…one of life’s greatest blessings is a grandmother…. Andi woke with a start, heart pounding. Disoriented, she lay there a moment trying to calm her breathing. The dream was already receding and trying to grasp at its wisps and edges left her waking unsettled and a little fearful. She had just been fired two days ago, and…

My Mother’s Legacy — My mother Nadean was always the keeper of family history, family news and family contacts. She kept up with new babies and who was whose aunt or brother-in-law. She could tell you where they were married, and where they lived until they moved to some other city. And when. …

What happened to my first followers? I recently reviewed the list of my first 100 followers and was alarmed to see how many have just….quit. Like a lot of other writers, when I reached my first 100 followers on Medium, I immediately applied to the Partnership Program to see if I could earn back that monthly $5 subscription fee. I wrote an article, too, to thank those first 100…

Remembering Josef The last time I saw Josef he was face down on the sidewalk in the empty doorway of the old tire building on 16th street. That entire street is full of old shops that have gone out of business, re-opened as something else and gone bust again. There’s Owen’s mercantile. At least, that’s what the faded sign on the two storey red brick storefront says, but when I was a teenager, it was…

My daughter suggested we see something other than the usual — Last week was the second time I’ve visited the Grand Canyon, but this time was with both my son and daughter — oh, and her new husband. My son has never visited the area, so I was seeing all the wonder and awesome scenery through his eyes. It was wonderful! …

Being smart is not enough It takes time and practice to become this old and this wise. Oh, and paying attention to what’s going on around you doesn’t hurt, either. It’s not enough to go to school for years of your life. …

And I hope you’ve got some advice for me, too Recently, a reader asked me a question about an article I wrote back in November. Start Writing What You Want To Write! ….don’t let fear stop you from publishing….medium.com I wrote this article my second week on the platform, when I was such a noob and so excited to be writing again. …

…..what your next article should be about When you write in a specific niche, it’s important to keep your readers coming back for fresh content. That isn’t always an easy thing to do, because after you’ve covered most of the topics within a niche, you’re basically looking for ways to say the same thing in new ways. Unless you’re careful, your audience will notice pretty quick. It’s easy…

Thank you, Edward Thanks to Edward John for the story idea. Recently, Edward commented on one of my articles: “……otherwise somebody could just make money writing on Medium about Medium.” And it tickled the funny bone of the storyteller inside me. Once upon a time, there was a writing platform…