I could go on for ages about the benefits of taking an adventure into the outdoors. Of going on that hike. Of stopping your car and getting out and admiring that view. I took this photo in the mountains of Washington state, and it wasn't even a part of anything we had planned. I just couldn't get over the view with the fog and the trees and the general majesty before me, and so we stopped to appreciate it. All through our hike up here, we stopped and explored little nooks and tiny trails that branched off. Sure, they were out of our way, but in the end, it was all worth it. We saw more, and ultimately did more, than we had planned.

And we had an amazing time.

The same concept can be applied with virtually anything, however. I've been taking lots of physical adventures on this trip, but I've also been having many creative adventures. I've visited every single book I've ever written multiple times, reading over some of my favorite scenes, reconnecting with old characters I'd nearly forgotten about, and peeking at maps I'd made years ago.

I finished the first draft of a book I'd been trying to finish for nine months a few weeks ago. After finishing that draft, though, I was at a loss for what to work on next. I had so many projects I wanted to turn to, but I couldn't make up my mind about which one I wanted to work on most.

So I explored.

I revisited my first book and I revisited my last. I've flipped through and written on nearly every project, testing the waters, seeing how I feel about them now. And it's been an enlightening and surprisingly relaxing experience. There's typically some small amount of stress involved when trying to decide on what project you're going to work on next. But taking an adventurous route has allowed me to realize that I am going to work on all of these stories eventually. I'm not giving up on any of them. But I do have to choose one to work on for now, and in working on one, I have to set the others aside.

Exploring all my old ideas--even just concepts that I haven't even written yet!--allowed me to remember the beauty of creativity and the freedom of writing. Writing is an amazing thing, and it's an exploration of the mind in the deepest sense. It may feel like you're wasting valuable writing time when you're sitting back and reading some random chapter you wrote three years ago, but if that's what it takes to get you excited to write again, to get you back in the writing game, it's not wasting time at all.

But writing is not supposed to be a burden. It's supposed to be something that lifts burdens.

So go. Explore your ideas, books. Take an adventure in your backyard, your neighborhood, your state, or the biggest place of them all--your mind, and see what you discover. I promise you won't regret it.

What have you been up to lately? Have you had any interesting adventures? Please share in the comments! 

I read a book last year called Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend doing so. It's an amazing story, and one that rings true with artists, especially. I'm not going to spoil anything, but to put it as simply and as vaguely as possible, toward the end of the story, the main character is in desperate need of inspiration. She finds herself unable to finish what she's started, and she doesn't know how to break out of it.

So she goes to her bookshelf and pulls down an old favorite series. It's the series that started her story, if you will.

She goes back to her roots.

She devours the books, and in the end, they were just what she needed. Reading that book during the midst of my own loss of creative expression and my ability to throw words on the page with reckless abandon, I wondered, what if Francesca Zappia was onto something here?

So I went to my own bookshelf and pulled down the books that started my story. The books that began my journey in finding my true writing voice.

For me, those books were the Percy Jackson series. The series greatly influenced me when I was a young writer. I read them when I was twelve/thirteen years old (I think--it's been so long now I'm not 100% sure) and it revolutionized the way I told stories. Suddenly, I understood what voice was. Not in a way that I could explain to other people, but from reading Rick Riordan's work, I was taught many things about the art of writing that I'd never before understood.

I re-read the series for the first time in many years just last week (right after finishing up finals and coming home from school) and I was floored by the experience. There were passages that sunk into my being as I read them because I remembered them so clearly, and I remembered what I felt and thought when reading them. I remembered certain things I myself wrote after reading his books that were directly inspired by him. After reading that series, my writing sounded like a bad ripoff of Rick Riordan.

But then, that began to change.

I read other books, and their voices impacted me. But I clung to Rick Riordan's way of storytelling. I understood the power of a witty, sarcastic, funny narrator, and even in my darkest stories, I can see the touch of humor in the voices of my characters that he inspired in me. He taught me to find light in the darkest of stories and in the most hopeless moments.

There are so many little things I noticed while re-reading, and I would love to list them all. But that's not the point I'm trying to make with this post. The point I'm trying to make is that going back to your roots, reaching back for what got you started in the first place ... that's not backtracking. That's not being weak because you have to lean on where you started. It's not losing progress.

It's a reminder.

It's a reminder of who you were, and who you've become. It's a reminder of why you started, of where you went, and of why you fell in love.

And when you've been doing and trying for so long, a reminder like that is insanely powerful. I'm not saying it will fix everything. I'm not suddenly a powerful writing machine once more, like I was when I was sixteen. But I am saying that I'm better than I was a month ago, and I'm more determined than ever.

Sometimes determination is all you need to get going again.


I hope this gave you a bit of hope today, and inspired you to reach back to your roots if you've lost your way in recent years. But talk to me! What books inspired you to write? Where did you learn about the craft of writing, and what examples have shaped your writing voice? I can't wait to hear from you guys!