From Sleepless in Santa Barbara, Book Helps Juggle Work, Home

“Nobody ever told me when I had a baby and a job I’d have to go two years without sleep.”

That’s more than a weary complaint--in this case, from a partner in a law firm.

It’s also the title of a book (“Two Years Without Sleep”) by Santa Barbara writer Cathy Feldman, whose grass-roots publishing company, Blue Point Books, gives voice to women trying to do a good job in both the work world and the home front.

“You are never prepared for how totally life changes” when children make an appearance, Feldman said.

In “Two Years Without Sleep” and two subsequent books (“I Work Too” and “The Men at the Office”), Feldman continues the “nobody ever told me” theme, letting women share their own stories, recount their difficulties and just generally vent on a variety of mom- and work-related topics. Feldman also mixes in statistics, commentary from experts and survival tips.

“It really seems to help because we all feel so alone,” Feldman said. “In the workplace, you can’t talk about these things because you don’t want to appear that you’re not committed to your job.”

Feldman set about interviewing working moms in 1992 and after two years began showing the results, compiled in a three-ring binder, around human resource offices at corporations.

“They started buying it” for distribution to employees as part of work-life, management training, maternity and diversity programs, Feldman said. Several revisions later, Feldman’s books are in use at such companies as Price Waterhouse, Southern California Edison, Boeing, Arco and Ameritech Cellular.

Price Waterhouse gives “Two Years Without Sleep” to employees who are pregnant, said Peggy Brizuela, human resources assistant at Price Waterhouse in Los Angeles.

“We’ve gotten a lot of good feedback on it,” Brizuela said. “People can relate to it.”

In “I Work Too,” working women talk about life in dual-career households. The finer points of sharing housework, deciding whose career comes first and finding energy for sex are all discussed.

Feldman’s third book, “The Men at the Office,” answers the question: “What is it like to work with men?” Chapter titles include: “Office Romance,” “I Bite My Tongue a Lot,” “Mentors and Role Models” and “Men and the Changing Company.”

“The books are full of things the women I interviewed said nobody ever told them about the workplace and that they wished they had known when they began,” Feldman said.

Feldman’s books are not yet sold in bookstores, but can be ordered on the Internet at https://www.west.net/~bpbooks/ or by phone at (800) 858-1058. The books cost $9.95 for the first copy and $8.95 for subsequent copies.

Feldman’s home page also hosts an interactive discussion on workplace issues.

Some excerpts from the books:

* “It’s only really been in the last several weeks that I’ve started to get my memory back. It’s amazing what sleep deprivation really does.” --Susan Tew, communications professional, “Two Years Without Sleep”

* “We have found that just implementing flexible work schedules is not enough. You need to have some sort of sensitivity training, gender training; you have to have that awareness raised so male managers know why it is in the company’s best interest to offer it. If you try to cram it down their throats, it’s not going to be accepted.” --Maryann Correnti, partner, Arthur Anderson & Co., “Two Years Without Sleep”

* “One of our senior partners slipped at the new partners party and welcomed all the new partners and their wives. So I dragged my husband around the rest of the evening introducing him to everyone as my wife.” --Linda Sybrandt, partner, Deloitte & Touche, “I Work Too”

* “We’re so over-scheduled now that a standing joke with us is we have to do a lot of our family business on our drive to work in the mornings because there is no other time to do it.” --Diana Savit, attorney, “I Work Too”

Has your company developed an interesting way to help employees balance work life and family life? Write to Balancing Act, Los Angeles Times, Business Section, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053, or e-mail nancy.rivera.brooks@latimes.com