Fuller - The joys of much too much: go for the big life--the great career, the perfect guy, and everything else youve ever wanted

Id like to thank the most patient editor of all, Doris Cooper, who persevered through weekly magazine schedules and unforeseen life events and remained committed to this book. Thank you also for your excellent suggestions and thoughtful editing. Thank you also to the enthusiastic and supportive Mark Gompertz, Trish Todd, Cherise Davis, Marcia Burch, and Chris Lloreda at Simon & Schuster.

I am grateful to my agent, Michael Carlisle, who took me on as a first-time author with complete commitment at a very difficult time in my life, and to Bob Bernstein for introducing us and suggesting that Michael get on the case.

I thank you, Pat Mulcahy, for your hard work, willingness to meet and talk between weekly deadlines, and for your total professionalism. You were a wonderful collaborator.

During the time I wrote this book Ive had four terrific assistants who all provided encouragement and positive feedback. My thanks to Ingella Ratledge, Jared Shapiro, Kelly Will, and Taryn Adler.

I couldnt have written this book without the many other womenwith lives that are happily much too muchmeeting with me and/or sharing their experiences! Thank you, Jane Hess, Lara Shriftman, Stephanie Green, Helen Gurley Brown, Mary Berner, Nancy Haberman, Lisa Dallos, Barbara Corcoran, Amy Sacco, Pamela Wallin, Vaune Davis, Liz Heller, Dana Ardi, Barbara Sgroi, Pat Cook, Bobbi Brown, Karen Duffy, Gloria Feldt, and Donna Kalajian-Lagani.

For many years I had a partner in crime in magazines, Donald Robertson, and together we cooked up many successful ideas. Id like to thank him for initially helping me cook up the idea for this book and then giving great input all along the way.

Sometimes you never know who will turn out to be your biggest life rafts when you are struggling not to drown. My deepest thanks for providing sturdy raftsDr. Rock Positano, David Brown, Keith Mullin, Marcia Worthing, Neal Lenarsky, Adam Baumann, and Dr. David Gottesfeld.

A thank-you to my boss, David Pecker, who has been unfailingly supportive.

Much gratitude to our close laneway friends who are always there through the ups and the downs: Jenni Stern and Jim Meigs, Edith and Kevin ORourke, and Amy Brizer.

Finally, writing about them inside the book simply isnt enough to express the depths of gratitude that I owe them for their genius, expertise, and humanity. So I want to thank them again for their gift of lifeDr. Stephanie Rifkinson, Dr. Michael Weiner, and Dr. Kara Kelly. Michael and I can never thank you enough!

w hen I approach a newsstand, I take stock: after all, I work in the magazine business. The headlines and images that catch my eye on any given day range from the latest celebrity wedding to the newest twist on achieving sexual satisfaction. Sometimes I see an article on someone I admire; Ill stop short to look more closely at a photo of a gorgeous dress, or perhaps Ill pick up a tip-filled, helpful piece for a busy mother.

What doesnt work for mea mother of four, a wife, the editorial director of American Media, which owns over twenty publications, some of them magazines like Star that have to go to press every single Monday nightare the immaculate, very sparse white covers of some of the newest entries in the magazine field. These are the ones that tell you how to simplify your life.

If only I had time to clean my closets regularly; rotate my wardrobe on a sensible, seasonable basis; cook healthy, organically proper meals every evening for my family; and keep my home and desktop clutter-free.

Even if I had the time, these things would not be my top priorities. Id rather ride bikes with my kids or crack open a good book. Thats much more fun and satisfying than fixating on the forms of perfection shown in the pages of these magazines.

They reflect my idea of a total fantasy realmand not one that I want to fall into headlong. The world I see pictured in these precisely calibrated, full-color spreads could not be more unreal. This is a world in which no one eats fast food on the run or tries to butt in line at the supermarket checkout because the kids are screaming to get out of there. This is a world in which women can actually talk to their friends on the phone without howling, laughing kids or husbands wreaking havoc in the background. This is also a world, Ive noticed, where people have few possessions. They own only three pairs of perfect shoes; read few books, newspapers, or magazines; and apparently open the mail and sort through it every day religiously.

After years of trying to make a living at something I love while raising a family, Ive come to the conclusion that a jam-packed, maxed-out, full-to-the-very-top existence is the secret to an insanely happy life, no matter what those odes to simplicity say to the contrary.

Ive pretty much written off the possibility of ever having peace and quiet in my life.

I guess that somewhere along the line I made the decision that Id rather lead a life thats a blur than one thats a bore.

Im not the only woman in America who feels this way. Finding the funthe joy, the vitality, and the spontaneityin an overcommitted life that sometimes seems to lurch from one crisis to another is simply a matter of seeing the beauty in all that we cannot really change, even if were hell-bent on doing so.

The Power in Wanting
and AchievingMore!

In this book, I will share my tips on how to have it all: the career, the kids, the love, and the romance. I intend to show you your life from this new angle, from which you can see that all the things that you think are overwhelming you are in fact a rich, rewarding, and demanding combination of blessings. Even if youve barely ticked off a single thing from your to-do list today, I promise that you will feel good and happy about yourself when you see things my way.

I dont buy the widely accepted belief that women fail when they try to do too much, that they should step back and pare down and focus on the so-called little things, like how to scrub a sink until it sparkles or how to organize the sock drawer to perfection. I can assure you that there isnt one organized sock drawer in my entire house, and I dont give a damn!

Luckily theres no size six body, or genius IQ, or celebrity connections required to live to the fullest. All you need is a positive, can-do attitude and a refusal to drive yourself crazy by letting other people define how you should live your life.