Following on the last article, here are 5 more ways to find ideas for your blog or your writing. You do no more have the right to say "Oh, I can find ideas for writing". There are thousands of untapped niches around. You’ll only need to be more observant.

Listen

Listen to people.  Whether you’re shopping, at the job, or in the gym, listen to what people are saying.  What subjects are being discussed?  What seems to be important to other people?  Many times, you will get ideas based on everyday discussions.  Having good listening skills is a huge benefit to writers.

Don’t forget the kids.  Kids are innocent and provide a sincerity that is often missed with adults.  If you have children of your own, nieces or nephews, or friends with smaller children, sit down and just talk to them.  Believe me - you will hear all kinds of things that will soon get you out of Writer’s Block.  They possess such great imaginations that they will actually help yours kick into high gear.

Attend a workshop.  Listen to a teleseminar or conference call.  Sit in on a class.  Do an interview.  Absorb information that other people are sharing and extract IDEAS that you can use yourself.

Analyze Data

Conduct some analysis with people who can contribute to the topic you are writing about.  Do a survey.  Take a poll.  Ask questions.  Have them ASK YOU questions.  Compile all of the information and you’ve got even more ideas for writing your content.

For example:  I know of a marketer online who wanted to put together an eBook for newcomers to the web to help them learn how to do business online.  He had a half dozen or so ideas about what to share, but that was all.  He knew that "newbies" have a lot more questions than that!  But, he didn’t know what they were — being an EXPERIENCED web marketer, he took a lot of "basic" things for granted.

So, what did he do?  He sent a SURVEY out to people on his newsletter list and the lists of his online marketing friends.

The result:  Over 200 questions that newbies wanted answered!

That’s around 195 more "ideas" than he started out with.

And that’s also a GREAT way to come up with new ideas…ask questions and have folks ask you questions.

Read voraciously

An excellent way to get the writing juices flowing again is to read.  Look at magazines to get ideas.  Often times, an article will be well written but it might only touch on a portion of a subject.  An example might be that you open up an interior decorating magazine and spot a wonderfully written article on making quilts.  The article talks about things that a quilt could be used for and some basic instructions on how to make one.  However, without plagiarizing that article, what other things about quilts could be written on.  Perhaps historical information could be added, or locations of museums.  People might be interested in knowing the best type of fabric to use.  Many people start a good article but only cover a small portion of the subject matter.

One of my favorite things to do to generate ideas for my writing and to overcome the dreaded writer’s block is to spend a few hours in my favorite bookstore.  I love to browse through books and look for ideas.  Again, we’re not talking about stealing someone’s content, we are talking about finding ideas which you can write your own original content.

Visit a bookstore.  Or a library.  Or a magazine stand.  And just browse through materials relating to what you are writing about.  And you are almost certain to find some great ideas to write about.

Watch TV or Movies.

TV is another source for ideas.  As you know, television covers anything and everything and if you’re struggling with Writer’s Block, there will be something that will help spur your mind into action. With 598,000,281 different stations to watch, you’re bound to find something helpful! )

If you want to write an eBook on snakes, sit down and watch the Discovery Channel.  You will gain a ton of important information and once again, you can determine what wasn’t covered.  If the show covers the detailed information on the top 10 venomous snakes in the United States, why not do research on the next five. Ideas are often found by using the old remote control!

Play The Alphabet Game

Here’s another great idea generator exercise.  Starting with the letter “A” in the alphabet, literally start thinking of events, places, people, items, verbs, etc., that start with that letter, which are related to your eBook topic. The goal is to go all the way to “Z.”  This is a great way to shake loose Writer’s Block.

For example:  if you are writing an eBook on internet marketing, here are some ideas…

A = affiliates
B = build a list
C = conversion
D = digital products
e = ezine
f = follow-up
g = google.com

And you would complete that all the way through Z. Do you think any new ideas could be generated from such a list?  Of course!