
Then you figure out what’s not working in your life. SS: The first step is identifying what inspires you. How can the rest of us live a not so big life? So I carved out a little time to write each day. I was not pursuing my other passion, which was writing. SS: Yes, although I was a successful architect, I needed a change. You said you had been “asleep at the wheel while barreling down the road of life on cruise control,” until that moment. In the introduction of The Not So Big Life, you wrote that you had an epiphany one night while reading in bed. Meg Sparwath: Yes, I am definitely your target audience.

Sarah Susanka (after much apologizing and catching of breath by Meg Sparwath): Well, it seems like The Not So Big House would be a good book for you. Luckily, she is on her way to chat with Sarah Susanka, architect and author of The Not So Big House series, including her most recent book, The Not So Big Life, which focuses on ridding life of unnecessary clutter and overwhelming to-do lists, to make time for what really matters. The irony of the situation is hard to miss: A disorganized freelance writer is running late for an interview, misses her turn, can’t be reached on her cell phone because she accidentally grabbed her husband’s and can’t call to say she’s late because the number she needs is in the notebook she left at home, somewhere near the business cards she forgot.
