Post -- Liz Crain

Since the start of the year I've been full-time writing again. I did this for the better part of three years between 2006 and 2009 and at the end of that I said I'd never write full-time again. Well, times change, I've learned a few things, forgotten a bunch more and now I'm at it again.

The main difference between then and now work-wise is that I'm now working primarily on books -- two under contract including the Tasty n Sons Cookbook with Sasquatch Books (out fall 2017) and a secret Tin House project (out spring 2017) as well as a novel (out sometime I hope!). In 2006 through 2009 I was mostly working on freelance food writing projects and a book toward the end -- the first edition of Food Lover's Guide to Portland.

What remains the same is that writing full-time is fucking hard and it's easy to burn out if you work a more normal five day, eight-plus hours a day work week. I know that this may sound spoiled and/or crazy since working full-time for yourself writing books sounds so dreamy but I have really strong work ethic so in living the dream I pushed myself a little too hard going into this full-time writing thing again. In the evenings after work I ended up snapping at people and drinking a little too much too often and in general I was just moodier than I want to be. And exhausted -- mentally and physically.

Now that I've realized eight-plus hours of writing five days in a row every week isn't sustainable I'm figuring out how to manage my time a little better and give my brain and body breaks throughout the day. Things that have helped with the transition -- I got a standing desk, I've been taking some mornings off, I've been taking more long walks throughout the day. I'm basically just being nicer to myself and changing my perception of what a proper work week is. Work smarter not harder. So true.

Oh, and food. Cooking has always been a form of therapy for me and when I don't do it enough I feel off and not myself. I think it's similar to how folks who work out regularly feel when they don't work out enough. Here are some tasty treats that I've cooked and eaten in the past couple months. I hope you've been cooking some tasty things too. If so I'd love to hear about it in the comments if you care to share. Happy year of the fire monkey!