Waking Up With: Lisa Przystup

Lisa Przystup is New York based writer and incredibly talented creator. Her beautiful writing can be found all over–from Domino to New York Magazine to her own book Upstate: Living Spaces with Space to Live. Here, we discuss her path to becoming a writer, her favorite parts of living in the Catskills, and her approach to decorating her amazing farmhouse.

My name is Lisa Przystup, I’m a writer and the author of “Upstate: Living Spaces with Space to Live”—I live in the Western Catskills with my husband Jonathon and our dog Gus. Lately it’s been lots of snowy walks and trying to keep warm on these subzero days (our thermostat clocked in at -10º and -14º the past two mornings). I’ve been reading and nesting and trying to stay inspired, which can be tough smack dab in the middle of winter though I do have to say that in addition to a run of absolutely frigid days, we’ve also enjoyed a run of blue sky sunshine days and that’s really felt so incredible. The snow is even more magical when the sun is out to highlight it and there is a real beauty to everything being iced over, covered in crystals.

I’m often woken up by our dog bounding up the stairs to jump on the bed and say hello, after which I roll out of bed and slide my feet into the best slippers in the whole wide world—shoutout to L.L. Bean Wicked Good Slippers, they’ve gotten me through many a winter—and head downstairs for a cup of coffee, which I really do need very first thing. Then I usually check my email, have a bowl of cereal and take our dog for a walk.

Jenny Florence (my editor) reached out to me and told me that Monacelli (the publisher) had this idea for a book that profiled homes upstate and asked if I’d be interested in writing it and that was that. Despite having majored in Creative Writing and Mass Communication and getting my Masters in Journalism it somehow never occurred to me to write a book—this felt like such a great opportunity to cut my teeth and put myself through the paces, to really gain an understanding of the process and steps and all that good stuff.

I knew I always wanted to be a writer (or perhaps more accurately I always knew I loved reading). I grew up loving books-excessively, thoroughly, obsessively. They gave me worlds on worlds to collapse into, whole wide imaginary universes. I couldn't swallow words fast enough and it never ever felt like enough. l'd stack thin, glossy-covered children's books under my pillow so that when I was supposed to be taking a nap, l'd read them instead. The subject matter was of little consequence— I read Reader's Digest with the same fervor as Black Beauty. I read Charlotte's Web and James and the Giant Peach and Stuart Little with the same thrilling joy as any requisite textbook. For me the reassuring weight of holding a book in my hands-the feel of the cover, the smell of the paper and ink, the texture of the pages was (and still is) the most satisfying simple pleasure. As far as what that path looked like, it all started with education—after getting my Masters in Journalism I moved to NYC and proceeded to intern and network and freelance and pitch endlessly (often with little to no success). As with any creative endeavor—or any professional endeavor, really—the amount of dedication and tenacity and patience one must channel to get one’s foot in the door can sometimes feel overwhelming. I did end up hitting a wall and took a break from it all to do flowers for a little bit and that was such a nice reset—it allowed me some distance from this carrot I had been so aggressively chasing and that distance lent itself to opportunity. I ended up more actively writing for publications like Domino and New York Magazine, which lead to the book. I am Type-A to a fault so this checklist-y lineat path that I imagined as a writer was more like a winding path with offshoots, which I now realize is a much more realistic and accurate unfolding—of both life in general as well as a career.

I find that reading good writing is always a catalyst for creation and inspiration. And yes! Working on something I'm pretty excited about but can’t yet fully share—I’ll have to keep you in the loop :)

Being as close to nature as we are is incredibly grounding.  Moving through the world with the seasons as your guide and lead is a really wonderful experience—you start picking up on the small, quiet cues that signal where in the year you’re standing: goldenrod at the beginning of August means summer is starting to slowly slip out from under your feet in favor of fall, narcissus and snowdrops and grape hyacinth and frittilaria popping up mean that winter is slowly (ever so slowly) making room for spring, peaches and corn at the farmer’s market mean you are standing at the glorious peak of summer.

It’s funny because I never really think about my approach to decorating—I tend to have a very specific clear cut strategy for most things but it’s kind of hard to put in words exactly how I go about making our house a home. I think it’s a mix of feeling—like understanding how I want a room to feel (which is usually warm, cozy, approachable) but I also want to feel inspired by the design of it all. A lot of it is living in the space for a bit before making big decisions, that way you have a better understanding of how you use and move through it. I definitely don’t always follow my own advice—usually when I’m in a new space I want it to feel like home as soon as humanly possible but I find that most of the choices I make early on are often undone/become irrelevant the longer I live somewhere. I also just fall into endless interior design wormholes—I used to look to magazines like Domino for inspiration and then Architectural Digest and World of Interiors and websites like Remodelista. I also find myself getting lost on Pinterest (in the best way possible).

How in the winter it feels like a ship at sea.  Sleeping on the ground floor on the couch in the summer because it’s too hot upstairs. The way the light moves through it. How almost everywhere I look (save for the piles of laundry) there are these moments of reassuring beauty and comfort. The way it holds us.

• Reading: Best American Food + Travel Writing, Best American Essays, I just ordered Playworld by Adam Ross and am wanting to re-read Orwells Roses by Rebecca Solnit. 
• Watching: movies that make me feel warm and held and reassured and laugh and joyful. 
• Listening: Weekend Edition Saturday with national treasure Scott Simon, This American Life, The New Yorker Radio Hour and Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me. Also my Spotify Discover Weekly. Harry Belafonte is on our record player currently. Oh and steaming classical music from Classical WETA, the station I grew up listening to my dad listening to classical on. 

• The coolest place I’ve ever woken up in is: Cabo San Lucas 
• The best cup of coffee/tea is at: I like a good cup of coffee like anyone else but am also not picky so this one is kind of tough to answer—I don’t think I can say I’ve ever had a cup of coffee and was like “WOW THIS IS THE BEST CUP OF COFFEE” but I know a bad cup when I taste one (so a very long-winded non-answer for you there). 
• A thing about mornings I’ll never get sick of is: coffee and the way the sun (if we’re lucky) streams through our front picture window