Are you a parent trying to survive NaNoWriMo? We got you. I didn’t start writing seriously until my second child was a newborn. A very strange choice, I know. But somehow, having no time was the perfect time. Many parents feel similarly. Crystal, another mom, is here to help us make it through.

Crystal Maldonado is a YA author with a lot of feelings. Her debut, Fat Chance, Charlie Vega, was a Cosmopolitan Best New Book and a POPSUGAR Best New YA Novel. Her next novel, No Filter and Other Lies, explores teenage life on social media—and the lies we tell to ourselves and others.