Mirka Muse

*a.k.a. Retunes (or exchanges) We don’t “do Christmas,” unless you count the general good wishes of Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays...

When a job application does not result in an offer, when an audition did not yield a part, or when a story failed to find a publisher, many...

Tonight is the first night of Hanukah. No, that’s not the secret. In years past, we had a small crowd for our yearly Ha...

It Prompts to Do Better Going Forward I’ve heard actors and musicians say they don’t care to look at their own performances because t...

When my kids were ten and twelve, they had their first real loss to the great beyond. He was not even our cat, but the neighbor’s. But he t...

It’s almost that time again, the time to give thanks , a.k.a. Thanksgiving. There are studies that show living in gratitude make...

*November 14 th , 1851 On this calendar date, one hundred and sixty-six years ago, Harper & Brothers in New York published Moby Dic...

It happened again. The time was changed on us. Today, Sunday, we were shoved back onto Standard Time. This reminded me of a post from five ...

Remember when Spam stood for canned meat of unclear origins? Euphemistically named for “spiced Ham,” (it wasn’t exactly, but those wh...

Or— A Pat on the Back, Me Sometime ago when I was looking to be agented, a well-known literary agent turned my novel down saying she ...

A few months ago someone I had some virtual contact with, mostly in years back, let her Facebook friends know she had just suffered a calam...

a.k.a The Art of Diagnostics Some months ago, I had an odd sensation of my throat swelling. I went to sleep thinking I was likely comin...

*Leviticus 23:42 The seven-day festival of Sukkot is an odd one if viewed without context. Jews are commanded to make insecure structu...

I’ve received editorial feedback along the lines of—“I like the premise, but not the voice.” This usually means the idea & setting...

The thing about traditional holidays is that they come with a regularity. This reminds us of the unrelenting passage of time, and also of t...

The Internet and its lingo have created many new words, and also changed the meaning or use of established words. I have heard much lamenta...

My memory isn’t what it used to be, and never was. But then, I remember the odd things. Sitting with old f...

Those of us who use the Window 10 operating system must have noticed the ever-changing screen photos that Microsoft so generously gifts us,...

*...off the cliff, while hanging on by the fingernails This blog post appeared a few months back, but I find it one to bookma...