James M. Vargo Books

A path less traveled Nature can be ugly, beautiful, and interesting Go ahead...it isn't scary.  Not...one...bit Pictures are worth a thousand words, just getting them all out is the problem. As you know, my blog isn't so much about writing, but why I write what I write. Fantasy is all around you -- especially when you look for it. And it can take some doing, even a four-hour drive to south central Ohio, but places like the ones in these pictures are what writing is all about. It's what makes Andro Rhine love the forest, and that can lead to adventure...and it already has. Write on and read well. 

That's right, I said it. Steely Dan has no place on a fantasy blog, but when I took this picture at Tappan Lake, Ohio (a little ways west of Pittsburgh) I couldn't help thinking of the line: your everlasting summer, you can see it fading fast; so you grab a piece of something that you think is gonna last... Dang, it's true, we all do that. It is August now and summer is fading right quick. At some point we learn to let go...usually when the October wind turns, then the switch comes on. We'll be ready. Right? And how does this pertain to writing?  I'll tell you. You better hold on to that piece of something that will last, because snowflakes might be falling, but if you are writing about summertime, it makes no difference -- those words better be dripping with swaying breezes and lemonade.  Happy writing, whatever the season.