It was 1987 and a friend of mine, Vincent, was in the hospital. He had been diagnosed with HIV and back then, it meant that it would progress to AIDS and he wouldn’t be around for much longer.There were no cocktails to fight the virus and the only drug available was...

I sent a panicked text to my tech guy. “Help!” I wrote. “I have a deadline and I can’t figure out why my cursor keeps disappearing.” He sent me back a text that he was in a meeting and he would call me as soon as he was finished. I starting clicking keys on the...

“Be yourself,” said novelist Oscar Wilde. “Everyone else is already taken.” My Aunt Ruth was an avid moviegoer. When I was small, she took me to Disney films and musicals at our local movie theater. She bought a buttered popcorn for herself and a Fudgsicle or a...

There are about two dozen of my book covers in frames of all shapes and sizes hanging on the office wall behind my desk. A friend suggested I hang them up to remind me of who I am and what I’ve done when I doubt myself. I was hesitant to take ownership. “They belong...

I am a rock, I am an island. And a rock feels no pain. And an island never cries. - - - Simon and Garfunkel Back in 2016, I was feeling sad and isolated. I had a new writing project which usually fills me up with exciting anticipation. Not that they’re easy. My...

I know a woman who has a handful of psychics at the ready. When she’s trying to figure out what to do about something, she consults with the first one. If she doesn’t like what the woman has to say, she goes on to the next one. And on and on until one of them says...