There are not many family patriarchs anymore, nor apartment buildings completely filled with family—and love. Short-Story.net has published award-winning author Charlene Wexler's humorous and heartwarming reminiscence about family life in such a structure in The Family Building at http://www.short-story.net/read/11455/the-family-building/.

          "In the 1950s, extended family often lived in the same building in cities and were closely involved in each others' lives," Wexler explained. "Sometimes the closeness was stifling, but more often it allowed loving family members to help and be amused by each other in ways that society now has lost."

          Wexler is known for short fiction and essays that examine life, love, and the tragedy and comedy of the human condition. Whether she is tackling fiction or essays, Wexler writes from the heart.

          Native Chicagoan Wexler is a graduate of the University of Illinois. She has worked as a teacher and dental office bookkeeper and as "a wife, mom, and grandmother," she said. In recent years, Wexler's lifelong passion for writing has led her to create numerous essays as well as fiction.

          She is the author of the books Lori, Elephants In The Room, Milk and Oranges, Murder Across the Ocean, and Murder on Skid Row.

          Her work has appeared in several publications, including North Shore Magazine; the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry's Vision magazine; Alpha Omegan magazine; the book and CD Famous Poets of the Heartland: A Treasury of Beloved Family Poems, Talent, OR: Famous Poets Press, 2014; and the Gazette newspaper of Chicago.

          She also has had essays and fiction published on the websites AuthorsDen.com, The Best Short Stories, Booksie.com, Classic Short Stories, Cat Stories, Cats and Dogs at Play, End Your Sleep Deprivation.com, Funny Cat Stories, Funny Cats Playing, Funny Passport Stories, How Old is Grandma?, Laughter Is My Medicine, Make-Up Mouse, Moral Short Stories-Ethical Tales, One Bright Star.org, Scribd.com, Short Stories for Women, Short-Story.net, True Cat Stories, Way Cool Dogs.com, and the Write City Magazine.

          Poetry of Wexler's appears on Poetry.com.

          Wexler's first novel, Murder on Skid Row, was published in 2010. It is the story of a double-murder on Chicago's Skid Row in the 1960s. Murder on Skid Row won an international Apex Award of Excellence from Communications Concepts, a writing think tank outside Washington, DC.

          Published as an e-book on Smashwords and as a print edition by Central Park Communications in 2012, Milk and Oranges, is a collection of her short fiction and essays examining life, love, and the tragedy and comedy of the human condition. Whether she is tackling fiction or essays, Wexler writes from the heart. With a keen eye for detail and a way of looking at the world a bit sideways, Wexler's writings in Milk and Oranges entertain while they make you think.

          Milk and Oranges received a Bronze Award in the Women's Issues category of the eLit Book Awards competition sponsored by the publishing services firm Jenkins Group Inc. of Traverse City, MI, and a rare international Grand Award in the Apex Awards competition by Communications Concepts in 2012.

          In 2014, Wexler published two novels as e-books on Smashwords and Amazon Kindle: Lori, a family saga spanning several decades, and Murder Across the Ocean, a murder mystery set in England. Lori and Murder Across the Ocean also are available from Amazon as paperbacks.

          In 2016, Amazon Digital Services published her book Elephants In The Room, Wexler's latest collection of short fiction and essays examining life, love, and the tragedy and comedy of the human condition. The book also is available from Amazon as a paperback.

          Her short story Abracadabra Magic received a "Very Highly Commended" rating in the AuthorsDen.com Tom Howard Prose Contest, 2009.

          Wexler is active with the Alpha Omega Dental Fraternity, the Authors Marketing Group, the Chicago Writers Association, Children's Memorial Hospital philanthropy, the Geneva Lake Museum, Literary Fiction Writers, the Love is Murder Conference, Lungevity (an organization that fights lung cancer), the McHenry Bicycle Club, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Mystery Writers of America, the National Council of Jewish Women, the Richmond IL Book Club, Sisters in Crime, the Jewish United Fund, and the University of Illinois Alumni Association.

          She is on Facebook and Twitter.

          "I have always used writing as therapy," Wexler said. "Now I have the time and opportunity to pursue it as a career."

          Her advice for other aspiring writers—even grandmothers like herself—is to "follow your dream. You can do it, and it's never too late."

          Wexler's website is at www.charlenewexler.com.