There is something about nature, like a waterfall, a sunset, or a beautiful mountain range, that soothes me in every way possible. In contrast, whenever I’ve seen what to some people say is a beautiful cityscape, my nerves and anxiety receive no benefit. However, when I stood beneath the Roanoke Star and gazed out at the sprawling city of Roanoke, a weight slid off my shoulders. While I’ll always be able to enjoy these photos, I’m not about to dissect them to discover the reason constructions achieved the same results as Mother Nature...

With life propelling me one hundred miles an hour, trips to unplug and renew are essential. Unfortunately, I can fall into a groove, and I lose track of how burdened I become with each day. Thankfully, my wife kept dropping hints she wanted to unwind. Eventually, I picked up on her subtle statements and admitted that a break in our hectic lives would be a wonderful thing. As a result, we started looking for destinations to visit, and after a brief search we found a beautiful cottage through Airbnb in Roanoke, VA. By the end of our vacation, not only were we rejuvenated, I had plenty of pictures to bring to the world...

With Finale and Balancing the Scales complete, my mind whirled at the story for my historical fiction. Thankfully, a few sources of inspiration whirled through my mental landscape and a rough draft flew through my fingers. I was excited to expand on Samuel’s story, yet a couple of other stories vied for attention. The first was Support your Local Sheriff, and the second was the pilot episode of Firefly...

With the end of the month looming over me, and Finale finished, I turned my attention to the second Patreon exclusive, a drama. While staring at another blank screen, I thumbed through my mental rolodex of characters. When Tiatha’s name surfaced, a story sprouted in my mind. Instantly, my fingers flew across the keyboard and before long, the first draft of the tale between her and another teacher at the Academy was staring out at me...

As I continue to delve into my studies, my time is constantly slipping away. However, I’m dedicated to delivering my patrons’ exclusive stories. So over the weekend, I grabbed my computer and hid myself away and started churning through their exclusive tales. Unfortunately, without a readily available idea for a comedy, I thumbed through my favorite comedy skits. While I got a few laughs, they didn’t inspire me. As a result, I pulled out my Rory’s Story Cubes and tossed the nine dice...

After enjoying my trip through the walking trail, I took a bit of a break. Fortunately, it didn’t take long for me to add to my digital collection. In my office, I noticed a “lego” night light that I found in the bottom of my stocking from last Christmas, and I was eager to explore using focus in my photography. To round out the week, leaned into a few photos I took with an old camera phone...

There were a few things I wanted to do on my walk down a local walking path. The first was to capture anything that was interesting, the other was to capture sunlight piercing through the forest’s canopy. Fortunately, the time of year aided me in achieving the latter, as only the evergreens obstructed my view. However, I didn’t want to blind myself, so I had to get creative...

During the rat race that is life, you have to carve out time to enjoy the world around you. The below pictures highlight the end of my walk around the pond behind Tackett’s Mill and a local hiking trail. While I failed to jot down the name of the trail, the first image has been posted and more will follow in the coming weeks. Despite the lack of green, there is plenty of beauty to be found in the world, as long as you take the time to appreciate it. Hopefully, this week’s round-up highlights some of the hidden beauty that exists in my local area...

When I look back on my life there, there are a few regrets that consume me. The greatest burden from my past is the lack of reading during my youth. When I was a young fool, instead of grabbing a book to entertain my mind, I chose the lazy approach and hopped in front of the television. While I loved the shows from my youth (especially the Saturday morning cartoons), at this point in my life, I wish books held more sway over me in my youth. Unfortunately, that desire for quick and easy entertainment also curtailed my mind from finding beauty looming over me. Despite my ever dwindling availability, sometimes I’m capable of carving out some time to find beauty in the same neighborhood that I grew up in...

With the completion of Disturbances, Criminal Search and the mountain of paperwork, I turned my attention to the last story of the month, a Sci-Fi tale. Despite not having an original idea for this story, I eventually planted a withered seed in my mental landscape. Overnight, the wizened husk of an unknown story that I buried transformed into a vague concept. After penning the rough draft, I set it aside as the other tasks for the month stole my focus...

With the stack of forms before me dwindling and the Disturbances finished, I turned my attention to the second story for my patrons, a mystery. These are always fun puzzles to both craft and work out. While I strive to create better quandaries, I’ve developed a stable of investigators. However, after just crafting a tale featuring my master thief, I was eager to tie my mystery to Jessica’s work. Fortunately, with some previous work, I’ve placed Kyle in the same universe as Jessica. So, it didn’t take long for me to choose my detective for this narrative...

There are a handful of universal constants in this world. Chief among them are the tax man, death, and paperwork. While we constantly strive to limit our problems with that trio, ultimately, you cannot escape their grasp. After having my mind blown with some recent training, the stack of paperwork that I’ve had to focus on has skyrocketed. Ultimately, it will be worth the hassle, but at the moment it’s been a time sink that’s captured the vast majority of my free time...

Last week brought the last photograph from my trip to Niagara and Gettysburg. It’s my fervent hope that I brought you a step closer to the beauty of both locations. Fortunately, life is full of amazing experiences. Not that long ago, I took a stroll around Kingstowne Lake. Despite taking a lot of pictures, when I sat down to go through them, there were just a handful that I felt were worthy of sharing with the world...

In between jaunts throughout Gettysburg, we either explored the campground or simply huddled around our campsite’s blazing firepit. Aside from discovering some fascinating sights, this was the first time I personally ever added something to a fire to artificially alter its hues. Though the moment I finally build a permanent firepit on my property, I’m going to stock up on those additives and enjoy the shifting colors...

While there is plenty of history suffusing the hills of Gettysburg, there’s plenty of beauty emerging from the battleground. Of course, that’s something we can appreciate today as we study the fields stretching out from the hilltops. During the battle, the soldiers were far too concerned with survival to appreciate nature’s majesty...