For Nathan Englander, Sunday Is a Day to Roam and Write Nathan Englander takes his puppy to Fort Green Park before heading over to DeKalb Avenue for coffee. During the week, Nathan Englander, the novelist, short-story writer and soon-to-be playwright, is hypersocial, meeting friends for dinner on a nightly basis. But Sundays are mostly about quality time with his girlfriend, Rachel Silver, who is working on her Ph.D. in educational policy studies, and their gangly puppy, Calli, a Labrador retriever-boxer mix. Mr. Englander, 42, is having a big year professionally: His short-story collection "What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank" will be published by Knopf this week, and his first play, "The Twenty-Seventh Man," will open at the Public Theater in November. Mr. Englander, a former Upper West Sider who moved to Brooklyn in 2010, spends Sundays with Ms. Silver roaming Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, where they share an apartment. UP AND OFF-LEASH Now we're in the puppy business, so I no longer sleep too late. I get up, and we head to Fort Greene Park, where it's off-leash till 9. I don't know what's happened to me - I hope it's not because I'm 42 now, but I get up early. It's just strange. I wake up, and if I don't, the dog will surely wake us. COFFEE BREAK After the off-leash hours are over, people head up to DeKalb for coffee. It's like the Wild West - there are like 300 dogs tied against the fence while everyone goes in to get their lattes and mochaccinos. There's literally like hundreds of dogs. It's like a hitchin" post. DOMESTIC BREAKFAST I'm proud to even be able to tell you that we're having breakfast at home now. I used to have the fridge with the mustard and a beer and the soy packet. When I lived on the Upper West Side, I would always have a super heavy monster brunch of proportion. Now I feel like we're getting more healthful, going home and making oatmeal. We're all hearty and healthy. I think I'm off the sausage omelet. So I really tried this year to take off that week between Christmas and New Year's. I enjoy working. I like to write; that's what I do. So inevitably I want to work some in the afternoon. There's a place called Urban Vintage. Not that many writers really have a good grasp on sanity, but the only way to aspire toward sanity is to build a routine. The hunt for a coffee shop was a really big deal for me. NOT SO WIRED During the week, there are deadlines and e-mails and nine devices. It's a constant battle. My right hand is formed into a claw that is literally shaped like an iPhone at this point. But there's less Internet on Sunday. It's a day when there's a little less of that energy invading. ROAMING, NOT RACING We do not venture far on Sunday. When I lived on the Upper West Side, my whole New York life was wearing out my MetroCard, hopping in a taxi. I used to race from things morning to night, crisscrossing the city. In Brooklyn, I really just roam around. I go as far as I can walk. VEGETARIAN DATE NIGHT Sunday nights, we go out for Ethiopian food to Bati. It's our date night to go out for Ethiopian food and talk. We go at least once a week, sometimes twice. We really like to go just the two of us. It sounds almost obsessive, but for some reason we get the same thing every time. We get two vegetarian combos. It comes on a giant plate and we double up on the shiro. The staff doesn't even bring out menus. I'm a serious carnivore - there's way too much meat in my diet. But for some reason, this is the only place I get vegetarian. NO MORE LATE NIGHTS I'm on a sort of human schedule now. I used to stay up until 3, 4 in the morning. These days it's sometime after midnight. I always hope for earlier.