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The Writer’s Blog Workshop Series Lessons: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7

Lesson Four:

In this lesson, we’ll take a second look at developing blog content, this time from a brainstorming perspective.  Consistent content creation is the biggest obstacle facing new bloggers. On days when the creative juices just won’t fly, use these brainstorming tips to remind you how to fire up your creative idea-maker and face the blank screen with confidence. Start out with a few basic premises:

*No analyzing the idea during the creative stage.
*The more ideas, the merrier.
*It’s okay to build on someone else’s idea(s).
*There are no stupid ideas.

Add a few extra brain-sympathetic points:

*Give your brain time to warm up (try a brain teaser, for example).
*Stand up, stretch, laugh.
*Allow your brain to have pauses…… Wait through them.
*Respect anything that comes to your head.
*Claim your creativity with a positive outlook—no negative self-talk.

Ten Blog Brainstorming Techniques

1. Freewriting. Let your thoughts flow as you type or write longhand. Write down whatever comes to mind, no stopping, no judgment, no editing. Set a time limit and keep going even if you feel as if you are writing nothing. When the timer goes off, sit back, read over what you’ve written, discover the hidden gems or insights.

2. Break down the topic into levels. Whichever one of your pre-determined blog topics you are planning to write an entry on that day, look at the general topic, then subtopics, or a single word or phrase relating to the topic/subtopics. Create flow charts or even shapes out of them.

3. Listing and bulleting. List all the words you can think of from the general topic and/or subtopics. List ideas or words that are opposite to the topic/subtopics or idea.

4. Cubing. Look at your topic from six different directions—analyze it, describe it, compare it, associate it, apply it, argue for or against it.

5. Similes. Complete this sentence: (Topic) is/was/are/were like _________. Brainstorm as many answers as possible.

6. Mind-mapping. Write your topic or subtopic in the center of a piece of paper using one to three words. Move out from the center writing down related concepts or terms as you can associate them to the topic/subtopic. Write as fast as you can, moving outward from the center. Once the brain”storm” is finished, circle related items and draw lines connecting the circles. (Or use colored pencils or highlighters.) You should find “clusters” of related items, or a big web or map. Find any unexpected or interesting associations? What ideas do they spark? What about “loners” that didn’t connect up to anything? What thoughts do they inspire?

7. Journalistic questions. Who, what, when, where, why, how? Apply them to your topic and subtopics.

8. Think outside the box. Take your topic and write about it from another perspective. A non-writer. A non-baker. A non-gardener. Etc.

9. Be your audience. Ask yourself what you’d want to know if you were visiting your blog.

10. Dictionaries, thesauruses, encyclopedias. Look up your topic/subtopics. See what is sparked by the definitions. Maybe there are obscure or archaic definitions you hadn’t thought about or that mean something else entirely. You might find a new context for the topic/subtopics you hadn’t thought of before.

On days when you don’t have a single idea in your head for your blog, you can produce an idea by brainstorming—and thus the confidence to know that you can maintain a blog longterm.

Blog on!

The Writer’s Blog Workshop Series Lessons: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7

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