There is something special about meandering along a forest trail. The way the branches sway in the wind, how the sunlight pierces through the canopy, and to the rocks protruding from the ground. The simple beauty of those landscapes is a remarkable thing. In fact, I’ve recently grabbed my camera and marched through a couple of trails near my house to catalogue the beauty despite the season. With each picture captured, the connection between nature and Tiatha coalesced...

Typically I seek to see the beauty everywhere, my mind took that challenge and ran with it. While I fundamentally understand that there are stretches of the world that truly are inhospitable and lack the beauty I envision to be had everywhere. However, my stubborn streak prevents me from accepting it. Unfortunately, the inner workings of my imagination created an image of a wasteland that contained zero beauty in any aspect. With that ugly slice of earth tucked away in my mind and the Rory’s story cube thrown, the skeleton of a story flooded into my mind...

Unfortunately, when I was scheduling my last batch of images on DeviantArt, I accidentally published Sapona’s Ribs in early February. If I hadn’t made that mistake, it would have been added to this post. As it is, I only published three pieces to my Natural Desygns gallery. While all of them are from my scuba diving cruise, they span two different dives. Please enjoy these snapshots from my past...

What do you think of when you hear new beginnings? Whenever it flows though my ears, my mind presents me with an alternate term, fresh start. Whatever term you cling to, the important thing is how and why you’re seeking that clean slate. For me, I wanted to get back on a schedule for publishing my stories to my supporters. And while I’ve already missed the publication cadence I’d defined, I’m still on pace to perform better than the last couple of months...

Last week I brought the first couple of images from the shark dive, from my 2005 Blackbeard’s Cruise, and this week I’m presenting all but one of the remaining images from this series. Even though it’s been almost seventeen years since I took that trip, I vividly remember ever second of the dive, with or without my photos. I would definitely like to revisit every dive site again in the future...

With Safe Haven and Stratagems completed, my focus snapped onto the final tale for February, A Science Fiction tale. Instantly, the Drifter II’s crew flooded into my mind. Just like with Stratagems, this tale is tangentially connected with a piece of micro fiction that centered on Selina and her magical capabilities, specifically brewing potions...

With the last piece of micro fiction looming over my head, my mind steadfastly refused to work. However, I needed to come up with a fourth entry, so I pulled out my Story Cubes and tossed them onto my desk. Once they stopped settled down, I thumbed through the symbols and three leapt up, gripping my face. There was a castle tower, a question mark, and someone sawing some logs. Despite how rapidly these images called out to me, the only thing that emerged from my jumbled mind was how similar it looked to a rook...

I’m hoping to get these art round-up posts on a regular cadence, but with the hectic month I’ve had, this contains more than normal. One hiccup I had with some of my images was publishing Sapona’s Ribs early. The rest of that brief series will come along later, so pay for future updates. If you see any images here that aren’t available on Natural Desygns or SM Desygns reach out to me through the Etsy store and I’ll add the image to the correct store...

One of my favorite TV shows from my youth was Farscape. While there are episodes whose central plot was less than engrossing, the characters driving the storyline were able to captivating my imagination. Despite the show focusing on science fiction, there were a couple characters who blurred the line pulling in mysticism and magic. That juxtaposition is something I wanted to pull into the crew of the Drifter II. Fortunately, I’ve laid that groundwork with Selina...

With Safe Haven finish, I turned my attention to the next genre on the list, a Fantasy. With an array of characters to choose from, it took me a while to figure out who I wanted for this tale. However, as the days ticked by, I completed a micro fiction story for Ramas Caldwell. Instantly, the structure of the story thundered into my mind, capturing a swath of my focus...

I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube videos of people reacting to Larry Bird. Specifically, I have enjoyed the ones featuring his trash talking. In one of the videos that get analyzed, a former player when talking about Bird said something to the affect of when you’re arrogant and can back it up, you’re not arrogant you’re just good. That singular summation of Larry Legend, circled in my mind and attached itself to Taitha...

With each passing day, I’ve been struggling to merge my vast array of activities into a sane routine. While it’s been a bit of a struggle to juggle the disparate avenues of interest, I’ve made some strides. Unfortunately, it still might take a couple of months before that progress manifests into concrete results. Despite those constraints, I’m excited to deliver the first installment of February’s tales, a Crime Caper...

Despite my yearly desire to force myself onto a schedule, life and my wandering mind keep discovering reasons that keep me from achieving the goal. This year, there are a couple of things that are competing for my time, photography and my alto saxophone. While the sax stretches further into my past, I’ve always loved capturing the world around me. Thankfully, I’m not starting these skills without some kind of base, so with some work I should be able to slot these budding skills into my daily routine...

With the completion of Subtle Defense and Sanctuary, I turned my attention to the January’s last story. When it came time to flesh out the core concepts for the story, my initial thoughts were to drop Charles inside a city and put him into a “Mexican Standoff”. I’m pretty sure I’d just watched an episode of Big Bang Theory where Sheldon defined the scenario. However, when I grabbed my popcorn and fell into a comfortable seat to watch the initial screening for the tale, the core action transitioned into a race between his pursuer, with his ship picking him up his prize...

After churning through Invitation, Split Quarters, and Falling Chase, I turned my attention to the last micro-tale for the month. Despite my struggles with writing comedies, I realized that two hundred and fifty words are an excellent platform to work on my comedy chops. With the small footprint, I could focus on building around the punch line. However, no matter how much effort I pour into the story’s punchline, if the narrative is poor, the jokes won’t land...