This one goes out to the ones I love.

Elena Tucker
2 min readDec 31, 2021
Photo by Nong V on Unsplash

I don’t just write on Medium, I also read the articles of other writers here. And I would like to recommend four of my favorite writers. For this article, I have limited myself to four, but I will revisit the topic at a later date, and mention others.

I have mentioned Jon Scott before, and I will mention him again. No one, especially a person who often writes from the platform “The Manic Depressive’s Handbook,” should write with such a deft hand, creating a bubbly and effortless read, while so often, being funny — ridiculously funny. For me, reading Jon is a bit like listening to Mozart — there is a lightness of language that is pure pleasure. I enjoy reading his articles so much, I parcel them, saving them for when I’m having bad mental days. I save them for when my heart and mind are arid — when my beloved rains and the snows still don’t come.

And speaking of funny — check out Mark Starlin. Not only can he do funny — he can do funny in a short short form. Anyone who’s ever tried, knows how difficult this is. This man deserves a larger audience. Some are longer pieces, but he reminds us in the best way possible that brevity is the soul of wit.

Speaking of short form, from time to time, I write a poem. This does not make me a poet. Good poetry requires discipline way above my paygrade — but I do enjoy reading it. For poetry that transports you far away, and has visual, immersive prose that can make you think, check out Sylvia Wohlfarth. With her, I travel without leaving my house, which is an indispensable pleasure right now. Remarkable woman, remarkable writing.

There are people whose works you read, and it’s like talking to an old friend. This is exactly what it feels like for me reading Liberty Forrest, Author. But it’s somehow better — it’s being in a cozy, comfortable place, a place of warmth, deep on a plushy sofa, under the softest blanket, sipping sweet, hot tea as a fire is burning in the nearby fireplace while a thunderstorm is booming outside. Liberty is that friend, the compassionate, non-judgmental, open-hearted and open-minded one, the one who sees more than you because she’s lived through a great deal of trauma and pain. And just like chatting and catching up with an old friend, her writing is wonderfully easy to read.

These are some my favorite writers, and why I love reading their works. I hope more people will read them and give them the love (and claps and comments and followers) they deserve. Enjoy!

Elena Tucker

Writer and storyteller, immigrant, wife, mom, knitter, collector of jokes, lover of cheap, sweet wine.