It might be quite strange jumble as my blog is partly about reading books, partly about hiking and partly about writing. It might seem that this trio does not come together that much. Yet, for me, it does. In this post, I will share how.

First, I don’t have the same experience with all. I was first taken hiking (in serious length for my age) when I was five. I started voluntarily reading books only when I was free of school reading (as most of what we were supposed to read did not catch my attention), around my 20th year. I started seriously thinking about writing when I was 22-ish and actually started in 25.

I could also say that among that is my gaming which might seem even more odd coupled with hiking, but that’s different story. Yet, it is on point here. The books I started reading were Warcraft books. As I eventually converted to e-books, Warcraft books are the only physical books on my shelf. While I was reading at home as well, quite often I just put it in my backpack and was reading in train (or bus) when going for a hike.

That, in turn, made my mind wander when on the hike itself. While my body was moving me forward, my mind was drifting and my imagination going places. Where exactly it was going before I intentionally directed it towards the concept of “Project Eternity” is different story (which I might share at some point) but eventually it was the path leading to the final piece of the puzzle.

Inspired both by reading and the scenery around, I started discovering the spark of creativity within me. Especially if I was visiting some not-so-well-known place and meeting minimal amount of people, my mind was drifting a lot and suddenly hiking got one more dimension, the challenge of mind that now drifted with purpose.

Eventually, as I actually started writing, the approach changed a bit. Because I was hiking more and getting slightly stronger (at least when it comes to my legs), my hikes were becoming more challenging. I often push myself and so on the steepest uphill paths I rarely have attention on anything else than the trail.

Yet, going all in clears my mind, gets rid of things that clutter it. Thus, the space is free for thoughts about the story I am creating. It is very often a day or two after a hike when I feel really creative – though there were moments when this creativity was coming to me during the hike itself. There were times when it was really cold or really wet and it gave me an inspiration for how to make a character’s life harder when he needs to find something.

Even ordinary places like a forest can inspire something. Anything from the color or shape of a hill or a flower I see can send my thoughts somewhere, just as an interesting idea in book I read can do. Not everything can be useful in the end but one idea might lead to another and that to yet another one and who knows what it can become in the end…