The tantrums? Nope. The snuggles? Sure. But you’ll know that when you see it. — Imagine this: a toddler melts down in the middle of a grocery aisle. The toddler’s mother is taking deep breaths, staying as calm as she can, wrestling her screaming child back into the cart while silently praying that no one will notice. But of course someone does notice, and it’s…

Is it time to start writing elsewhere? — Some writers say it’s gauche to share what you earn. Some writers say it’s fine as long as you’re honest. And some write clickbait nonsense with headlines like “I MADE 144K IN MY FIRST MONTH WRITING ON HOGWASH.COM! HERE’S HOW!” only to reveal after eighteen paragraphs of poorly spelled dreck…

An impassioned plea to preserve a way of life that is now gone with the Witch. — My beloved fellow citizens of Narnia — fauns, centaurs, random river mammals! Boggarts, trolls, slime creatures that inhabit the sewer systems of Cair Paravel! — I beg your attention and your sympathy for a most noble cause. You may remember me as the faun who still determinedly drives a sleigh…

Nip those nosy questions in the bud with these evasive maneuvers. — Pretend you did not hear the question, and repeat “WHAT?” at louder and louder levels until they are forced to give up in defeat and back slowly away from you. Bore your conversationalist straight out of the room by launching into a detailed plot summary and analysis of the longest…

Is it my fault? Possibly not. Can I fix it? Uh… maybe. — Is “mom brain” a real thing? Opinions on the Internet vary (isn’t that true of all things? Like vaccines? Gas prices? Books turned into films? Cannibalism?) but many agree that there is a verifiable lag in mental operating power once you have a child or two. (If you’re female, that…

Betty Smith’s slow-moving, enduring novel is a master class in characterization and realism — Betty Smith’s 1943 classic A Tree Grows in Brooklyn ends with the tree, which seems fitting. “The tree whose leaf umbrellas had curled around, under and over her fire escape had been cut down because the housewives complained that wash on the lines got entangled in its branches. The landlord…

Why does a nudist family of bipedal dogs have laundry on the clothesline? — The third season of the Australian cartoon Bluey comes to American screens via Disney+ on August 10th. …

Everything I want to say to you, and everything you can’t say yet. — My name is Mama, not Dada. My name is Mama, not *raspberry noise.* My name is Mama, not “quack.” My name is Mama. Mama. You can say it. I know you can. You’ve made the noises. You know who I am. My name is Mama. My name is I carried…