Marfa, TX

A few months ago I did a road trip with my beautiful Jen to Marfa, TX. We went to see the Railroad Revival Tour: Mumford & Sons, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, and Old Crowe Medicine Show. It was a spiritual journey. Seven hours of driving just to hear music in the desert night. We stayed in a tiny bungalow in Alpine, near the tracks... waiting for a train to come. I cannot do justice to the experience we had listening to the music cascade through the desert night, under the stars of Marfa. There were fires back then, that burned and burned. It made the place look like a moonscape and the stories that must have come from that travesty, I can only imagine. But in even the darkest of hours, the world is beautiful. Look as this image, and you will see what I mean. Fire. Horrible, tragic, devastating... and beautiful.

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607 pages

607 pages. That's the first two volumes of my book. I look back on this blog and remember when I first mentioned that I had begun my work. And here I am, all this time later, and there are 607 pages done in my first draft. It's bittersweet, being a writer. So much of me went into those pages... so much emotion and story to tell that I am close to the words. A bit too close, I think. Because now that I am on the edge of posting it for the Kindle and the Nook within a few weeks, I am about to be exposed as a writer, for better or for worst. What if no one reads it? What if the words fall flat and it is revealed that I cannot write? Putting my work out there for the world to see is a dangerous thing to do. But I will do it anyway. I have to. If even one person I will never meet reads my book, finds the words have meaning to them, is moved or affected... then the labor will have been worth it. I ask for just one: just one reader that understands the words. Then, and only then, will I leave this world having done something of lasting value. Here is the title page as it stands today. And tomorrow I begin the last volume. Three books for the world to see... bittersweet.

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Utah

In November, I traveled to the Midland (a haunted hotel in Green River, Utah) to stay with my brother and take tons of photographs of Arches and the surrounding desert. It was very, very cold, but I didn't mind at all. I had lots of places I wanted to see and at every turn, there was a wonderful image to be photographed. Take a look in my Photography gallery on my main site The Dark Art.com to see many of the images I captured. They haven't been corrected for color yet, but it will still let you see some of the many beautiful places there are in that area. This image here is the haunted hall of the Midland. I dare you to walk it at night during a full moon...

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Paths

I like paths. They lead places. They can lead to somewhere far away and wonderful, mysterious and remote. Who knows where they will lead you... what vista or enchanted place maybe just around the next corner? Sometimes, they can lead to a simple place, like this one; a path in a park, near an office far too crowded with cubicles and the mundane. It proves that paths don't need to be far away afterall. They can be so near that most people can't even see them for what they are: a retreat from the drab places we are surrounded by. I like paths because they can take me away to wonderful places, where I can lose myself, and yet, also be found. Even if that place is just a small pond, a stones-throw away from the mundane. I like this picture because it reminds me that you don't need to go too far to find somewhere beautiful. You just need to open your eyes right where you are standing.

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The Magic Places of the World

My homepage is Bing. Why Bing and not Google? Because Bing takes me places as soon as I open the web. The photographs they highlight each day are amazing and I am constantly in awe of their beauty. Sometimes they do miss, but sometimes I get to see the magic places of the world. I get to experience images from all over the world and I am amazed many of those places even exist. Often, they are far away... places I will most likely never see in person. But the wonderful thing about the world is that no country, or even continent, has a monopoly of the magic places. This one is in my backyard, here, near Austin, Texas. It is the Innerspace Caverns, discovered only when construction workers were drilling for posts to make a freeway. With miles of cave, some yet unexplored, it reminds me that there are still magic places to be discovered. We just need to keep looking for them.

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Back to the Art

It has been a few since I have had the chance to take some more photos, and that has saddened me. So I dug this one up because it reminds me of my crazy brother. He is very crazy: crazy cool about things like Indian art and folklore. If you read one of my earlier blog posts, it speaks about his photographic skill and artistry I seriously lack. But I do plan on working more on my photography once the weather clears and warms up a bit. I want to learn studio photography badly, and have a contact with years of experience. Maybe I can get him to help me set up a small studio so I can explore this some more. In the meantime, I continue my novel and am 30,000 words through it. Only about 200,000 more to go...

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Missing in Action

I realize how I have let my blog slip recently. But then again, it's not like anyone is missing it:). I blog because it helps me focus on what I value, and what I am. To this effect, I have not been blogging simply because I am working hard on my book. Yes, I have begun to write it and am very excited by the prospect. I am not writing with any hope of ever being published ... I do not have such luck. But I will complete the novel anyway, so that I can say that I did. It has been a goal of mine since high school, and therefore, it is time to achieve that end. Now what to do with my website ... * sigh * I will include a new photo too soon. Yet another one of my pursuits that has lagged ...

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