When I went to University of California, Los Angeles, I took an internship at the soap opera General Hospital and walked down the halls with John Stamos, Rick Springfield, and Demi Moore. I was hooked! I decided there and then that TV production would be my future, and for the next decade, I climbed the ladder of success from production assistant to my dream job of television writer. After barely getting my feet wet writing on shows such as Roundhouse and Sweet Valley High, I got knocked up. My husband and I both worked long hours, so we decided I’d take a year off once our kid popped out. While pregnant, I was flabbergasted to discover that what I thought would be nine months of bliss turned into nine months of blech, and there wasn’t a book out there that revealed how truly miserable pregnancy could be—so I decided to write one. Pregnancy Sucks became a best seller, and my one year off led to a decade writing a series of Sucks books, including Pregnancy Sucks for Men, Bedtime Sucks, Breastfeeding Sucks, Potty Training Sucks, and even Teenagers Suck. (I also cowrote The Stay-at-Home Martyr.) I discovered, like pregnancy, many other aspects of parenting weren’t as easy as they appeared on TV. It’s an exhausting, trying, boring, frustrating, tedious, and sticky time that challenges your sanity. If you feel the same way and need some help, take my cyber hand, and let me guide you through these parenting land mines. I’ve tackled every hurdle from conception to college apps, and I have a few tricks up my sleeve to help you get through it with your sanity intact!