I write about food, history, travel, and freelancing. — Hi folks, I’m Lara. I’ve been a freelancer of one stripe or another for most of my adult life. These days, the bulk of my living comes from writing. I’m a pretty flexible generalist who does everything from ghostwritten business books to web content to paranormal romance novellas. I love…

I’m one of today’s Lucky 10,000 (Note: this is unedited and bloggish, but it fits my mood.) Of course I’d heard of Kate Bush, but until today, I only knew a couple of her songs. At 48, I came of age before music ran like water from a faucet. You…

Don’t be surprised if the girl you match with tells you she’s taking a break from hookups. — A poster on Reddit’s r/tinder sub shared a message that he found perplexing. He said hello to a woman he matched with and got this response: Heyy, I would like to continue this conversation when I don’t feel that my reproductive rights are in danger. I hope you understand that…

I’m a Taylor Swift fan. And, yeah, I’m as surprised as you are. — Back when she first started getting attention, I didn’t like much of what Taylor Swift was writing. What I heard on the radio was a bit simplistic Because of all this, Taylor Swift hadn’t done much more than ping my radar. I’d read quite a bit about her intricate marketing…

A few scheduled posts can keep you on track — Getting into the Partner Program can be tough for a newcomer. You need at least 100 followers and to be creating what the powers that be consider quality writing. Once you’re in, though, you still need to worry about keeping your place in the program. Medium reserves the right to…

We already know the harms of abortion bans. We’ve seen them before. And It will happen here. — It’s so easy to look at terrible news and think that could never happen here. We tick off all the reasons we Americans are safe from that, like it’s some kind of magic spell that will keep tragedy at bay. This century has repeatedly shown us that the U.S. is…

Managing medical care as a full-time nomad — I’ve been a full-time liveaboard sailor for close to four years now. One of the biggest struggles is keeping up with needed healthcare. I’m on two daily medications. Plus, there’s the matter of acute health issues and ongoing bodily maintenance like dental care. …

Sticker Mule releases Studio, a free browser-based design app for stickers, social media, and more — I’ve been a fan of Sticker Mule for a while. Their work is high quality and they have great sales just about every week. They offer a ton of different products, too. I have used their stickers, magnets, and other swag for tons of personal and professional projects. So, when…

The process was easy. Here’s how I put it together. — So, you may have noticed that I’ve been super quiet on Medium lately. This is because I’ve been traveling, looking at property, and working on a few personal projects in between. One of those was an ebook that’s been rattling in my head for several years. Friends who know I’m…