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Destination Inspiration: Chocolati Café, Greenwood

Chocolati Croissant

With tasty food and plenty of nooks to tuck away into with a book or laptop, Chocolati is like a home away from home for writers. Take your pick of a large table and chairs by a window or overstuffed chairs by a little fireplace, with plenty of space and an outlet around just about every corner, it’s easy to nestle in and get to work. You may find several hours have passed before you know it!

Food and Beverages

While most people probably come for the chocolate, it would be a shame to stop there. From filled croissants to a delectable zucchini tart, the savory items should not be overlooked. That said, do feel free to order a cayenne hot cocoa or any of a number of artisan truffles. They are, after all, among the items that make this café worthy of its moniker.

Location and Atmosphere

Set on a corner just south of the major intersection of 95th and Greenwood, this café in the heart of North Seattle’s Greenwood neighborhood is easy to get to, and it’s in a neighborhood that’s extremely walkable. Chocolati has an atmosphere of a study group taking place in a friend’s apartment. It’s not uncommon to find small groups meeting for business or students gathering to study, in addition to the lone writer or friends chatting over their warm mugs.

Chocolati Zucchini Tart

Writeability and Purchased Presence

This place seems made for writers. Having undergone an expansion in the past few years, Chocolati is like a really big apartment with an open floorplan that’s somewhat segmented. The main room is where you’ll order and perhaps grab a window seat if you’re only sticking around for a few minutes. But keep walking through and you’ll find more seating than you ever would have expected just walking by the storefront.

Price: $$

In addition to the usual $3 latte, you can also find a variety of wines for $7 a glass. On the sweet side, truffles run from $1.45 and up and savory treats starting at $6.

Parking

Between a major neighborhood road and a residential area, you’re bound to find street parking within a block or so.

Writer’s Tip

Bring your laptop and a charger and plenty of tip money–you’re going to want to stay here a while. Before coming, make a list of projects to work on, in order of priority, and start writing!

Find it:

Greenwood Chocolati Café
8319 Greenwood Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98103
Website


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Daily Writer’s Fix: March 25-29

Powell's Bookshelves

Did you enjoy the Daily Writer’s Fix from a few weeks ago when we encouraged you to go digging in your beloved writing books? We’re doing it again this week!

Do you ever read through books about writing and dog-ear the pages with writing exercises, telling yourself you’ll go back to them soon and actually complete them? If so, do you return to them? This week is when you will. Each day this week, work through an exercise in one of your favorite writing books. If you have a vast collection of books, try one exercise in a book, then move on to the next book. Or if you have a particularly inspiring book, work solely with that one’s exercises. Finally, if one exercise particularly speaks to you, consider repeating that one with different topics or themes each day. Finally, if you have a particular favorite among the exercises, make a note of it and return to it whenever your writing or idea-generating needs a boost.

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Friday Forum: 3/22

Image from pagetopremiere.com
Image from pagetopremiere.com

An author has made major headway for writers on the publishing scene. Hugh Howey has managed to become a millionaire from his science fiction series which is available on Amazon. “Wool” sold more than 400,000 ebooks and was optioned for Hollywood, and all well before the first print edition rolled off the press! What makes this story a special example of hope for writers everywhere is this: the average author gets about 12% of the profits from a book sold through a publisher, with Hugh’s contract with Simon & Schuster he has managed to arrange for 70%. (You can listen to his interview with KIRO radio). Could this be a new trend allowing authors to benefit more from their hard work? Check out what Hugh Howey has been up to with his series Wool.

As a writer have you considered how you are going to get your work into the hands of your readers? Through a publisher? Through independent publishing? Amazon? Here’s hoping this is a new dawn for aspiring authors everywhere.

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Scraps to Scrumptious: Post-Flight Dinner

Spicy Tomato Pasta

A few nights ago, after returning home from a trip for a travel piece I’m writing, I needed to make a late dinner. Rummaging through the refrigerator, I threw away remnants of meals from the week before consisting of leftovers we didn’t have time to eat. Virtually all that was left–aside from the food that belongs to our live-in guest–were the typical fridge staples: jams, cheeses, flours, and the like. In such circumstances, however, a well-stocked pantry means that with a little creativity, there’s no excuse to say there’s nothing to eat.

I had half a box of rigatoni, a can of diced tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, and chili flakes, and that was almost all I needed to put together a satisfying late-night dinner, a veritable midnight snack.

What are your favorite pantry creations?

Spicy Post-Flight Pasta
A Nooks & Cranberries original

1/2 pound rigatoni
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
6 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
Small handful of Kalamata olives, sliced lengthwise
4 garlic cloves, pressed
Generous sprinkling of dried chili flakes
1/3 stick butter
1 (15-ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained

Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, bring diced tomatoes to a simmer in a medium saucepan, then add sun-dried tomatoes, olives, and garlic, and continue to cook, turning up the heat to bring to a light boil. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes, until the liquid reduces slightly. Stir in butter and allow to melt, then add garbanzo beans and cook until heated through. Drain pasta and add to the tomato sauce, stirring to combine. Serve.

Serves 3-4.

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Destination Inspiration: Sterling Coffee Roasters

Sterling Coffee Roasters Sign Portland holds a soft spot in our hearts. Just a few hours away from Seattle, it’s easy to drive there for a weekend, and it’s a perfect urban getaway for people who like books (one word: Powell’s!), good food, the Northwest lifestyle, and–of course–coffee.

Sterling Coffee Roasters

Food and Beverages

Let the flavors shine by keeping your coffee order simple: an espresso or macchiato if you like your coffee mostly straight, or a cappuccino. The flavors are incredibly smooth, while being distinct and bold. This is the way coffee should taste. As for the food, the chocolate-coffee loaf had a moist, spongy crumb, a delicate and not-t00-sweet flavor, and a color as deep as espresso. In other words, it was an ideal accompaniment to the showstopper coffee.

Sterling Coffee

Location and Atmosphere

Described on the website as “Coffeehouse Northwest’s darling child,” Sterling–which is located on Northwest 21st Avenue in the Alphabet District–is a lovely little cafe that’s “afforded every luxury, from the nicest clothes to the best finishing school.” That essence is carried throughout the entire production, from the white tablecloths to the well-dressed staff.

The Alphabet District has a distinct charm in itself. An area zoned for historic preservation, the district is named for the alphabetical progression of street names. With beautiful classic buildings lining the streets, after you’ve enjoyed your visit at the cafe, it’s worth a walk to admire the historic scenery.

Writeability and Purchased Presence

To be honest, you probably don’t want to come here with your laptop–there’s simply not enough room for a computer and your order on those charming little white linen-wrapped tabletops complete with centerpieces. But you will want to have a tiny notebook on hand to jot down all the ideas that come to you as you sip your cappuccino in such an inspiring setting.

Sterling Coffee Roasters Interior

Price: $$

Coffee and pastries cost the standard handful of dollars. Bring a $10 bill and you’ll be set for a drink and pastry.

Parking

The only complaint about this place is the parking. For a city that–like Seattle–is so focused on bicycles, everyone seems to be driving around here, and street parking seems to be in high demand.

Writer’s Tip

As the space in the cafe doesn’t really afford room for much more than a notepad, try a notepad-sized exercise to get your brain churning on your current project. Whether your project is fiction or non-fiction, see if you can boil the content of your piece down to one or two sentences. The idea of the exercise is to sharpen the message behind your piece and give focus for further critique. If you don’t have a current project, perhaps use the notepad method and work backward to develop a short story from a single nutshell sentence. Happy writing!

Find it:

Sterling Coffee Roasters
417 NW 21st Ave
Portland, OR 97209
Website

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Daily Writer’s Fix: March 18-22

How to use Daily Writers’ Fix

Monday:

Sight

 Royal Hawaiian Lanai

If photography is painting with light, then writing is painting with words. Write a long paragraph today–about anything–being as descriptive as possible.

Tuesday:

Smell

Ferry Rope

Take your character on a boat ride. While you’re at it, feel the breeze on your skin, listen to the sounds of the engine and the water, and smell the briny air. Write exactly what your character experiences and the significance of each of those sensations.

Wednesday:

Sound

Staircase

Where does this staircase lead? What does your character hear as he climbs? Silence? A raucous party?

Thursday:

Touch

Lavender

Today, take one of your favorite scents–it could be an herb or perhaps a perfume or your favorite food–and write about it not mentioning the way it smells, but through the lens of touch instead.

Friday:

Taste

Outdoor Seating

Practice dialogue today by taking a couple of characters and placing them at a table together for drinks or dinner and seeing what happens.

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Writer’s Kitchen: Our Favorites So Far

Saffron RisottoJust a few nights ago Sarah and I cooked a special dinner for our husbands to say thanks for all their help so that we could go away for a writers’ retreat. The results–saffron risotto with scallops–was pretty amazing, I have to say, and I only wish we had snapped up some better-quality photos to share with you here before it was all gone! Oh well, we’ll just have to make it again so that we can share it with you here at Writer’s Kitchen. In the meantime, here are some of our favorite Writer’s Kitchen entries to date:

Tea & Cookies for Your Writing Ritual

Last-Minute Holiday Appetizers

What We Eat When We’re Alone

Homemade Chai

Homemade Marshmallows

Absinthe Cake

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Destination Inspiration: Productivity Winners

Pearl

What are your go-to places when you need to get a lot of work done in a short amount of time? Ours depend on the situation–do we need a distraction-free place where we can relax, or will our current project thrive on a bustling setting? That said, here’s a look at some of our top destinations for productivity that we’ve featured so far:

Barking Dog Alehouse – Seattle

Nielsen’s Authentic Danish Pastry – Seattle

10 Barrel Brewing Company Pub – Bend

Walla Faces Wine Tasting Room – Walla Walla

Colville Street Patisserie – Walla Walla

Pearl Bakery – Portland

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Daily Writer’s Fix: March 11-15 (Reviving Stalled Projects)

Keyboard

Writers are often procrastinators–not always on a macro level, but certainly on a micro one. What I mean is this: When we sit down to write, we often stare at the blank screen, wondering where to begin. I would like to challenge you this week to revisit stalled projects for at least 15 minutes a day as part of your daily writing challenge. What you’re going to do is sit down and just write. Wait, you say, that’s a cheap piece of useless advice! I disagree.

I used this strategy recently when working on an article that I struggled to find focus for. I had already done my reporting and had many great facts and quotes–way too much to be able to use, in fact. I allowed myself to just start writing, challenging myself to write as much of a first draft as possible, starting with a lead, and moving on to the middle, trusting my “ear” to give the article preliminary organization and flow.

You’ll find when you do this that you’ll have gaps in your information, sure, but you’ll know exactly what facts to look for rather than being overwhelmed with an entire topic’s worth of facts. To keep the momentum going, just make note of the facts you want to collect and do your research afterward. Also, rather than going through your notes to find the quote that you’re thinking about, just make a note about which one you’re considering and keep writing. Read through your draft–what do you think about the way that you were able to bring order and focus just by trusting yourself to just write?

You’re going to have to keep working on the article–a first draft is rarely a final draft. But I hope that you’ll find this practice helpful for those pieces that have you feeling stuck.