Amazon works in mysterious ways, her wonders to perform Abbot and Costello have been trying since 1945 to work out the answer to the question above. You can click here to find out how well they do: I felt like Costello this morning, but now that the ebook price for Reboot of the Moon has been corrected, [...]

Snake charming as a way of life: we all love a challenge The fella in the photo and his brother-charmer in this video have chosen a way of life that has some familiar features: In recent weeks I’ve reluctantly taken a break from writing to do some snake-charming. I’ve been preparing final book files to go to [...]

The right to make your own world up if you want to. Erin Hanson’s sky seems to be in motion. The grass and mountains, too. How does she do that? If you have thirty seconds to spare, you can watch her whipping up this world for passersby to walk into: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWOSo8gXWVw —Voila, you and I are standing on the grassy [...]

(BTW: Happy new year from another part of the planet.) The Masaka kids are celebrating the new year by creating a music video — with song, clever dance moves, and instrumentals. Where they’re missing anything, as you’ll see, they just sort of make it up: I wouldn’t know how to translate the words, but their performance seems to [...]

Can you plan where you’ll land? As you can see, the Nutcracker is leaping bravely into whatever’s next. And the music in his head goes like this: We can only guess what would have become of this leap if the young Tchaikovsky hadn’t left his career as a public servant to pursue the uncertain craft of composer. Anytime [...]

Where do you want to go? Taking a tiny house on the road is one way to make sure you always feel at home. Click to see a couple of tiny house fans create their own world: The picket fence may make the house look like it’s rooted to the spot, but when it’s time for a change [...]

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. [...]

The joy of starting things. And, it's Free Story Month. As a jump-start for your day, you might like this cover of an old-favorite Cat Stevens song by the MonaLisa Twins. I love the fresh harmony. [With thanks to Scott Saks for the link.] You know the joy of starting a new creation -- whether it’s a poem [...]

Why are the vast sweeps of dunes in the desert so attractive? Maybe they’re not, to you.  Having just finished another story with a desert setting, I realize that such places are fascinating to me. I’m not sure why that is. Maybe it’s the exotic nomadic cultures that have existed in such areas. (Or maybe it’s because I currently live [...]

The Northern Lights are stunning from Reykjavik. Iceland is a great place to get a close-up look at them. But what if it’s the wrong time of year? (Yep. It is.) You could book now for a December getaway in Reykjavik and sit tight. Or you could find a good story today, and make a health-promoting instant escape out of [...]