Where To Find Ideas For Articles For Articles

As a professional writer who currently maintains several blogs and “content maintains several blogs and content heavy” web sites, I am more than familiar with the feeling of panicky stupor g p y pknown as “writer’s block.”

Every writer experiences it. One moment y pyour head is swimming with ideas for compelling, thought provoking articles on

b f i t ti bj tany number of interesting subjects.

Then, in what seems like the blink of an eye your mind seems to go completely eye, your mind seems to go completely blank.

Those wonderful ideas you had only a Those wonderful ideas you had only a few minutes before seem stale, trite or just plain boring and you can think of j p g yabsolutely nothing with which to replace them.

You stare blankly at your computer screen hands on keyboard ready to go screen, hands on keyboard, ready to go, and nothing comes to mind.

It is a humbling and sometimes It is a humbling and sometimes frightening experience. If you are working on a deadline, it can be g ,downright terrifying.

Fortunately, quite a few resources are available where you can find stimulating available where you can find stimulating ideas that can jump-start your writing when you are facing an attack of writer’s y gblock at the same time you are in immediate need of some stimulating

fcontent. One of the most easily accessible, of course, is the Internet; but when you are facing either a fastwhen you are facing either a fast-approaching deadline or a mind numbing case of “brain fade,” the question of case of brain fade, the question of where to start can be mind-boggling.

Some of the decision about where you should look for article ideas is naturally should look for article ideas is naturally going to depend on your area of expertise or the subject matter about p jwhich you usually write. If you blog about current affairs, for instance, news

fstories that are of interest to the widest audience can often be found on the front page of any major metropolitan page of any major metropolitan newspaper like the New York Times, which is (as of this writing) still available which is (as of this writing) still available on the Internet for free.

I doubt that many people who write, even for pleasure have nothing to say even for pleasure, have nothing to say about the current economic crisis, the News of the World scandal, or the ,plethora of stories emerging daily from the Middle East.

Similarly, if you write about financial issues a trip to the pages of the Wall issues, a trip to the pages of the Wall Street Journal might give you some fodder for an article or two, or if national ,or international politics is you passion, the Washington Post would probably ffoffer up some good ideas.

All of these newspapers are available on line, usually with their “Op-Ed” sections intactintact.

Reading the work of Internet bloggers can also be a great stimulus for original can also be a great stimulus for original articles. One of my blogs is devoted to the benefits of a personal journal; when I p j ;can think of nothing interesting or original to say on that subject I will

fsometimes do a search of the blogs on Word Press or BlogSpot to find posts written by other bloggers that offer an written by other bloggers that offer an interesting or new perspective on some of my own ideas.of my own ideas.

I also maintain a rather extensive list of blogs that I read on a regular–if not blogs that I read on a regular if not daily–basis as a means of keeping my perspective fresh and current. I use the p ponline magazine “feedly” for this purpose.

In my opinion, it is far and away the most readable, well designed and enjoyable on line news reader on the web todayweb today.

If you read blogs, or virtually anything on the Internet today (which nearly all the Internet today (which nearly all writers do) you probably also make it a habit to comment on those items that you find personally stimulating, interesting or even objectionable.

If you are not already in the habit of doing so, it is a good idea to save a copy f th t t I of those comments on your computer. I

find that they can be a great foundation for new articles often with very little in for new articles, often with very little in the way of additions or revisions.

For that matter, even when you are not feeling particularly desperate for an feeling particularly desperate for an article idea, it is a good practice to take a look through your portfolio of old articles, g y p ,blog posts or other finished and unfinished articles on a regular basis to

f fdetermine if any of them are appropriate for a revision or even a major rewrite.

It is not unusual for articles that we wrote some time ago still to contain valid wrote some time ago still to contain valid information that, with a little bit of updating, can be re-cycled into new p g, ycontent.

You may also discover some old, forgotten “gems ” articles that you wrote forgotten gems, articles that you wrote some time ago that remain your personal favorites, tucked away in your portfolio , y y pjust waiting to be republished “as is.” (Some writing, after all, is best when left to stand on its original merits; can you imagine the disaster if Joyce had suddenly decided to re write Ulysses with suddenly decided to re-write Ulysses with perfect sentence structure and punctuation?)punctuation?)

When all is said and done, however, very often your best resource even on an often your best resource, even on an intellectually and creatively barren day, can very often be that three pound mass y pof gray matter that sits between your ears, most of its capabilities untouched.

After all, your brain contains the seeds of your passion, the raw material that feeds

ti it t l t d i t ll t l your creativity, talent and intellectual curiosity alike.

Although it may be acting a bit sluggish at the very moment when you need it to at the very moment when you need it to be on high alert, it is not–I assure you–dead.

You just need to figure out how to wake You just need to figure out how to wake it up– thankfully, doing so usually is not too difficult if you stop for a moment and think about the reasons it might be feeling so sleepy in the first place.

Most cases of short term writer’s block are caused by a physical rather than are caused by a physical rather than psychological problem.

Therefore, although it may seem a bit counter-intuitive, “waking up” your brain counter intuitive, waking up your brain requires that you first focus not on what your brain needs to do for you, but on what you need to do for your brain.

Confused? Think of your brain as a highly volatile combustion engine burning fuel volatile combustion engine, burning fuel (in this case oxygen and glucose-or sugar) very rapidly as it works to g ) y p ycoordinate not just your higher mental faculties like critical thinking and

f fcreativity but all of your bodily functions. Programmed through the Millennium to keep its host (that is you) alive at all keep its host (that is you) alive at all costs, your brain prioritizes its activities in order of importance.in order of importance.

In other words, if it does not have enough available fuel (think “energy”) to enough available fuel (think energy ) to keep all of your body systems working at 100% capacity, it will steal resources p y,from those it considers expendable–like creative thinking–to maintain those that it is quite certain are not-like heart beat and lung function.

Of course, all of this happens on an unconscious automatic level What you unconscious, automatic level. What you feel are the effects of this “work slow down” in the form of clouded thinking, g,poor judgment, sleepiness, fatigue and a definite decrease in what some writers

f frefer to as “creative flow.”

Thus, the answer to treating-and often averting entirely-your physically averting entirely your physically mediated writer’s block is simply a matter of making certain that your brain-g yand the rest of your body, for that matter- is getting what it needs.

Oxygen and glucose travel through your body in your bloodstream, transported in l d i th f li k d plasma and, in the case of oxygen, linked

to the hemoglobin in your red blood cells.

Getting fuel to your brain, therefore, is a simple matter of getting blood to your simple matter of getting blood to your brain; accomplishing that task is usually just a matter of getting your heart j g g ybeating a little faster and making yourself breathe a bit harder.

In other words, exercise!

Take a break from the keyboard and go for a brisk walk a quick bike ride or if for a brisk walk, a quick bike ride, or, if the weather is not conducive to outside activities, a few minutes of aerobic ,activity indoors.

Any activity that increases your heart rate should suffice.

As to providing “brain food” your best bet to combat writer’s block is to eat to combat writer s block is to eat something that will provide a quick burst of energy, like the simple sugars in fruit gy, p gjuice, along with some complex carbohydrates and a small amount of

fprotein and fat-which are more slowly digested and therefore provide long term energy and add to your body’s stored energy and add to your body s stored energy supply.

A glass of juice, a bowl of high fiber cereal and some skim milk would fit the cereal and some skim milk would fit the bill nicely (This also happens to be the staple meal of my “working” diet.) p y g )However, if you want to substitute an energy bar or a serving of low-fat PB&J

fon whole grain toast, go for it!The idea is to keep your brain supplied

ith h t it d t f ti t ti l with what it needs to function at optimal capacity for as long as it takes for you to write your bestwrite your best.

Finally, once your brain is physically fully functional again you will need to find functional again, you will need to find some ways to reacquaint yourself with your personal inventory of creative y p yideas–the thousands if not millions of questions and random musings that are tucked away in your memory, temporarily inaccessible to your frontal cortex Accomplishing this is a matter of cortex. Accomplishing this is a matter of knowing how your mind works and doing what it takes to revive your creative what it takes to revive your creative interest.

I find that thinking out loud (also called “talking to yourself”) about the things talking to yourself ) about the things that are on my mind, often things that are preventing me from thinking about p g gthe job at hand, will often help, either by temporarily freeing my mind from

ffworries or sending my thinking off in a different direction.

For example, if money is an issue, as it usually is I ask myself why it is usually is, I ask myself why it is bothering me right now and try to brainstorm solutions–leaving out nothing, g g,including my most outrageous ideas.

This practice temporarily ends my ruminating, and forces me to begin thinking creatively again.

Along the same lines, I sometimes mentally relive an experience that was mentally relive an experience that was particularly emotional–the kind of emotion is less important than the pintensity in this exercise–either in my mind or by writing in my journal.

This, again, shifts my thinking into creative “right brain” mode and usually h l t thi k f thi t it helps me to think of something to write about in the moment.

Hopefully, these suggestions, limited as they are by time and space will be they are by time and space, will be sufficient to help you think of some new ideas for creating helpful, interesting and g p , gentertaining articles for your readers. Nevertheless, even if they are not, here

f fis one final piece of advice that, sooner or later, always works. Just write!

Y t ti l d b it ti l You can post articles and submit articles to:

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