In life sometimes it’s important to get outside our comfort zone – to do things which we wouldn’t normally do, go places we wouldn’t normally go, and generally experience a different reality than what we are used to.

Taking this advice on board, I’m about to go camping for the first time! The wilderness experience in the beautiful mountains of Idaho lasts not just for a couple of days, or even five days, but 10 days…and there’s no campsite so I’ll have to make do without the luxury of toilets and showers for that time.

There’s white water rafting, rope work, mountain climbing, canoeing and lots of other exercises which I’ve never experienced before either. There’s even bears apparently, but I won’t think about that right now!

In addition to all that I’ve never flown on my own beyond to and fro from the UK, and an odd flight from Malaga to other cities within Spain. Getting from Malaga to Idaho involves three flights, three overnight stays in hotels (I fancied a bit of pre-trip luxury) and a good few mincab or shuttle bus rides.

So you may wonder how I am feeling about this upcoming trip, which is quite a long way outside of my current comfort zone. Well I feel naturally nervous, slightly anxious….but I also feel empowered, excited and as if I’m on the brink of a new beginning. The thought of waking up everyday in nature feels my heart with a warm tingly feeling, as does the idea of getting to know other likeminded souls in such an open setting.

But above all I’m looking forward to the creativeness that will accompany the trip. I’ll be able to sit overlooking a babbling stream with my notepad open, scribbling down whatever comes. I’ll be literally living on the edge of inspiration, just waiting to see what ideas the universe throws my way. What’s even better is that I can record all my experiences and feelings and emotions around the trip, while living it all at the same time.

Like life, when it comes to writing, us authors have a comfort zone too. We tend to stick to writing about what we know; only particular subjects, or certain styles with which we are familiar. Most of us also tend to write at the same place…sitting on a particular chair, or at a certain desk.

But what if we changed all that? What if we woke up one day with the full intention to write, but in a different way? What if, instead of slumping into the usual chair we took ourselves to a quiet beach, or a busy café, and tried to write in that environment instead? What if we took the plunge and began to write the opening chapter of a genre of book we’ve always loved to have the courage to try… My advice to you is to just do it. After all if you keep on doing what you’ve always done then you’ll keep on getting where you’ve always got…So if you want to be a bestselling author, simply look elsewhere, take action, and EXPAND YOUR WORLD!

Love & Light,

The Word Queen xxx