You don’t knit? That’s not the point. Many people are reserving bombed out Airbnb’s in Ukraine, not because they have a yen for vacationing amidst rubble with a side of air raid sirens. Scheduling a Ukrainian Airbnb you never intend to use is a way of putting cash into the…

You have to see the block before you can get around it. — I’m known for stuffing the adage “Write every day” so often I think writers run the other way when they see me coming. Yet it’s a practice that has allowed me, after years of stop and start writing and collecting drawers full of unfinished stories, to produce more books and…

A look a legacy of one of the faceless immigrants. On this day 124 years ago, my father was born in a in small townland called Bulcaun, Ireland, a clump of farms outside of Charlestown, County Mayo, in the century before Irish Independence. He landed somewhere in the middle of…

We all run into a wall now and then. Here are tips to climb over it. — Writing is easy when writing is easy. You’ve probably been there. You get an idea, make some notes, open up a Write A Story page, and boom! The piece writes itself. I could make a living at this, you say to yourself. And for a while, you do. Until life…

This one is easy, but in case you need a prompt, here goes. — I just came off a 5-day bout of a mild, non-Covid, flu-ish adjacent, bug-type illness, and while I don’t have all my strength back yet, thank goodness for you all, I’m well enough to rant. I don’t have a name for my malaise because I didn’t seek the assistance of…

We all know someone in need; here’s one of our own. — Jason Weiland is one of us, a long-time Medium writer who’s come upon hard times. Like me, you may be following other Medium friends, Shannon Ashley, Caroline de Braganza , for example, who’ve written about life catching them up short. They all need our support. Maybe you’ve contributed to their…

This plucky senior can teach us all a lesson in perseverance and quality control, the secrets to a successful small business. — To this little girl from the Bronx, whose of luxe was a chain-link fence around a patch of stubby grass in the front yard, nothing said paradise like Burlingame, California, where orange trees grew in the back patio. Patio? Who knew from patios where I came from, but they were…

Does that mean I’m the wisest writer on the platform? — Congrats, the e-mail began, and I was already suspicious. Isn’t that the way the scammers get you? But this time, instead of being invited to contribute to the coffers of a Nigerian prince, Medium informed me they had anointed me a Top Writer in Advice. Okay, you can stop bowing…