Aphelion Editorial 087

Looks like we've reached 200,000 hits on our counter tonight, folks. Let me tell you, that's a great feeling. Thank you, one and all, for coming back time after time. Everyone at Aphelion has a right to be proud. Its taken us seven years to get this far- Who know where we'll go in the future? Aphelion is a perfect example of "if you build it, they will come." Construction began a long time ago. It never ends. Something needs to be renovated every month. Well, people still seem to keep wandering in. I hope everyone will continue to have a good time for a long time to come.

I got to see the recent lunar eclipse. It was an awesome sight. Sometimes being on night shift can be a blessing. Would have made a really great film sequence, too. There was a thin layer of fast-moving clouds over my area. Very dramatic. It was nice to be able to take the time to just go outside and look up at the night sky.

Its little snapshots of life like that one that wind up being used in a story. Everyone has a collection of them. Life's little treasures. Writers tend to mine those treasures for scenes in their work. This is a good thing. It makes the stories better.

The task of looking at those snapshots with a new perspective, I leave to the writers as an exersize. Stretch your imagination a bit. Look at the world around you a little bit differently. There are lots of things out there that you can use to your advantage. You just have to think a little differently about your surroundings.

The night sky, a foggy morning, a meteor shower, the face of a stranger, the howl of a train rumbling away in the night, the aroma of flowers, smoke from a fire... These are some of the paints you have on your palette. By careful mixing, new colors can be made. New portraits can be painted.

And your readers get a better story, too.

Dan

I now return you to your regularly scheduled reading...

THE END

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