Writing about others is very easy and delightful. Writing about oneself is very hard! It is what I teach business owners, artists and makers to do in my Tin Shingle life. Yet in my A Little Beacon Blog life, this is a much harder exercise!

But here it is - The Highlands Current offered me a monthly column in their newspaper, and that is such an honor. Anything printed is a much tougher choice with layout/design, actual word length cut-offs, limited picture runs, distribution of the paper (aka driving it around and dropping it into locations), etc. But people love paper, they pick it up, it always works and doesn’t need to be plugged in and recharged. Admit it. You pick up newspapers, and you read paper flyers on walls.

They wanted someone to speak about Kid Life here in the Hudson Valley, with a focus on Beacon and Cold Spring. So, we have my column, called “Kid Friendly,” that will do just that! Plus I’ll touch on life as a (self-employed) working parent.

September’s column is on newsstands now - but only until Friday! Then it switches out to their next issue. I focused on my favorite time of year - September - because it is the time to begin again. It is the Back to Business season. Yet is also Back to School season. Which makes getting into a work groove very tricky. The article works to dispel the myth that parents can work with kids at home (or very little kids at least). The picture used in the article tries to debunk the myth created by photos of very calm-looking mothers sitting at the dining room table working on their laptop with a baby on their lap. Doesn’t happen!

Additionally, the article explores how business owners with storefronts do it. Showing up to a physical location at a set time can be extremely challenging. I have encountered more than one storefront that was closed during an OPEN day with a sign in the window: “Sorry, the babysitter canceled, we had to stay home” or “Sorry, we had to make an emergency doctor’s appointment.” For this article, I interviewed Carley Hughes of Ella’s Bellas in Beacon, and Dawn Scanga of Cold Spring Fitness. Carley started her business when her daughter was in a stroller, and Dawn started hers when her four children were still in high school. If you ever do encounter these signs at a local business, go easy on ‘em. It’s challenging to run a business with kids!

Pick up your copy today! Right now!

PS: The column is also online, but reading the paper is more fun.