I write while my kids are in school (9 to 3) and so my peak time is the 90 min cycle from 10:30 to Noon. Before kids I was a night owl, but now I am able to be creative by keeping a strict schedule — imposed on me by my kids!

All sound advice but I am still waiting for the part where the magic pony comes in and suddenly you make money from it all - or at least enough money to live on - and especially for the first 10 years it takes you to figure out how to write something people will actually pay money to read!

The kids making marriage less enjoyable is probably true, but the deeper truth is explored pretty well in this article in the NYT: raising children is stressful but extremely satisfying.

Best cure: Suck on a teaspoon of honey. Works every time.

A great book I read before we redid our home was "Not So Big House" which makes the case of designing your house (& your budget) around the things that you do every day - basically make a list of the things you do most in each room and then focus the remodeling on making those things easier and more enjoyable.

I smell a Pulitzer, John Cook! Oh, no, wait, that's just butt.

Toddlers sleep 12 hours - you sleep 3 because they are in your bed kicking you!

This button, of course, needs no explanation:

I was in an accident like that (where someone else was driving), and it is actually a moment of intense focus where everything goes in slow motion, especially when the car is rolling and all of your stuff is just hanging in the air next to you for what feels like a few moments before everything slams back down to the…

I remember when you actually had to read to write a paper!

The real problem is parents who treat their family like work and their kids like employees. You have to put effort into having a happy home, but it is completely different from the grind in the office. All you really need to do is 1) listen to your kids and 2) lead by example. This applies to just about everything in…

To drive: Ride the subway to get around and the Staten Island Ferry for the view.

Google+ is better... better... better...

I think your last point is really central to everything: It's a constant work in progress. Every day you have to get up and make the marriage work, but not in a hard way: you just need to do the little things each day that makes your spouse feel like they are appreciated, like thanking them for the little chores they…

Yahoo serious?

My best advice: Start right now with what you have! Don't wait around for the perfect equipment and the perfect script and the best actors — the best way to learn is to start making films with what you have and then make improvements as you go along. Your technique will improve by doing, and by actually using your…

I had the chance to fly First Class this summer for the first time, and what was so depressing is it made me realize that the only thing that makes first class good is that economy is so awful! And not just on the plane — the biggest incentive to fly first class is being able to skip all the lines for checkin,…

The ultimate pro-lifehacking quote comes from Alfred North Whitehead:

To be honest, this reads like a list that a total egomaniac thinks about themselves as being a good leader (which means they are probably not). In my experience, the only thing that has made a good boss is consistency. It does not matter what their personality is like, or what standards they hold, so long as they…

"Messy desks can be a great boon for creativity."