Jet-lagged, I’m in a restaurant on another continent, sipping wine. No sleep in two days, a woozy vision of a semi-naked nymph . . . where am I?

Our phone number was very popular. Strangers called us all the time, but were irate when I answered. They didn’t want a peppy foreigner on the line. They wanted somebody else.

Cooking disasters, anyone? I was once faced with a culinary fiasco of mystifying proportions while living in an African village.

Bethlehem is a Biblical place. But I found it not quite as Biblical as I’d imagined when we got our car stuck in an alley.

Humorous insights and wisdom from famous writers about the travails of the writing life.