For Susan Mossman Taylor Forever Ago

People read nonfiction to learn and to feel. My framework for ensuring a blog post accomplishes both is to start with a first draft that focuses on "novel" ideas.

A novel idea is one that's not just new to the reader, but also significant and not easily intuited. Think of it as new and worthwhile . I've identified five categories:

• Counter-intuitive —

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From my Instagram, what you might see is a series of outfit posts, glimpses of a trip to New York, Seen Library happenings, favorite spots in LA, and brand events and partnerships.

But what you don’t see are the spontaneous hang outs with my cousins, watching my best friend’s baby take his first steps, the weekly walks I take with my 80-year-old nei... See more

I think that one of the things, again, my son has been such a blessing to me over the past couple of years because I think that is an example of I almost missed him. I was so focused on solving him and preparing the path for him with his ADHD and his challenges there that I was exerting my efficacy on his life, and I almost didn’t know him. And he’... See more

The metrics don’t excite me. I don’t want ‘followers’ — which I often associate with ‘lurkers’. I much prefer readers, connections and engaged subscribers to my work. I know people with 1 million+ Instagram followers and I believe them when they tell me it doesn’t feel as good as you’d think. It’s a very shallow interaction, it doesn’t do much for ... See more

caretaking is a kind of liberation