Here's to an end of the year full of cheese, champagne, and cheer!
It's my last newsletter of 2018! Next week I'll be on my first laptop free vacation in over two years, so instead of writing to all of you I'll be head first in a cheese wheel with a baguette in my hand. (I'll hopefully be posting pictures on Instagram, so follow me over there if you want to see a lot of French food).
This month, I've been thinking a lot about this year, and how this time last year I had no idea what was going to happen with my books, or anything else. So much has happened this year for me, and so much of it has achieved and then gone beyond some of my dreams, and I'm so grateful for all of it. But it's also made me think back on previous years, years where everything I attempted failed, and scary things happened, and it felt like my days were a constant nightmare. This isn't one of those how to achieve in business talks, where I tell you I got out of that hole by getting up at 5 am to exercise and wrote every day and if you work hard and don't sleep you can do it, etc. etc. (though I do need to exercise a hell of a lot more in 2019). I got out of that hole because I had people around me who made me feel loved and who believed in me a lot more than I believed in myself, a great dog, and through lots and lots of good luck. Those first two things definitely helped me to put myself into the position for good luck to come my way -- there are a few things I can think of right off the top of my head that terrified me and I only did after pushes and pep talks from friends and family (and walking the dog). (One of those things was writing The Wedding Date, thanks Melissa). But if you're in a hole right now, I believe in you, you can get out of it, and it may take a while, and every step forward may seem tiny and also feel very scary, but it's still a step.
In an Instagram story this week, Aminatou Sow (who, if you don't follow her on Instagram, go do that immediately, and also read this great piece about her in the New York Times) posted some great tips for life and achieving goals that I screencapped because they resonated with me so much. They were longer than this, but the key points were: 1) Set some real ass goals! And write them down. (And give yourself time, we're playing the long game here); 2) Invest in yourself. Take care of your body and mind. Stop saying mean things to yourself; 3) Surround yourself with ambitious people. It feels so good to see your friends win! It means you're part of a winning team! Yes yes yes to all of these points, I agree with them all so much, and they're all hard to do but worth it. Just recently I got something I asked for because I asked an ambitious friend for advice, and her advice freaked me OUT but I did what she said, and her advice was so right. And earlier this year my editor suggested something that sounded exciting but also impossible, and afterwards I said to my agent, "I mean look, I'm glad Cindy believes in me, but we all know this won't happen, right?" SPOILER: it happened. Just also remember a key part of that advice above: give yourself time! Look at that second point, and don't beat yourself up if you don't get where you want to be immediately (honestly, that's the hardest advice of all, and one that I'm very bad at taking).
All of this is just to say that if you had a difficult 2018, I understand, and I've been there. I'm rooting for all of you who had a hard year to flourish in 2019.
For your book recs, I give you twelve romances I recommended in Oprah Magazine this week. Buy them as last minute presents, or for yourself!
It's cookie season! I made 7 plus dozen rugelach for my cookie exchange this week, and then 8 dozen rum balls, and I think this weekend I'm going to make these Chocolate Crinkle cookies. (Once I start baking cookies I can't stop). They're easy to make and always crowd pleasers, and are from Martha, who does cookies very well.
Martha Stewart's Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Ingredients:
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup whole milk
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup confectioners sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt the chocolate in a glass or metal bowl set over a pan of simmering water (stir frequently). Let cool. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix the butter and brown sugar in a stand mixer or with a handheld mixer (or with a wooden spoon) until pale and fluffy (2-3 minutes with a mixer, more like 5 by hand). Mix in the eggs and vanilla, and then add the melted chocolate. Slowly mix in the flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the milk (if you're using a stand mixer, turn it down to low for this). Scrape the bowl well, and divide the dough into four equal pieces; wrap in plastic and refrigerate for about two hours (or longer if you need to!).
Divide each piece of dough into 16 1 inch balls (keep the rest of the dough in the fridge until it's time to bake; you can also roll each piece of dough into a log and wrap well in plastic and then freeze until you're ready to cut into 16 pieces to roll and bake). Put the granulated sugar in one wide bowl, and the powdered sugar in another. Roll each ball first in the granulated sugar, and then in the powdered sugar. Place two inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. This is a good time to tell you all again about parchment paper sheets, which are a boon to all bakers this time of year especially (I use these, you can get them online and in baking stores and likely bigger grocery stores). Bake until the surfaces crack, about 14 minutes.
Enjoy!
Have a wonderful end of year and Christmas if you celebrate it, and happy new year to all.
xo
Jasmine
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