Explore the world around you and the world within you
I'm Steve Brock: traveler, photographer, branding expert and author of the new book Brand Something Beautiful: A Branding Workbook for Artists, Writers, and Other Creatives.
Join me as we explore the intersection of your outer journey (travel) with your inner longings, creative interests and passions. If you're new to the site, start here or sign up on the Resources page to access great tip sheets and tools to make each trip or creative project more meaningful. You can also take the Traveler Type Quiz to find out what type of traveler you are.
Or simply read the latest blog post... 
READ BRAND SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL
TAKE THE TRAVELER TYPE QUIZ
GET THE CREATIVE WILD
Get your FREE Trip Planning Workbook!
Learn new ways to select the perfect trip destination, be a more sustainable traveler or determine how to turn any trip into a quest. This workbook will help you plan a trip in a whole new way. Sign up on the Resources page to access the free workbook and other helpful ebooks, tip sheets and guides. Using AI for trip planning
AI tools like ChatGPT can make your travel planning much easier. Just be sure to double check the results…
Creating in the valley
Our best creative work often comes out of our struggles and suffering more than our happy times
Illustrated books based on trips
My favorite illustrated books for adults
One of the best ways to explore your worlds—connecting the world around you with the one within you—is to tap into experiences that take you back to your childhood (assuming that was a positive time in your life). And one way to do that is through looking at the books that you loved as a child. But another approach is to read books now as an adult that…
My favorite illustrated books: travel
Like many of you, I’m fond of books. I rely heavily on the library for supplying my addiction, er, reading needs. It is not unusual to have a stack of 40 or more tomes piled up by my chair with another dozen or so on or by my bedside table, and a few others scattered around the house. Many of these will be “research” related: for an upcoming…
Montevideo, Uruguay and the psychology of architecture
“We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us.” – Winston Churchill In Hidden Travel I wrote, “Where you are almost always affects who you are.” I still believe that. But lately, I’ve wondered at how precisely that works. Neuroscientistists and psychologists, it turns out, have some answers for us. Several years ago, the BBC ran a piece entitled, “The hidden ways that architecture affects how you…
The Glorious Pursuit of Doomed Quests
What you discover in a failed quest may be the true quest you were meant to pursue. I have two new books that will be coming out this summer. The first is called Make Something Beautiful: The Paradoxes of Creativity and How to Make Them Work for You. It’s a gift book taking some of the principles from The Creative Wild and framing them within the context of 21 different paradoxes…
The mysterious movement of wood in Chiloé
In the Chilean archipelago of Chiloé, you find a centuries’ old tradition that is still very much alive. There’s a zombie-like nature to wood. When you cut down a tree, it’s dead. And yet, it still keeps on moving. Not just immediately, but for years—even centuries—after. It would be creepy if you ever really thought about it. And of course, most of us don’t. Unless you’re a woodworker.…