We’ve all been there. Deadlines are looming for our blog or our novels. A tingling in the pit of your stomach borders on nausea. We settle into our favorite chair and turn on our computer. Pull up our WIP. Position our fingers on the keyboard. And nothing. We read the pages we wrote the day before. We dive into our favorite source of caffeine. We read the blogs on how to get past writer’s block. One writer jogs three miles. Another pulls weeds. Read a few excerpts from a bestseller. Watch a movie. For some writers those ideas might not work. A twinge of fear sets it, and you search frantically for words that are chained deep inside your mind. The time has come to look deeper and discover your own ways to spark your creativity. Take a look at seven out-of-the-box ways to break out of writer’s block. Play with kids under the age of six. These little people have imaginations that soar into places we adults are afraid to go. A boy crouches on the sofa in the Spider Man position. A girl closes her eyes and sings from the movie Pose a story line and let them…

This time of year always reminds me of my childhood hometown. I grew up in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the city of Sonora, California, the county seat of Tuolumne. A beautiful place with tree covered hills all around, lakes and rivers for fishing and swimming within a short drive. There are hiking trails through towering pines and camping sites beneath starry skies. Brick buildings amid a park like setting downtown with cute shops and quaint restaurants. Parts of the Back to the Future movies and Little House on the Prairie television show were filmed in our county. I remember once nearly running into Michael Landon walking down the sidewalk. Sonora resides in the ‘heart of gold country’ and is also known as the ‘Queen of the Southern Mines’, named after the miners of Sonora Mexico who settled in the area in mid-1800’s. The success of California’s “Mother Lode” can still be seen today, as Sonora remains the center of commerce for the region. There’s even a replica gold rush town, Columbia, on the outskirts of the city, complete with wooden sidewalks, gold panning and stagecoach rides. Columbia was one of my favorite places to hangout when…