Happy New Year! One of the things we love most about starting a new year is a fresh opportunity to determine goals and settle into new routines and positive habits–especially related to writing. We’ll be talking a lot in January about how to set–and keep–writing goals and get the new year off to a good start. But in order to write, you need ideas, right? One aspiring freelance writer asked me recently how I come up with ideas. That got me thinking about creating a Nooks & Cranberries “Idea Generator.” That’s one of the new things you’ll be seeing here regularly, and this week’s edition of Daily Writer’s Fix seems like a great place to introduce it.
And with that, here is this week’s Idea Generator:
Make a list of things you’d like to learn more about. Examples could be include how to fall asleep more quickly, good nutrition for kids on the go, how to bridge the marriage or kids gap with single friends, or anything. List as many things as you can think about. Divide your list into five little lists–one for each day of this workweek. Each day, take your mini list of topics and develop each one into a series of article ideas. For example, how to fall asleep more quickly could lead to the following articles: 10 ways to clear your end for a good night of sleep, relaxation techniques for bedtime, bedtime rituals for the whole family, the sleep “diet”: how to eat well for sweet dreams, expert advice on how to fall asleep and stay asleep, etc. You get the idea. Think in terms of headlines, if that helps.
If you do this each day this week, by Friday you’ll have a large pool of potential ideas just waiting to be developed! Further refinement is necessary, but that comes with time as you start delving into a particular topic when preparing the query letter. In the meantime, you’ll start the new year with no excuses for having nothing to write about!
