Maybe you can’t afford to vacation in the Amazon River Basin, the heart of Africa, the mountains of Nepal, or the Polynesian islands, and maybe you are as sad as Alexander the Great, who wept when he thought there were no new worlds to conquer. But you can still be an explorer—and explore a lot more than new geographic territory.

It’s not too early to start writing your memoirs—even if you’re only in your early thirties. (And if you’re in your fifties, sixties, or beyond, what are you waiting for?!) You may think, “I haven’t led an interesting enough life for people to want to read my story.” And you may well be right—but I’m not talking about PUBLISHED memoirs. I’m talking about memoirs your family and descendants will want to read.

Well, here I am back in the hospital. This is getting ridiculous. Another five-day stretch of discomfort, boredom, little sleep, none of the comforts of home except my computer…but who can work in these surroundings?

A recent planned trip to the hospital segued into an emergency, and the procedure I had gone in for was quickly followed by emergency surgery—major surgery. I was in the hospital for 3-1/2 miserable days, and when the surgeon’s PA finally signed me out, I was so overjoyed I broke down crying.

No, don’t be put off by the title. The subject isn’t cooking or household management. You haven’t wandered into the wrong blog. We’re still talking about writing, here—just not about books, this week. You see, I do other kinds of writing, too. One of them is plays.

When was the last time you made up a story? I am NOT talking about lies, fabrications, or to use the current term, “alternative truths.” I am not talking about the story you tell your boss about the (non-existent) flat tire you allegedly suffered with on the morning you REALLY were late to work because you were hung over, or because you and your beloved grabbed a spontaneous quickie that, quick as it was, caused you to leave the house late.

Even if you don’t own a Monopoly™ set, you may have a “Get Out of Jail Free” card you don’t know about. What am I talking about? I’m talking about overdue library books and the Amnesty Program. All too many people have overdue library books. In most cases, this is not a case of trying to misappropriate the library’s property. The books were retained, instead of being returned, for relatively innocent reasons.

Some people, when they go out to eat, always try something new. Call them adventurous. Call them explorers. Other people, when they go out to eat, always order their favorites. My Uncle Harry, a mean tease whom I hated visiting when I was a kid, would have called them “stick-in-the-muds.”

As little kids in elementary school, you may have participated in “Show and Tell.” But as writers, we are always advised, “Show. Don’t tell.” This admonition is intended to guide us into showing rather than telling what a character in fiction or a real-life person in nonfiction is thinking, feeling, planning, and so forth. But for readers, it is important to TELL.

Back when I was a kid (you remember the Dark Ages, don’t you?), teachers and many parents were down on comic books. Teachers wanted kids to read “real” books, not comics. My own mother, more than satisfied with the copious numbers of books I read, had no objection to my reading comics as long as I didn’t spend too much money on too many of them. But she was in the minority. Most parents frowned on comics, whether they were the adventure type, like SUPERMAN, the actually comic type, like ARCHIE, or the cheat-your-way-through-English-class CLASSIC COMICS. The anti-comics brigade has...