I need lots of alone time.

Lots.

Boatloads.

For so many years, I felt odd for needing as much alone time as I do. As a child growing up, I remember aunts and uncles coming to visit and remarking to my parents about the massive amount of time I spent in my room alone. They were always so concerned about me and what that meant.

My reaction to witnessing the well-deserved comeuppance of powerful sexual harassers lately is probably the same as most people.

In the beginning—with Harvey Weinstein—it was disgust, shock, and horror. Not because I didn’t believe it could happen or even that it wasn’t happening every single day, because I knew that it could, and it was. I think the horror came from the outrageousness of the acts, how long it had been going on, and the extent to which it was covered up by those around him. I was especially naïve about that last part.

I have a 10-year-old son and as a mom, I have been struggling lately with what I should be teaching him as he grows up and becomes a man.

I am almost constantly overwhelmed and feel completely inept as a parent. That’s no secret. (I often refer to myself as World’s Okayest Mom.) But with my daughter, I feel like I have a fighting chance, at least. I’ve been there. And I have personal experience with at least some of the things that she is going through, or might go through at some point.

But boys? I got nothing.

I worry that I want him to stay my little boy forever and I won’t teach him the things that he needs to learn, as I cling so much to the cuddly boy he is now.

Five, that’s how many.

No—six! Because I’m still looking for one more.

Have you seen those articles? The ones that encourage you to pick up a side hustle while you’re working your main job?

It could be that you are still in the beginning stages of working towards your dream career while working your steady 9-to-5 job, and your side hustle is the passion project you do on the side. Or it could be that you’re already working your dream job, but you need a side hustle to keep things afloat while that dream career starts to pull its own weight in the payday department.

Recently, I heard about a writing technique called “The Kitchen Timer Technique.”

For those of you fully ensconced in the world of writing, it might be old news. But for me—a busy mom and editor whose writing time is precious and scarce—it was revelatory.

I first heard about this technique from Lauren Graham in her book, Talking as Fast as I Can. In it, she describes her own process for writing her book and trying to find the time to write. A friend and colleague, screenwriter Don Roos, shared this technique with her as a way to help her accomplish more in the limited time she had.

Several weeks ago, I needed to run an errand that took me into the city, where I had an experience that I am still thinking about…and having a hard time shaking.

Since I live about 25 miles outside the downtown Denver area, it’s not often that I have a need to go there, aside from arts and cultural events, or the occasional evening or weekend away. In fact, it’s not often I need to leave the confines of my Mayberry-like suburban town at all. (Or maybe it’s just that all the shuttling of my kids leaves me with precious little time to even think about venturing out further.)

I have come to a season in my life where the phrase “work-life balance” has suddenly taken on a whole new meaning—one I never expected.

A lot of people don’t even like that phrase, work-life balance, since the word “balance” can make it sound like the ultimate goal is to achieve a perfect balance of both work, and the rest of our daily lives. But anyone who has spent any amount of time juggling the different areas of their life, learns very quickly that there will never be a perfect balance.