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…

Shelf-Stable, Easy to Prepare Meals with No Refrigeration Hurricane season has barely started. But, we already have two named storms, which could indicate a very active season. There are a lot of hurricane preparedness tasks to get through safely and comfortably. Some are best completed in the days leading up…

Why Everything Is Suddenly a Subscription Just about a year ago, journalists noticed BMW’s heated seats offered not as a one-time upgrade, but as a monthly service. The heaters came preinstalled. Nothing was different about the hardware. The only thing that changed was the billing. Instead of a one-time upgrade…

The AI’s coming for (some of) our jobs. These are the gaps where work-for-hire writers can continue to find work. — There’s been a lot of digital wailing and gnashing of teeth over AI coming for writers’ jobs. And, having worked in basic SEO content and having seen what chat models like ChatGPT can create, I think a lot of the fear is justified. Some writing work is going to go…

It’s not all beaches and mai tais. These are some of the issues we’ve dealt with, and how we make it work. — The other day, Aure's Notes posted an insightful piece about the downsides of digital nomad life. Aure noted a few issues I’d experienced myself and also heard from other people who’ve taken on a life on the move. The tl/dr (but really, read the whole thing) is that digital nomad…

Stolen intellectual property is every creator’s nightmare. Here’s what to do when it happens to you. — A couple of months ago, Linda Caroll wrote about how bad things could get if you infringe someone else’s copyright. She rightly warns about the potential penalties, and also gives good advice for avoiding stolen IP. The piece got me thinking: what do you do when it’s the other way…

The top problems with telehealth and mobile medicine — Last year, I wrote a bit about handling healthcare on the road and our experiences so far. I’m back after trying to do my first mobile general health check-up through K Health. And, I can no longer recommend this service. The Inital Appointment My first appointment actually went pretty well. I filled out…

We’ve all done it — taken a chance on a cheap red wine and wound up with something less than awesome. Spanish wine drinkers came up with a counterintuitive solution, that I swear to you is surprisingly delicious. What’s in a Kalimoxto? This wine-based cocktail has just two ingredients: chilled red wine and Coca-cola…

Use stuff you already have on hand for a show-stopper dessert — This post contains affiliate links. If you buy through my links, I get a small commission at no additional cost to you. I’m all about easy and adaptable. With a tiny kitchen, I need for every ingredient to have multiple uses. I also can’t constantly buy new ingredients that I’ll…