There are times in life when our disparate passions may cross paths through no design of our own. When a talent that often seemed to us a pointless exercise can suddenly be put to great use in the service of a cause or mission. In that moment of connection, we may find our voice.

Such a connection came about for me over the past year.

I have always enjoyed writing, and, in fact, write for a living. But when it came to my own creative writing I often felt aimless or even uninspired. Projects started then abandoned when I felt no compulsion to go on. Ideas tinkling through my brain like water over rocks but with nowhere to land. Yeah, it was frustrating.

I also live in a beautiful state made up of two peninsulas bordered by the Great Lakes and peppered with more than 11,000 inland lakes, as well as many rivers, streams, wetlands, and ponds. The landscape ranges from urban decay to vibrant cities to rural hamlets, from flat farmlands to rolling orchards to deep forests, from stony and sandy beaches to fantastic rock formations to rushing waterfalls. I have a fierce love for Michigan, despite her faults.

Then in July 2011, I began writing a story set on a fictional lake in northern Michigan. And the fateful intersection of two passions came to be. That story, A Beautiful Fiction, lends its name to this space. I’m currently exploring the possibility of publishing that novel. In the meantime, I’ve carved out this online space to continue to pursue my passions, to bring them together in service to one another and to you.

If you love to read, if you love to travel, if you love to live in or visit Michigan, if you love beautiful photography, if you love history, if you love the Midwest, if you love water and woods and city and country . . . please come back often. Because I love all those things too.