Ah, topic brainstorming week. At the moment my head is full of information about metamorphic rock, so unless you’re looking for a gneiss pun I’m afraid I’m not the best option. I can keep this schist up all day.
To be honest, I don’t do a lot of intentional brainstorming about blog topics, but I am always thinking. Generally speaking, I attempt to find some way to use what’s at the front of my mind as a starting point. On the off-chance something occurs to me in the more off-hours, I try to write those down, or if I haven’t written for the day I’ll start a post and at least write the shale of the idea so it’s preserved.
See, the problem I have is that if I allow myself too much time to think about the topic before I write it, I will grow tired of the idea or otherwise exhaust my interest in it. It also occasionally happens that I get halfway or all the way through a post then decide I don’t want to post it. Got a few of those laying around. I do occasionally find some manner of inspiration in looking through those posts, which is why I keep them.
Revisiting a topic you’ve talked about previously is another pretty good source of ideas. Everyone changes over time, and reading what you once said or thought about something can provoke some interesting discussion. It is equally useful to read other bloggers’ posts, though I highly recommend you at least mention and link the post that inspired you.
Depending on the type of content you can always find a book or do an online search for writing prompts. There’s plenty of that material out there. Don’t feel bad or blame yourself for feeling void of ideas, near as I can tell this is a perfectly normal and human problem. On the off chance you’re not human, that would be a good source of topics too.
My guidance may not be the best, though, as I have a very loose method to my madness. I rely heavily on a strange synthesis of current events, whatever game(s) I’m playing, and the thoughts that occupy my mind on a given day. This is especially difficult when those thoughts are ones I don’t wish to share or I feel are otherwise inappropriate.
Something I have also considered is commentary on some of my classwork or required reading. The only reason I haven’t gone that far is the most interesting topics are the ones I have to write discussion posts and essays for, and I often fear expending my energy here and coming up short there. The larger writing assignments take a lot of the wind out of my writing sails because I always end up feeling like I should be doing that instead of this.
Anyway, I suppose that’s enough meandering for one day. I think there’s a point in there somewhere. Y’all stay safe out there and avoid hydrothermal fluids. It can apparently cause metasomatism which does not sound fun.
Hey, it’s Blapril time! The goal is to simply promote and stimulate the blogging community by encouraging people of all skill levels and backgrounds to post. The official post can be found here and it’s never too late to start.
Unidentified Signal Source 