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. …

Freud should have asked me. — When Freud asked, what does a woman want, he should have come to me. The answer is obvious, isn’ t it? What woman doesn’t want live-in help? You can take your jewels and designer threads. Your fancy houses and big bank accounts. But what does any of it mean if you have to clean the toilets and sweep the ashes from the hearth? For a life-size account of what household chores were like back in the day,

The gift that keeps on giving: memories — If you were to walk into my apartment, you would first notice my little gallery. Every inch of wall space in my foyer, which I use as a dining room, is covered with art. Some of it is original, though not valuable, and some is photography, prints, or crafts. However…

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…