Here are three more ways to find content for your products and article, no more excuses about writer’s block are allowed.

Look Around

Look around your home.  Are there special momentums, pictures, smells, colors that bring a thought to your mind?  Sitting in a chair in your living room or family room, start at one side of the room and slowly look at each item.  Obviously, everything will have a meaning.  Perhaps it was a sculpture purchased when you were in Paris, or a candleholder given to you as a gift from your kids.

This is another visual exercise that helps to pull ideas into your mind when you’re struggling.

A variation of this is to get out your photo book and revisit the experiences of the past.  They say that a "picture is worth a thousand words."  Hmmm.  A couple dozen photos and your eBook will be done.

But seriously, looking through photo albums spawns a lot of feelings and memories that can be very helpful in generating ideas for your content…

If you are writing an eBook on dieting and see a picture of you and your friends hiking, it could easily launch into creative ideas for exercise (hiking, backpacking, park trails, mall-walking, mountain climbing, etc.)

If you are writing an eBook on planning vacations and see a picture of yourself at an "off-the-path" restaurant which could easily give you more ideas about "looking for the hidden gems" on your trip. (take the old highways instead of the interstates, stop in all the small towns and explore, here are 10 places you should check out, what to look for, etc.)

Additionally, by reliving your own memories through photographs,  it gives you more personal stories and experiences to share — giving you MORE content for your eBook, further establishing your expertise on the subject, further enhancing the reader enjoyment and better illustrating a point you are attempting to make.

Use the Internet

The "information highway" is at your fingertips.  Just about anything you could want to know is only a few clicks away.

At any given time, there are millions of people around the globe on the Internet.  If you are looking for something in particular or trying to locate information on a person, place, or thing, the Internet has it.  The key to good Internet research is know where to go and how to search.

Although there are hundreds of search engines on the Internet, some of the larger ones will give you the most information.  Some of the top sites are Google.com, Lycos.com, Yahoo.com, DogPile.com, and Northernlight.com.

Each search engine has what are called spiders or crawlers that go out and search the Internet.  They then bring the information back and is sorted and indexed.  When a person conducts a search, the results are coming from the indexes that have been built.

To obtain information, simply type in what you’re looking for in the search field and that’s it.  Searches consisting of two to four words get the best results.

I always recommend starting here.

Visit the Library

The library has been around for many years offering archived and new information on millions of subjects.  New technology has allowed most libraries to offer better search tools, thus resulting in better results.

If you need to locate information about a specific event that happened in 1957, you can go back to the archived microfilm and locate that very information.  Old newspaper stores, obituaries, weddings, and births can all be found.  Although the Internet has become the number one tool for conducting research, the library is still a viable source and in some instances, is still better.

Plus, you’ve got an assistant at the Library — the Librarian!  Ask her (or him) for help finding what you are looking for (much of it is even computer driven these days).

Conduct Interviews.

Find some interesting people in your church, school, work, or even family and friends who have had a unique experience in life and conduct an interview with them.  Sometimes we think we know someone well until we take time to talk to him or her – really talk.

For example, one young woman interviewed her own mother.  She thought she knew everything about her and her life but during the course of the interview, she discovered cherished pieces of her life that she didn’t even know existed.  Her own mother had her ears pierced at age eight, in 1935, by Chief White Feather, the grandson of Chief Sitting Bull.  He lived in Indiana down the street from her and took a real liking to her.  The daughter had no idea!  Interviews will unearth all types of buried treasures.

And look for EXPERTS in your field of interest.  Ask them a handful of questions and then use the entire interview as an actual part of your eBook. 

Use Other Languages - Translations

This is a fun exercise and a wonderful way to come up with new ideas.  Take words that you like, research them in other languages, and then translate them.

As an example, the word “hip” in Spanish is Cadera (Ka-dare-a).  That has a nice sound.  Look at various languages such as German, Italian, Spanish, French, etc.  If there is a word that’s significant to your book or article such as “cliff” or “ocean,” conduct some research and see how those translate.

The Latin term "Carpe Dieme" ("Seize The Day") became the focal point of the wonderful movie "Dead Poets’ Society." An expression from another language can turn into an entire chapter of your eBook. Explore and see what you can come up with.

Try Freewriting.

This exercise is powerful and a wonderful tool.  Set your timer for 10 minutes, have a pad of paper and pen in front of you, and just start writing.  (Or the ol’ computer, if you’re like me.)  You can write using sentences, words, poems, stories, whatever you want.  Just write and don’t stop until your timer has gone off.

This allows your mind to express itself freely without any limitations.  When the exercise is complete, dedicate some time to sit back and read what you wrote.  Some of it you may remember while a lot of it will surprise you.  This is a great way to organize thoughts and strengthen the mind.  And you’d be amazed at how many absolutely mind-boggling ideas come out of these brain storming sessions.  Really you would. But don’t take my word for it. Try it yourself.