Inside the podcast for moms too busy to read

About a year ago, NYC writer Zibby Owens was putting together some of her essays for a possible book project on parenting and motherhood. She had some doubts about whether or not it would fly.

“Moms don’t have time to read books,” the mother of four scoffed to her husband. That particular book project was passed on by an agent, but Owens had unwittingly stumbled onto the perfect name for her podcast: “Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books.”

Launched last March, she interviews authors about their books and lives; conversations range from parenting to politics to time management and just about anything else that might come up. (The podcasts sometimes bear warnings like “BAD LANGUAGE: Don’t Listen to In the Car With Your Kids!”).

She’s interviewed everyone from Andre Agassi (“Open: An Autobiography”) to Lauren Smith Brody (“The Fifth Trimester”) to Aimee Molloy (“The Perfect Mother”) to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (“Off the Sidelines”).

“There’s a lot going on with most authors. As someone who likes to write as well, there’s always this inner monologue,” says Owens, who writes regularly for Huffington Post, Today Parents and is currently writing a novel about an Upper East Side mom who falls in love with her tennis pro teacher. (This part did happen to Owens in real life.)

“When we get to open our mouths and talk, it’s interesting to hear what people are thinking. The ones who are more unguarded, after 30 minutes, we’re best friends. I’m not hesitant to share back. It’s like I’m sitting next to them at a dinner party.”

And as to the title of her podcast, she does make time to read every day, while acknowledging it’s a struggle. She never leaves her apartment without a book in her bag, sometimes combines her elliptical workouts with reading, and she likes to end each day with 30 minutes of reading in bed. But she encourages women to set their goals low — even if it’s a page or two a day.

“If you don’t read that much at a time, it still gives the same benefits,” she says. “We all know how important it is to read to kids. Why don’t we realize how good it is for us? It’s the easiest mom escape.”

Source: Read Full Article