Inspiration and Filling My Creative Well

Some days you just need to take a break.

From life, work, family, or friends and go hide in your favorite places. My husband and I love to travel and camp or hike. We both work on the computer and need to give our brains and bodies a way out of the modern day screen-deluge.

Why do I like to travel?

A few reasons:

• I love seeing new places and people.

• Nature in all of its glory.

• I almost always learn something new when on a trip.

• I like to try new things or see historical records (human or nature made).

• It is editing and writing food.

Tips:

1. Have a good pair of shoes at least partially broken in and a trusty walking stick.

2. Pack your hiking backpack as if you are going to get lost at night.

A perfect example comes from an author chat I had this week. We were talking about scents in a scene. They asked if molasses would be out of place on a hike. That depends on the context:

• Do they have a cookies or food with molasses in it?

• Is someone baking nearby?

• Is the character hallucinating?

In the end, the scent was changed from molasses to the smell of new green. That shift from winter to spring where the brisk, cold slowly gives way to the smell of earth and growth. Not quite petrichor but a scent that is unique to the wintry places of this world.

If I hadn't spent a lot of time outdoors walking my pup or hiking in the forests. I wouldn't know that and be able to provide it as an alternative solution. So look, listen, take notes on all the senses of a place not just the visual elements.

You will use them later.

All photos in this post were taken by me or my partner on our Hocking Hills and Reservoir trip.

Updated 10/27/2026.

Filling the Creative Well