

Overcoming Your Difficult Family

http://www.dailyom.com/cgi-bin/courses/courseoverview.cgi?cid=646&aff=

Overcoming Creative Anxiety

http://www.dailyom.com/cgi-bin/courses/courseoverview.cgi?cid=48&aff=

Eric Maisel, PhD, is a psychotherapist, coach, and best-selling author who has worked with thousands of clients individually and in workshops around the world. His more than thirty books include Fearless Creating, Coaching the Artist Within, Sleep Thinking, Toxic Criticism, Creativity for Life, Performance Anxiety, The Van Gogh Blues and his latest, Brainstorm: Harnessing the Power of Productive Obsessions. Dr. Maisel writes a monthly column for Art Calendar Magazine, hosts two shows on the Personal Life Media Network, and has created the first “meaning home study program,” The Meaning Solution. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and travels extensively giving keynotes, lectures and workshops.

Fantastic Artwork By Mae Chevrette

I adore all the artwork by Mae Chevrette and this is just one example of something wicked cool she made.

Brave Enough by Cheryl Strayed

From the best-selling author of Wild, a collection of quotes–drawn from the wide range of her writings–that capture her wisdom, courage, and outspoken humor, presented in a gift-sized package that’s as irresistible to give as it is to receive.

Around the world, thousands of people have found inspiration in the words of Cheryl Strayed, who in her three prior books and in her “Dear Sugar” columns has shared the twists and trials of her remarkable life. Her honesty, spirit, and ample supply of tough love have enabled many of us, even in the darkest hours, to somehow put one foot in front of the other–and be brave enough.
This book gathers, each on a single page, more than 100 of Strayed’s indelible quotes and thoughts–“mini instruction manuals for the soul” that urge us toward the incredible capacity for love, compassion, forgiveness, and endurance that is within us all.

I Should Probably Include A Couple Things By Me…

I love this time of year…and here’s the downloadable poster to prove it.

Writing Prompts For Autumn Stories is perfect for this time of year!

My ebook, Write For Regional Parenting Publications For Fun & Profit has been getting some good word of mouth lately, which is always nice! I spent my day writing articles, selling articles, and cashing checks. Writing for RPPs is still one of my favorite things to do.

And Now For Something Free

Here is a great roundup of resources for creating your 2016 Bucket List from Bucket List Expert Lara Krupicka.

Lara Krupicka is an internationally published parenting journalist and speaker who encourages parents to create lives full of family adventures. In her three years as a writing professional she has seen her words reach over a half million readers. A family bucket list advocate, Lara is best known for her Bucket List Life Manifesto and her books Family Bucket Lists and Bucket List Living For Moms.

Seen any cool stuff lately that you think I should know about? Let me know!

Would you like to multiply your writing productivity by ten, while still keeping your focus on the joy of the creative process?

If so, you will love my newly updated monthly coaching video and tools, Become Your Own Writing Coach.

Become Your Own Writing Coach is for writers who want more support in their careers but don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for it.

If you are curious about the process, I will let you test-drive the October video and the October tip sheet until Friday, October 16th at midnight.

You won’t get the goal worksheets because those are reserved for those who subscribe to the program. But you will get a sense of the quality of coaching you’ll receive each month if you do decide to subscribe. And the cost to test-drive October’s materials is only $10.

FAQs Answered

Which types of writers should sign up for this?
Any writers who want to set goals, increase their productivity, and have a more authentic career will benefit from these tools and resources. This goes for nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and screenwriters. You customize your monthly goal worksheet to suit your needs and dreams with the help of my monthly ten-minute pep talk and tips poster.

I’ve never done a subscription with Paypal before. How does it work?
Subscriptions on Paypal are simple and you are always in control. Once you sign up, you will be charged a $10 fee. You will then be charged that same amount, $10, every month on the same date as the date you signed up. So if you sign up on the 18th, you will be charged $10 per month on the 18th of every month. Just as you can sign up at any time, you can cancel at any time. So try the monthly program and see if you like it. And if you don’t like it, simply unsubscribe.

BYOWC is not just good advice for writing; it’s good advice for life.
Even if you are not trying to make huge strides in your writing career right now, you will love the support and encouragement you get from Become Your Own Writing Coach. We are living in a world where there is never enough positive encouragement. But now you can get all the encouragement you need each month and have it on hand to keep you going whenever you need a little boost.

Learn More About Become Your Own Writing Coach & Subscribe

Who doesn’t love pie at Thanksgiving?

You can make this pie for Canadian Thanksgiving or American Thanksgiving, or better yet, both!

I had never heard of butterscotch pie before I joined my now-husband for his extended family Thanksgiving gathering. As stuffed as I was with all the delicious food, I still had room for a sticky, sweet, meringue-covered slice.

The story goes that my husband’s grandfather once made butterscotch pie for a pie social. It was his first attempt at pie and it came out beautifully, but the snowy roads were so bad that they had to turn back and ended up eating the pie all by themselves. Gramps never made another pie, since he said he couldn’t improve upon it and he didn’t want to spoil his reputation as a baker.

Besides inheriting a tradition of great food, my husband is a dual Canadian-American citizen, so he grew up celebrating Thanksgiving twice a year! Whether you are Canadian or American, I hope you enjoy my mother-in-law’s family recipe for butterscotch pie.

Butterscotch Pie

First, make the piecrust.

1. Mix 1 ½ cups flour, 1 ½ tsp sugar, and ½ tsp salt.
2. Add ½ cup butter, shortening, or lard (or a combination), cut into small pieces. Use a pastry blender or your fingers to work the fat into pieces the size of small peas.
3. Add ¼ cup cold water and toss the mixture with a fork. Slowly add more water until the dough can form a ball.
4. Pat the ball into a ¾-inch disc, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate at least one hour.
5. Roll the dough out and fit into a 9-inch pie plate. Trim the excess. Freeze for 15 minutes.
6. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Fit a piece of aluminum foil over the piecrust and fill with dried beans.
7. Bake the crust 15 minutes. Then remove the beans and foil, prick the dough all over with a fork, and drop the oven temperature to 375. Bake 15 more minutes.

Next, make the filling.

1. Melt ¼ butter in a medium-sized pot.
2. Stir in ¼ cup flour.
3. Add 2 egg yolks, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 ½ cups milk, and a pinch of salt.
4. Cook until the filling begins to thicken, then 15 more minutes.
5. Remove from heat and add ½ tsp vanilla.
6. Spread in pre-baked pie shell.

Finally, make the meringue.

1. Beat 2 egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form.
2. Slowly add ¼ cup white sugar and keep beating until stiff peaks form.
3. Spread meringue over pie filling, making sure it reaches the crust on all sides.
4. Place the pie under the broiler until brown (a moment or two).

Margaret is a fiction writer fascinated by the way artefacts from the past affect the present. She lives in Calgary, Alberta with her husband and two young daughters. She recently launched her website, www.mebondbooks.com, where you can read her blog, find recommended websites and novels, solve monthly ciphers, and subscribe to her email newsletter, The Mouse & Pencil.

Sometimes I catch a glimpse of something cool and think, “Ooo, something shiny.”

Translation: something super-cool and creative.

I’d like to be able to share these things with you, and what better place to do this than my blog?

I thought I’d better come up with a name that reminds us that we deserve all the cool creative stuff we could possibly want.

Here’s this week’s round-up:

Smash The Patriarchy Wreath by Grace Chin

No description needed, because it’s obviously one of the coolest things ever created. Clearly everyone needs one of these. I’m not usually into smashing things, but honestly, I am on board with this. Read more about it in Grace’s Etsy shop. Be sure to favorite her shop while you are there.

Big Magic, Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert

I will be honest with you. I’m not afraid much any longer. But I will read or listen to this anyone because Elizabeth Gilbert is cool. Just watch her TED talk if you don’t believe me. And for the record, I did not love Eat, Pray, Love, the book, but I did like Eat, Pray, Love, the movie. And I appreciated it more on the second watch. So, go, Liz Gilbert!

Evan Carmichael’s J.K. Rowling’s Top 10 Rules For Success

This one is free, folks, and definitely worth watching. I really like Evan’s idea to round-up clips of the most inspirational quotes from successful people. I found J. K. Rowling’s tips to be particularly moving, since I’m a writer. And if you have not had a chance to watch the movie based on her life story, I thought Magic Beyond Words: The J. K. Rowling Story was worth checking out. You can find it on Netflix or on Amazon.

Felt Ball Garland In Autumn Colors

I originally ordered this garland for my daughter for her bedroom, but I’m not sure if she is going to get it back because it is so darn cute! This garland is currently on sale and ships from Lithuania. Ours arrived fairly quickly and shipping was reasonable. See it on Mellsva’s Etsy shop and below in our home. If you think felt ball garlands are as nifty as I do, then favorite her shop.

Okay, well that’s enough inspiration for one day, don’t you think?

Let me know if you like anything you see, and I’ll be back with more eye candy soon!

Today’s delicious soup recipe comes to us from my friend and former editor, Jane Friedman. Like many of you, I’ve been following Jane’s writing and publishing advice for years and it’s always fun to catch a more personal glimpse of her life. Please join me in congratulating Jane on her forthcoming Great Courses lecture series! What an honor to be selected for such a prestigious gig!

I left home at fifteen, and spent the next six years of my life living in dormitories, where I depended on university dining halls to feed me.

Once I finally graduated to a living space with a kitchen, I didn’t know what to do with it. I bought a lot of pasta, packaged foods, frozen dinners, and canned soup. Even after I was married (briefly), my habits didn’t change much.

But one thing that did change is that I started learning the difference between good food and packaged food. I traveled extensively, ate at wonderful restaurants, and started getting depressed with all the crap I ate at home.

I decided I would have to do better. I began watching the Food Network and PBS cooking shows (and subscribing to various foodie magazines). I started to learn a few recipes I could execute well and tasted like I put a lot of work into them. One of the first trusted recipes was for roasted red pepper soup. You cannot screw up this recipe. You can’t overcook it, you can’t over-season it (unless you dump in the salt shaker by accident), and you can’t add too little or too much cream. And it can sit on the stove indefinitely at pretty much any temperature.

Best of all, I’ve never had a man in my life who didn’t like it.

Roasted Red Pepper Soup

Prep Time: 10 mins | Cook Time: 30 mins | Servings: 4

Ingredients:
2 tbsp butter
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium red onion, diced
1/4 cup flour
3 cups roasted red peppers — Divina is the best brand if you don’t roast your own, and don’t stress about the amount here; you can add more or less liquid to adjust
1/2 tsp hot red pepper flakes (optional)
5 sprigs thyme (add loose or tie in a string)
3 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup water
3/4 cup heavy cream

Directions:
Heat butter, then saute garlic and onion with a 1/2 tsp of salt. Once the onion is lightly brown, add flour and stir. Toast for a minute or so. Then add roasted red peppers, pepper flakes, thyme, broth, and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and partially cover. Simmer 20 minutes. Remove thyme springs. Purée with a hand blender, then stir in cream.

Jane Friedman teaches digital media and publishing at the University of Virginia and is a columnist for Publishers Weekly. She’s proud to be a Great Courses professor for the upcoming “How to Publish a Book” lecture series (launching October 22nd). She is the co-publisher of The Hot Sheet, the essential publishing industry newsletter for authors. Stay in the loop by RSS subscribing to JaneFriedman.com. And be sure to check out Jane’s latest book:

One of the reasons I have changed the way I teach goal-setting is because I have realized that goal-setting needs to be a personal process for writers.

There is no one set of goals that suits every writer!

Yet I have noticed that the world is full of messages for writers telling us what our goals “should” be.

I won’t list them here. You see them enough.

What I know is that the goals others choose for us are often too big for most writers.

They are out of reach and I think this is purposeful. I think some people want to get us on a track of “too big” to keep us hooked.

Unfortunately, getting hooked into goals that are not our own sets writers up for failure and frustration.

And this may lead writers to believe that there is no point in setting any goals.

Or that the goals they have in mind are not as worthy as the goals others have for them.

But listen up. It’s time to reclaim your writing career goals and reclaim your sense of personal satisfaction with your goals.

I have been working with writers for a decade and a half, and I am here to tell you that you must customize your goals to suit your dreams. It’s the only way to enjoy the journey.

You are not on track if you are following the dreams of others. You are on track when you dig deeper than the messages you receive and set your sights on your personal desires. That’s how you become the creator of your destiny.

This is when the magic starts to happen. As soon as you start listening to yourself and taking action on your dreams, you can feel the shift away from “have to” and towards expansiveness, adventure, and joy.

Again, no one can do this for you. You have to do it. You have to spend a bit of time with yourself reflecting on what you want and what goals will bring you the most satisfaction.

After you identify them, you can move forward in a prosperous direction.

There is only one prosperous direction for you, and that is in the direction of your dreams.

I hope you can join the focused and determined group of writers who have already signed up for my monthly coaching program.

I have recently changed the name to Become Your Own Writing Coach & Multiply Your Productivity x 10. You can read about that change here.

I would love to work with you and help you empower your choices and create the kinds of results you imagine.

TODAY is the last day to sign up for the next round. I will no longer be posting past rounds for purchase. You must register for the monthly $10 subscription to get on the list of participants.

This is an amazingly inexpensive deal for this kind of ongoing support. Join us and find out for yourself!

The next batch of tools goes out on October 6th at noon. Hope to work with you!

All this and more! Please subscribe to The Prosperous Writer Blog and sign up for The Prosperous Writer Newsletter for exclusive discounts you won’t find elsewhere.

~ Photo by Annette Beetge

It’s not fall in my house without the aroma of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger and pumpkin; blended and baking in a delicious Harvest Loaf. Add in chocolate chips and this is a recipe my son has been requesting ever since he could talk.

I originally got the recipe from a former roommate. She got it from her mother. And so the story goes, it was baking in her oven when she held an open house to sell her home. Her home sold that day and she swears it was the fragrance of the baking Harvest Loaf that sealed the deal. Not only does it smell wonderful, it tastes really good too!

Harvest Loaf Recipe

3 ½ cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon ginger
1 ½ cups pumpkin
4 eggs
1  12 ounce package chocolate chips (use less if desired)
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, softened

Cream butter and sugar.
Add eggs, one at a time.
Add dry ingredients alternately with the pumpkin.
Stir in chocolate chips.

Pour into greased pans. Two loaf or one bundt.

Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 65-75 minutes.
Because ovens vary, bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Lisa Nord Seplak is a freelance writer who loves storytelling. Whether tales about families, friends, motherhood or growing up unsupervised in suburbia, Lisa enjoys telling stories that make up everyday life. Her articles and essays can be found in parenting publications throughout North America. Lisa loves dogs of every shape and size, movies, college football, the Final Four, yoga, riding bikes with her family and the beach. She lives in Hinsdale, Illinois with her car-crazy husband, sports-loving son, and sassy Siberian Husky.