You know who you are. I’m not going to ‘out’ you but would you please stop? — Dear Compulsive Highlighter: Genuine praise from you and other readers is desirable and very welcome indeed. Snarky comments come with the territory, along with being ignored or garnering very few reads, followers, and/or claps, and making little or no money. But highlighting is in a class unto itself. Sui generis…

Enough already—who are we trying to kid? Plus, it could kill us — This piece is not about the poisonous killer makeup of the past: the ones containing mercury, lead, arsenic; nor about the cruelty of false eyelashes sewn onto women’s upper lids or the torture of corsets, hoop skirts, girdles, and stiletto heels. But it is telling to note (and I am…

But what if you’re too scared? — Last week I witnessed what looked like excessive police force against a person of color; in this case, a Black youth: teen or pre-teen. I did not see his face as it was turned away from the street while he was being frisked. I was on my way to Whole Foods (where all us Karens shop) to return something useless I bought the day before, from boredom. The most succinct definition I have found…

The psychologically abusive man — I was in my late fifties. He was almost sixty. We met online. He pursued me while he was away at a wedding on the opposite coast. Clearly, he was already smitten. I sensed there was something off about him on our first date. But I ignored my intuition. At my age, I could hardly be picky. FIRST RED FLAG: Almost 60, very good-looking and single. It’s fair to say he was handsome by old white guy standards. He had all his hair and nice teeth. He was not tall, but…

DENIAL. This will be easy — a piece of cake! I’ve had this story in my head for over ten years. It just needs to come out. I know the characters so intimately I feel as though I live with them. Annoying roommates, haha. An outline isn’t even necessary (SO…

Is there ever any there, there? — Fellow writers! Do you wake up at night with a brilliant idea for something crucial you need to put in your novel to make it a five-star Amazon bestseller or a Medium piece that gets thousands of claps, much jealousy, praise, and a s***load of cash whenever Medium gets around…

Are you good at sitting around doing absolutely nothing for about the same rate of pay? We’ve got the job for you! — My guess is all the people in this photo are Extras (excuse me, Background Actors) but for the group on the right comprised of the Director (white shirt, panama hat, lots of attitude) the DP or Director of Photography (behind the camera, duh), and maybe the Assistant Director (AD) in…

Want to remove your stories? Not so fast (or easy) and maybe even impossible! — Vocal lures writers to sign up FOR A YEAR FOR $99 by running contests (they call “challenges”) with juicy monetary prizes. Please note, in this rant the dates are fuzzy, to the best of my recollection. I can’t be bothered to go back through months of e-mails to be exact. …