Quick How To Guides (Part Four)

Guide Four - How To Avoid Blog Block (or writers Block), or What to Blog About! I've been meaning to write this for sometime, and I guess what I just wrote (last post), is as good a reason to include this now. First let me ask, Why do some people get 'Blog Block', and other's (like myself) never have that problem? (Or won't shut up!) First of all, I think I don't run out of ideas to blog about, as I have an innate curiosity about everything. I also love THINKING about everything. It doesn't mean I know about everything nor do I have an opinion about everything (though when I tell people I don't have an opinion about something, or have to think about it more, it usually surprises them). Due to this 'curiosity' thing, I can normally think of something to write (and as a lot of you know from my long comments on other peoples sites, I can normally rattle off a long opinion or advice about most subjects at hand). So, where do I get my ideas from? That depends. Normally, I don't know. I don't think that hard about things. First thing I normally start my blogging day with, is what's happened to me during the day. It's a bit like 'Seinfeld' claiming his show was about 'nothing'. The fact is, 'nothing' in the Seinfeld sense incorporated almost 'everything'. In truth, the Seinfeld show was about a 'New York Comedian' living in his apartment and occurances centering around him and his friends. As it had a very large scope (pretending to be about nothing), it was able to go almost anywhere, provided it didn't move to far from the central characters and their lives. Like, you couldn't suddenly find the characters on Mars or back in the past ... where as Star Trek or The Twilight Zone could if they wanted to, go to those places. On our blogs though, we have a choice. We can choose to blog on a theme, or we can choose to blog on a huge range including ANYTHING and EVERYTHING. If you have chosen to blog around a theme, then you had better know your theme pretty well, and stick to that theme. If you have done this, then I would pretty much say that you probably don't need help and can research your own ideas. If you do get a block, then your best place to find ideas, is other sites/books etc based on a similar theme. Unless that theme is your life, or something so unique that only you can answer the question of what to write about. So, without further adieu, here is a quick bullet point list of things to blog about:

• Your life/day (something that happened) [Birthdays, exams, idiots on the road etc]
• Something on someone elses site (blog or not) which inspired you (but don't rely on this for inspiration. I find it is best to do this when you do find something inspirational, NOT as a means of finding inspiration)
• Latest News Event (anything from the news, whether serious, or humourous)
• Food (very popular)
• Review a book, DVD, movie, CD, song, art piece, (endless) anything really
• Write about an historic hero of yours
• Write about an historic idiot/villian/event.
• Write about something philisophical (One of my favourites)
• Write about religion (try not to offend others of other religions or even your own)
• Write about a personal opinion (You do have them you know)
• Write about a problem or quandry (this often helps people think their way through them, and often helps others who are suffering similar things - it also invites discussion which might include things you never thought about)
• Write a poem
• Write a piece of Fiction.
• Complain and whinge about idiots you encounter, or things which annoy you.
• Write about things or people who inspire you
• Write about some profound saying which you find helpful in your life
• Write about something which happened in your past.
• Write a self help guide on something (like, how to change a lightbulb without falling off the ladder, or how to avoid burping ... anything ... how to write better blogs)
• Write something you find funny (and think others might)
• Steal a joke from somewhere and draw cartoon pictures to go with it. (eg KY)
• Write about your possible future
• Write about how something in your past might have changed your future if you did it different
• Write about love (your first or latest, or lack of)
• Write about the world in general - get political, or pacifistic, or defend the downtroden, or just be a bastard/bitch about it all.
• Write about where you've been or where you'd like to go.
• Write about technology/money or anything you might include as one of your hobbies
• Write about what you'd like to do (skydive - scuba dive - climb everest - sit on the beach)
• Write about a weird dream you had (or make one up and pretend it was a dream) :-)
• Lie OR get overly honest OR confesssssss everything! (Yes, the body is in the boot of my car) :-)
• Offer an opinion on anything and ask for other opinions
• Sports (if you do them) - which team do you follow ... why ...
• Culture (your own, or others you have experienced)
• Pat someone on the back for something they've acheived (World intergender nose rubbing champion of the year?)
• Go to Yahoo! or some other site with a list of subjects and follow links down as far as you go ... whatever subject you arrive at, that's tonights topic.
• Randomly open the encyclodepia to any page, and then research that topic ... then write what you have learnt
• Write about famous people, non-famous people who you think should be famous, or famous people who shouldn't etc
• Write about brands you support and ones you don't explain why.

The list is in fact endless (well, almost). You can add some in the comments you think I should have included (this is NOT the definitive list). Anyway, maybe if you link to this post, and next time you are without inspiration, you can browse through and try to think of something. Your opinions never go away, no matter how uninspired you feel, so finding something that challenges you or the way you think should get some response. If it doesn't (or you can't find anything), as a last resort, write about why you feel you ahve blog block, or feel uninspired! Are you not well/ender the weather? Are you confused? Are you just feeling nothing you say is important anymore? Then WRITE ABOUT IT! :-)