Posts By: MJ Pullen

M.J. Pullen is a distracted writer and the mom of two boys in Roswell, Georgia, where she is absolutely late for something important right now. Her books include quirky romantic comedies and playful women's fiction. She blogs erratically with writing advice, random observations, and reflections on raising very loud kids and dogs. Join her Distracted Readers newsletter list for updates, free content, giveaways and more.

Monthly Winners Backlog

posted on 07/17/2014

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Oh, I’m a terrible blog mistress! I haven’t picked a random prize winner since MARCH. I sense a collective spanking headed my way in the future. Be gentle, will you? So, here you go, and each of these folks (chosen at random) will win an Amazon.com gift card. It’s not sexy, I know, but you […]

My Experiment: Tie-Dye – Graffiti Beach Towels

posted on 07/15/2014

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Tie-Dye/Graffiti Beach Towels (a.k.a. my attempt to be a Pinterest Mom) We are having a splash park birthday party for Skywalker and Fozzie in a couple of weeks, and for some reason “psychedelic beach” is the theme that’s evolved for it. In an attempt to avoid spending $20 per attending child on bags of crap […]

Caption Contest

posted on 07/14/2014

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This caption contest is brought to you by my latest attempt to do something I found on Pinterest… Please submit your suggestions for a caption to the picture below. You can vote on captions you like by replying to the commenter with the words “vote.” I’ll pick a winner to receive an autographed copy of […]

Bathing Suit Weather and My Girl Crush on Melissa McCarthy

posted on 07/09/2014

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I just got back from a lovely, mostly relaxing long weekend at the beach with my husband’s family. Everything on the trip went as smoothly as we could have hoped: the five kids (our two and three cousins — all eight and under) behaved and got along great. The weather was perfect, the ocean clear. […]

Of Love and Carseats

posted on 06/27/2014

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People often say that after you settle down and are married or committed to someone for a long time, and especially after you have kids, life becomes less exciting and romantic. And, well, yes. It does. Sometimes it’s hard to feel sexy when you’re sleep deprived, exhausted and all the bathrooms in your house smell […]

Now all we need is…

posted on 06/20/2014

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Skywalker: I don’t want to go to camp next week. Dad: No? Really? Skywalker: No. I want to have camp at home with Mommy. Mom: You’re going to have lots of days at home with Mommy later in the summer. What’s wrong? You’re not enjoying camp? Skywalker: I like the swimming, but we can do […]

Book Reviews: Do As I Say, Not as I (Don’t) Do

posted on 06/19/2014

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A couple of people have asked me lately about my ratings on Goodreads and why I don’t seem to write reviews of the books I’ve read there. People also sometimes come across my blog and ask me to review their books here, and I almost always politely turn them down. The answer is that I […]

Reading List Update

posted on 06/18/2014

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Happy Almost-Truly-but-in-practicality-it’s already-Summer!! I just this morning finished listening to Neil Gaiman read me his novel, Ocean at the End of the Lane. It’s not my usual kind of book, but I enjoyed it and I like that his voice sometimes sounded like Alan Rickman. (<– This is why I don’t write book reviews!) Since […]

Moms & Dads, Happy & Sad

posted on 06/13/2014

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I’m feeling a bit of turmoil the last couple of days. The kids have been crazy off, especially Skywalker, who is still adjusting to the long hot days at his new summer camp. Maybe it’s because today Friday the 13th AND a full moon, and the whole week has been weird in preparation. It could […]

It’s a Magical Life

posted on 06/10/2014

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Well, we did it. We managed to conquer the various kingdoms of Disneyworld in Orlando last week, hauling around a couple of tired and over-stimulated kids who, in my opinion, seriously don’t appreciate how much more fun life is for them than it was when we were kids. Exactly like our parents did before us. […]