Malia Jacobson is one of the most diligent and efficient writers I know. If I were an editor, I would want to hire a writer like Malia. She dives headlong into a story, whether it’s for Women’s Health, Costco Connection, ParentMap, or even in her blog, and she gets to the bottom of the topic in her research and her writing.
I think readers of Malia’s body of work will see that she never writes anything half way, and this certainly includes the thorough and resourceful job she did on Ready, Set, Sleep. If I were having trouble getting my kids to sleep, I would read this e-book to get the helpful cures that Malia has assembled for tired parents.
Please help me welcome Malia!
About Malia Jacobson
Malia Jacobson has been helping tired families sleep since 2007. She is a writer, editor, nationally-published sleep journalist, and author of Ready, Set, Sleep: 50 Ways to Help Your Child Sleep, So You Can Sleep Too. Her sleep articles reach millions in respected print publications and she answers questions from tired parents as the resident sleep expert at ParentingSquad.com.
Malia’s articles have been featured in over 70 news outlets and publications, including ABC News, Women’s Health Magazine, Costco Connection Magazine, Seattle’s Child Magazine, ParentMap Magazine, Seattle Business Magazine, San Diego Family Magazine, and Cincinnati Family Magazine. She is a contributing writer at Family Time Magazine and Broward Family Life Magazine.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in communication and a master’s degree in business administration/marketing. When she’s not writing, she co-organizes a popular attachment parenting group in her hometown of Tacoma, Washington, digs in her garden, and explores the Pacific Northwest with her husband and two young daughters.
About Ready, Set, Sleep!
Are you a sleep-starved modern parent, frustrated at the prospect of another sleepless night? Are you a new or prospective parent, looking for a healthy, peaceful way to foster lifelong sleep success? If you’re ready to get real about sleep, science, and solutions that work, Ready, Set, Sleep: 50 Ways to Help Your Child Sleep, So You Can Sleep Too will help you resolve sleep challenges quickly—or prevent sleep problems entirely—by working with children, not against them.
Compassionate sleep support is the path to healthy, well-rested children and harmonious, thriving families. Ready, Set, Sleep helps parents put compassionate sleep support into practice immediately. This e-book takes parents step-by-step through the process of creating a sleep-friendly home and family environment, resolving sleep resistance, removing barriers to sleep, and overcoming common sleep challenges.
Written by a nationally-published sleep journalist, columnist, and mom of two, Ready, Set, Sleep helps tired parents put their family’s sleep struggles to rest quickly and permanently, without battling their children or resorting to cry-it-out.
All of the 50 information-packed, thoroughly explained, easy-to-follow tips are fact-based and mom-tested, and will help even the most sleep-challenged child get more rest, starting now. The tips and tactics are designed for children from birth through the preschool years and beyond.
Ready, Set, Sleep helps parents:
- Tap into a child’s natural drive to sleep
- End night waking, bedtime battles, early waking, and more
- Support a child’s sleep needs with compassion and respect
- Create healthy sleep habits that will last a lifetime
- Experience the joy of parenting a well-rested child
All of the tactics in Ready, Set, Sleep are fact-based and mom-tested. None involve cry-it-out.
Ready, Set, Sleep is available in PDF and Kindle.
The Very Short Interview
When did you know for sure that you were a writer and that writing would be a major energy focus in your life?
People around me knew I was a writer long before I did—in fourth grade, my teacher saw a glimmer of talent and told me she wanted to buy a copy of my first novel. But writing didn’t grab hold of me until my early thirties.
Who has always been behind your writing career and who helped pull you up the ladder of success?
It’s not as much one single person pulling me along (though there are many who have helped me) but one single thing: joy. The pleasure I get from sharing stories keeps me moving and motivated. I don’t put much stock in willpower. I know I’ll never be successful at something if I have to force myself to keep going, day after day. Plain and simple, I enjoy writing; it’s hard work, but it never feels like drudgery. Each project leaves me eager to start the next.
What is the most frequent comment you hear about your book (or books) from readers? Tell us a little story about the response to your work.
The most frequent response from parents who read my sleep writing is gratitude. They’re grateful to find a way of supporting their child’s sleep that’s simple, effective, and compassionate. After reading my health articles, people often tell me that my writing simplifies complex topics—they’ll say, “I never heard it presented that way before, but it makes perfect sense.” That’s the biggest compliment I can get, as a health writer.
And Now, Your Turn
Now it’s your turn. You remember how this works right?
I ask you a question. You answer in the comments for your chance to win a book each day.
Please just respond once, even if you make a typo. 
Answer in the comments in 50-200 words (no less and no more to qualify to win one of today’s books). Please read the complete rules at least once!
Thanks for participating in the Writer Mama Every-Day-In-May Book Giveaway! I hope to see you here every day this month. Bring your friends!
In yesterday’s giveaway post, I asked you about what you enjoyed doing as a 9 – 11 year old. Today I am asking you: how can you get more of that childhood pleasure back into your daily life? What would you be doing if you were enjoying life like a 9-11 year-old again?
Ready, set, comment!
Comments on this entry are closed.
First, I have to say I’ve read Malia’s book and it is spot on — my daughter was sleeping through the night (again) in less than a week. Readers — buy this book if you don’t win it.
Second, in response to the prompt: I could get more of that childhood pleasure back in my life by putting play on the to do list. I tend to put work-related items on the list and fill in household errands and kids’ needs, then leave play time up to what little is left. And with laundry and cooking and cleaning and, and, and there isn’t much left.
Thanks for the reminder, Christina.
Some of my best memories from that time are with a very close friend. We fished for golf balls in the water hazards nearby, did our hair together and spent hours chatting and daydreaming in her room. I think to get that sort of enjoyment out of life again, I would try spending quality time with a girlfriend.
I’d spend less time in front of the computer (though likely
that would be different if I were a 9–11 year old today). I’d spend most of the
day outside. Barefoot. I’d be in the woods or the garden. I’d read and imagine.
I’m working on getting there more. I try to get my kids outside everyday, even
if it’s a little wet or cold. I kick my shoes off and feel the cool dirt and
soft moss. I pull weeds between pushing my daughter on the swing. I see how
much I can do before chasing the little one who likes to run away down the
hill. We poke in the dirt together and look for worms and see what’s growing.
And on those rare occasions when both kids are occupied or sleeping, sometimes
I put my work aside, Iclose up my laptop, and sneak out in the garden or sit
under the pear tree with a book.
Oh, what an easy question, Christina. If I were enjoying life like I did at that age I would be outside 75% of the time and not in the house or on the computer as I am now; and I would be reading–constantly–for pleasure. I guess the garden and the novel beside my chair need more of my attention ;).
What a fun question! My biggest childhood pleasures came from reading and dancing like a wild woman. Although I still do lots and lots of reading I NEVER dance anymore. In fact, I describe myself as a non-dancing person. I haven’t really thought about that in awhile. I took dancing classes as a kid, but what I liked best was turning up the music and dancing at home all by myself. I guess I need to start dancing. 🙂
Oh what would I do if I were to live my life as I did when I
was 9-11? The image of riding my bike pops into my mind, as does skating
outdoors, playing softball, playing tag around the block with neighbourhood
kids, so definitely lots of outdoor time. Also, reading in bed with a
flashlight. I still do that, but now it’s a camping headlamp so I can read to
my children as they ease into sleep without an overhead light to keep them too
alert.
My favorite memories from that age were of making cozy,
enclosed spaces where I would read or draw or just curl up and daydream. The modern-life equivalent of that
would be to make some spots in my home that invite leisure. A reading nook, a napping spot on the
couch, some lounging pillows on the living room floor. My partner was recently musing about
how to turn our bedroom into a Bedouin tent. That sounds great, too!
Since I read and wrote all of the time when I was a kid, either outside or in a cozy space I created for myself in the corner, I think I need to search for comparable cozy spaces in my life. When I get settled and start writing or reading now, I feel I do sink into that same nurturing and creative space. The difference now is that schedules, housework, sick kiddos and other responsibilities keep whispering in my ears and drawing me away. Time is no longer eternal, nor is it solely my own.
What strikes me about the difference between my life now and my life at age 9 is that expectations have changed: my expectations for myself and what others expect from me. The exploratory freedom and wonder at the newness in the world seems childish among all the concrete tasks I’m “supposed” to accomplish. Those tasks eat up my time and when I get a free moment after the kids are in bed, I’m too tired to be adventurous. The key to creating space for adventure and wonder seems to lie in saying “thank you but no” more often. Although that’s a tough task that occasionally conflicts with ambition and “success,” I’m willing to work at it, because life is too short to live like an ant checking items off my list, not stopping to smell the air and feel the sunshine on my 9-year old cheeks.
As there’s no way to divest myself of the responsibilities that come with adulthood and motherhood, I don’t believe it’s possible to experience the pure pleasure of childhood. Perhaps if I were so independently wealthy that bills paid themselves and personal assistants handled all the details, I could come close. But honestly, I’m enjoying life more than I ever did as a 9-11 year old. I’ve got a great career and three self-sufficient grown children. The only thing I’d like more of is time . . . but wouldn’t we all.
If I were enjoying life like a 9-11 year old again I would be making up stories as I walk, either outdoors in warm weather or on a treadmill in cold weather. Since I made up stories as a 9-year-old while I rode my bicycle, I think the habit would return if I allowed it to do so. In the years before I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2005, I used to try to hold a single topic in my mind while I walked, only to experience again and again thoughts tumbling all over themselves. Now once again my mind is quiet, so I now believe I should try a little fiction – I might like it.
If I was that age again, I would get dirtier. I would spend more hours way watching the clouds. I would play dress up more. I would run crazily. I would sing louder and I’d never wish to grow uP faster.
I would be outside with my brothers riding bikes, playing football, or climbing trees. We spent a lot of time outside when the days were long, even though we lived in the city at this time in my life.
My youngest daughter just turned 12, but she is still such a little girl at heart—-I need to draw my cues from her, and join her more often in doing the things I loved at her age: swinging, riding bike, playing marathon games of Monopoly with my sisters, playing dress-up as pioneers, and reading for hours on a blanket under the old box elder tree. She would absolutely love it, and I would feel like a little girl again, by making memories with my little girl!
Congrats, Heather. You are the winner!