May 15, 2011 / General Advice & Pro Tips

Where do you get your ideas?

We’re thinking of doing more work on Writing Helper, a tool to make writing easier and can use your help.

Please take a moment to tell us all the places you often get your ideas for blogging from.

And help spread the word – you don’t have to be a daily post reader to fill out the survey.

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  2. I’m curious to see what you will do to make Writing Helper more productive. It’s a feature with great potential… Thanks for all the effort and ways you support us. 🙂
    Eliz

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  3. I thought that I had commented on this but I guess it was on the poll page, anyways I find that most of my ideas are generic and free flowing and just happen. I’ll get itchy to post something, sometimes I have an idea of what I want to say and other times I have to search for ideas. Yeah mostly it’s what’s going on in my life at the time.. They tell you to write what you know and that’s what I am pretty much doing right now.
    I literally just sit myself at my laptop and start typing based on the idea in my head.

    I write about my life and subjects that relate to my life and questions that I may be having.

    I like meme’s that ask you questions like my post that I just did “The ABC’s of Me” which as you guessed is you write something for each letter of the alphabet based on questions asked. I also get my ideas from searching the web and the Post a day/week challenge.
    I always give credit to where credit is due if I borrow or expand on another bloggers idea, it’s proper blogger etiquette.

    But mainly they are ideas that are rattling around in my brain, or generic updates on my progress in my life. ie. my never ending job search.

    Tina Marie

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  6. Since my blog is a moview review site, my posts come from the movies I see (and their release dates, etc.). That said, I also have a moderately active Twitter feed, and most of those ideas come from my own mind and internet browsing.

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  7. Almost all of my entries are based on a 365 Challenge that I’m taking part in. The prompts for every day of the year were given out at the start of the year, and we can each do them in any order. There’s a good little community of people taking part and a good sense of support for all standards.

    It’s really a photo challenge, but I also tend to write something every couple of days on whatever theme I’m doing.

    365 Photo Project (2011)

    I love the idea of having all the themes at the start of the year, although I’m not sure how possible that would be for a writing-based set of prompts.

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  8. I blog about everyday lifewhere I live and where I visit, what we eat, where we travel to, Dutch and Kiwi traditions and events and have so many must-do-topics “in the pipeline” that I could probably make blog posts a year in advance if I was organised enough.
    It’s all THERE around you, waiting to be written about, if only you have the eyes to see it .

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  10. As my blog is intentionally Christian, I share a lot based on past and present experiences–often just everyday things that I have learned from and hope may inspire others. Often, too, an idea is sparked by some Bible or other devotional reading. Some of the other places I find ideas are right here from the daily and weekly challenges, from some comment someone makes in conversation, or from search engine referrals that ended up on my blog, but I am pretty certain probably were not exactly what the searcher was after (though I hope they enjoyed what they did find, of course!). I also do the occasional take-off from some reasonably relevant news story that I happen across. I plan to eventually get hooked up with some sort of news feed to watch more intentionally for those opportunities, but have not taken that step just yet. I have a basic weekly outline set up for myself, with a very general type of post planned for each day of the week, so I don’t start totally in the dark for any given day. 🙂

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  11. Since the theme of my blog is Gratitude….. I try to pay close attention every day to little things around me….. what people are saying or doing. Things I run across while I’m on the internet. If I have a day when several things come to mind, I’ll start a draft about it and then I have something to fall back on on days when I struggle to not be grateful for something I’ve already blogged about!
    Some topics are easier than others to turn into a gratitude thing…. others I just want to expound on…..

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  12. A travel blog is easy because I can blog about everywhere I go, and since I’m a full-time RV-er that’s a lot of places. But most of my ideas for developjng the blogs come from what the keyboard tells me. I usually have an idea for my blog but somethings the keyboard takes over. Honestly.

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  13. Ideas come from all over, sometimes when I am walking my dog and my brain is at rest, it comes up with some great stuff! Or other times when I have gone to bed with a thought that is yet processed, it comes up with a conclusion when I wake up the next day! Ideas are just that, they are what fuels the human race!

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  16. Ideas seem to pop out of nowhere – that’s if they pop at all. Memories are triggered by something I’ve seen during the day or something that’s been said, or happened. And then there’s the inspiration that comes from reading other people’s blogs – you know – the ‘aha’ moments. We feed each other ….

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    1. I concur. A word-count tool would be a great asset (as in Microsoft Word and Windows Live Writer). Many times, I have thought it would be so useful to have a word-count statistics page where I could see my blog’s word count history: blog total to date (posts and comments), post total to date, comments total to date, and also the aforementioned broken down by year, month, week, day, and post (just like the page visits statistics page).

      An additional great tool would be a post statistics tab that accompanies every blog post. For instance, I am viewing one of my posts and, right there on the same page, I click the post statistics button (or tab). Immediately, a new browser window or new browser tab opens up and displays the following statistics: word count (statistics for blog post and associated comments listed separately); personal blog post notes with full HTML support (might pertain to post development, further research on topic, thoughts on reader comments, personal links to related articles, posts, comments, etc); and any other useful statistics. This would be a serious blogger’s dream tool along with the others mentioned in this comment, and could certainly improve with WordPress bloggers’ suggestions.

      Additionally, it would be absolutely awesome to have a built-in Google search engine for searching my entire blog – posts and comments. The built-in search feature is too basic for serious research. I often am in the middle of writing a comment reply to one of my readers and suddenly remember something that I, or someone else, previously said on my blog that relates to my comment. Then, I must go through the arduous task of trying, through trial and error, to remember which post and/or which comment contains what I am searching for – whereas a built-in Google search tool would find exactly what I need, instantly, not hours later. I suppose Bing would suffice in a pinch, but I have more consistent results when searching with Google. Even WordPress, on its home search page, would benefit tremendously from a built-in Google search engine (or Bing, in a pinch).

      These suggestions are due to six months of writing between 10,000 and 14,000 words per week.

      Keep up the good job WordPress Team. I love WordPress, and I so appreciate beyond words all your hard work. Thanks for your dedication to make blogging both a productive and personally rewarding experience.

      Todd Beal

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  19. Inspiration is everywhere to those that have their eyes open. When you love life and crave it w/ a passion you see all the world has to offer. Go for it, just do it, make it happen, believe and live every second!

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  21. I get ideas from my own life, from Facebook posts, from the Bible, from news stories, from conversations. Inspiration is indeed everywhere. Just have to look for it.

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  22. I get ideas from trade magazines, other blogs, news reports, things that are happening in my life, Daily Post, my experiences, my family’s experiences, my/my husband’s jobs… the list goes on.

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  23. Mine is pretty much a theme blog, which I describe in my About page. Once in a great while I use one of the Daily Post suggestions. I do the Weekly Photo Challenge as well.

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  24. Well I will admit that ideas are but the product of ones’ capacity to think in expectation of such. But like the popular saying goes ” garbage in garbage out”. What you have fed your mind with determines what it produces- I mean the quality of ideas it can produce. I read a lot and that keeps me inspired to get ideas from just any thing that comes my way. Books, people, circumstances, movies, conversations etc.

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  25. Mostly I get my ideas from other blogs. Something will tweak a memory or idea and then I go for it. Otherwise, weird and wonderful stuff just happens to me. 🙂

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  26. I’ve been bloggin daily since October 2009 (except last year I skipped Sundays, but this year I found Six Sentence Sundays, and, being a writer, I took the opportunity to share 6 sentences of my works on Sundays), and I started from the beginning with some weekly features, sometimes only temporary.
    On Mondays I always have Happiness is… about those little happinesses that can make your week brighter (I do vignettes, but it can easily be a written post! ;-). During the summer I share quote on Saturdays, while during the year it’s links. This year I started the “love story with” Fridays – that will end for the summer and maybe continue in the fall – about things I love (or loved; might be finished love stories! ;-)). And I’m using your daily prompts to do my Wednesday post at the moment, but it might change.
    Other inspiration comes from other blogs, or musings, or whatever… happy blogging! 😀

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  27. I’m new to wordpress, and I often confused to start posting an article.
    I got an idea from my own, maybe need some helps from website like dailypost…. 🙂

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  28. I post a weekly blog on the astrology of the week. It’s based on an analysis of the astronomical positions of the planets and interpreted through the lens of astrological symbolism and what’s happening in the world. In general for writing, I get ideas while driving, walking or sitting in lectures or presentations and listening to something about which someone is passionate.

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