Can you pull a horse out of a hat?

Whether this is a cure for insomnia or a middle-of-the-night inspiration, watch artist Lee Cross make something out of (almost) nothing:

There’s joy in making something out of nothing — whether it’s a story or song, a batch of cookies, a freshly-painted room, a backyard deck or a painting.

Making things appear is as close to magic as you can get without taking classes in card tricks. —But who needs tricks? Maybe we should say that making something out of nothing is our own real magic.

Latest news: Recently short stories are something I’ve been cooking up a lot of (great grammar, right?) but it’s time for me to give equal time to the fantasy/scifi novel that’s in progress — the one set on Mars during the end of this century. Each of these projects tempts me away from the other sometimes. But that’s OK. Both are fun.

The stories and the Mars saga are both leading me into some interesting research, and that’s the breathing-in part of the writing process.

About Free Story Month, next month:
Last month’s free story, “Dark Chocolate”, was about magic in a setting that would seem familiar to most people. Next month’s story has a more unusual setting. But even when a setting is extraordinary, it’s possible to just walk in, look around, and make yourself at home.

Take time for an escape this month —

Because a little getaway never hurts.