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    We'd Rather Be Writing: 88 Authors Share Timesaving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips
    We'd Rather Be Writing: 88 Authors Share Timesaving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips
    We'd Rather Be Writing: 88 Authors Share Timesaving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips
    Ebook203 pages1 hour

    We'd Rather Be Writing: 88 Authors Share Timesaving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips

    By Lois Winston, Donnell Ann Bell, Shelley Noble and

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    About this ebook

    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 this book 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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLois Winston
    Release dateJan 23, 2025
    ISBN9781940795355
    We'd Rather Be Writing: 88 Authors Share Timesaving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips
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    Author

    Lois Winston

    Lois Winston is both a critically acclaimed, award-winning author of fiction and non-fiction and a literary agent whose clients include authors of urban fantasy, young adult, mystery, women’s fiction, and romance. She currently writes the critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries. Lois also writes romance, romantic suspense, and humorous women's fiction under both her own name and as Emma Carlyle. Visit Lois at http://www.loiswinston.com, visit Emma at http://www.emmacarlyle.com, and visit Anastasia at the Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers character blog, www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com.

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      Book preview

      We'd Rather Be Writing - Lois Winston

      Copyright

      We’d Rather Be Writing: 88 Authors Share Timesaving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips copyright 2015 by Lois Winston.

      This book is a compilation of recipes and timesaving tips contributed by the various authors represented in this book. The individual authors retain all copyrights to their contributions.

      All rights reserved. Except for contributors’ use of their individual submissions, no part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      No content contained within this work was generated using artificial intelligence (AI). The content contained within this work may not be regenerated, repurposed, or processed using AI in any capacity, as this work is not part of the public domain.

      To avoid doubt, this work may not be used in any manner to train AI technologies to generate text, including, without limitation, technologies capable of generating works in the same style or genre as the work.

      All products and company names are trademarks of their respective owners. Use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by the trademark owners of this cookbook. We just happen to love using their products and hope you do, too!

      Cover design by L. Winston

      Acknowledgments

      A special thank-you to all the authors who participated in this project. It wouldn’t have been possible without you.

      And extra thanks to Irene Peterson, Donnell Ann Bell, and Melissa Keir for stepping in as proofreaders.

      Introduction

      Contrary to what the general public thinks, most authors would never be able to support themselves from their book sales. That distinction is reserved for a select few with names like King, Patterson, Roberts, and Evanovich. The rest of us hold down day jobs, sometimes more than one. Our writing becomes our second full-time job—or our third or fourth, for those of us who also juggle family responsibilities.

      But writers write because we have to. It’s in our DNA. Asking us to stop creating stories would be like asking us to stop breathing. The problem for us becomes carving out time to do that writing. Some of us rise early before the rest of our family members; others stay up way past the time everyone else has gone to bed just to type out a few hundred words each night. We write during our lunch hours and on public transportation to and from those day jobs. We scrawl ideas on napkins and scraps of junk mail and sometimes even on the backs of our hands if nothing else is available.

      Somehow in-between all our responsibilities we manage to complete our books. We authors are a resourceful bunch. I never realized just how resourceful until I started chatting with other authors about how they carve time out of their lives to write their books. That’s when inspiration hit—again.

      I say again because last year I had an idea for a combination cookbook and advice book. Other authors thought it was a pretty good idea, and the result was Bake, Love, Write: 105 Authors Share Dessert Recipes and Advice on Love and Writing. After the publication of that book, many of the participating authors suggested I do a follow-up.

      That’s when I began thinking about all those ways we find time to write. Thus, was born the idea for We’d Rather Be Writing: 88 Authors Share Timesaving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips. In this book you’ll find easy, nutritious main course recipes that require a minimum of prep time. Many are one-dish meals. For those that aren’t, simply add a salad or a cooked vegetable to round out the meal.

      The cookbook portion of this book is divided into six chapters—Seafood & Fish; Meat; Pasta; Poultry; Soup, Stew & Chili; and Vegetarian & Miscellaneous. However, as I divided the recipes up into the various categories, I ran into a dilemma. Do I assign the chicken chili recipe to the Poultry chapter or the Soup, Stew & Chili chapter? And what about the tuna pasta recipe? Does it belong with Seafood & Fish or with Pasta? With no clear-cut solution, I tossed a coin. So make sure you check out all the chapters. You never know where you’ll find that perfect dinner for a Tuesday night—or any other night of the week.

      Although these are all timesaving recipes, if you employ some of our authors’ cooking tips, you’ll save even more time—time you can spend writing or doing whatever it is you want to do—whether it’s spending more quality time with your kids, exercising, reading, gardening, or working at a favorite hobby. We authors aren’t the only people craving more time in our hectic lives.

      This book also contains tips for saving time in various aspects of your life beyond meal prep. The authors who contributed to this book are a rather creative and resourceful bunch. I’ve already implemented some of their suggestions, and I’m sure you will, too.

      For those of you who are writers, you’ll also find a plethora of great ideas to help you organize your writing life and your manuscripts.

      Finally, 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 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 that day job along with their writing. None of the authors featured in this book are named King, Patterson, Roberts, or Evanovich.

      So flip through the recipes, find something to whip up for dinner tonight, then while your meal is cooking, sit back and get to know us. Read our bios and our tips. We hope you’ll find some new recipes to try, some new authors to read, and some new tips to save time in your busy lives.

      If you enjoy We’d Rather Be Writing: 88 Authors Share Timesaving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips, please consider posting a review. And if you discover some new favorite authors, please tell your friends about those authors and the books you’ve enjoyed. Word-of-mouth is an author’s best friend, and we count on our readers to provide it.

      Bon appétit!

      Lois Winston

      Meat Recipes

      Judy Alter’s Sloppy Joe

      Prep time: 20 min.

      Cooking time: 30 min.

      Serves 4

      1 lb. ground beef

      15 oz. canned beans (any variety), rinsed and drained

      1/2 cup onion, chopped

      1/2 cup celery, diced

      2 T. bacon drippings or vegetable oil

      1/2 cup ketchup

      1-1/2 T. Worcestershire

      Dash of Tabasco sauce

      1 tsp. salt

      1/8 tsp. pepper

      1/4 tsp. oregano

      1/4 cup dry red wine

      1 T. A-1 sauce (optional)

      Cook onion in bacon drippings or oil. Add beef and brown. Add remaining ingredients and simmer 20-30 min.

      Serve either on buns or in bowls like stew. Leftovers freeze well.

      ~*~

      An award-winning novelist, Judy Alter is the author of six Kelly O’Connell Mysteries (Skeleton in a Dead Space, No Neighborhood for Old Women, Trouble in a Big Box, Danger Comes Home, Deception in Strange Places, and Desperate for Death), three Blue Plate Café Mysteries (Murder at the Blue Plate Café, Murder at the Tremont House and Murder at Peacock Mansion,) and The Perfect Coed, the first book in her Oak Grove Mysteries.

      Donnell Ann Bell’s Taking it Easy—Go Write that Scene—Pot Roast

      One of the hardest things to do for a writer on deadline or engrossed in a great scene is to stop and think, what’s for dinner? For pot roast lovers and those who want leftovers here’s a great, easy recipe that makes family and friends believe you’ve spent hours in the kitchen.

      Prep time: 5 minutes

      Cooking time: 3-5 hrs. in oven or 6-8 hrs. in slow cooker

      Serves 4-6

      3-5 lb. pot roast

      1 pkg. Au Jus seasoning

      1/2 cup water

      1 T. oregano

      Crushed garlic, to taste

      1 onion, sliced

      10 sm. red potatoes, halved

      1 bag baby carrots

      1 pkg. sliced mushrooms

      Center pot roast in baking dish or in a slow cooker. (Note: if using slow cooker, use a liner for faster cleanup.) Sprinkle the packet of Au Jus seasoning on top of the roast. Add water. Surround with potatoes, carrots and mushrooms. Top with oregano and crushed garlic. Spread onion slices throughout.

      Cook 3-5 hrs. at 300 degrees or in slow cooker on low 6-8 hrs. Slow cooking creates tender meat and vegetables.

      ~*~

      Bestselling author Donnell Ann Bell grew up in the Southwest and today calls Colorado home. A homebody at heart, she concentrates on suspense that might happen in her own neck of the woods, writing suspense too close to home. Her books have won or been nominated for several prestigious writing awards. Titles include The Past Came Hunting, Deadly Recall, Betrayed, and Buried Agendas.

      Maureen Bonatch’s Taco Pizza

      Prep time:

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