I mentioned writer’s block in my last post (about holidays).  This is a topic I’ve seen addressed a couple of times recently (at TycoonBlogger.com and Conan Hughes).  In each case, I’ve gleaned an idea or two.  But I thought I’d post a list of some ways I come up with post ideas (besides spontaneously, which does occasionally happen).

• As I mentioned yesterday, holidays can serve as inspiration.
• Read old posts.  Can you “extend” an old post by writing more about the same topic?  Can you write about the opposite?  Is it time for an update?  Does the post suggest a different, but related post topic?
• Read other blogs!  Part of what makes the blogosphere great is interlinking.  When you see someone else’s post that prompts an idea for you, post about it — and link back to the original blogger’s post.  (The ScribeFire plugin for Chrome makes it easier to save these links for later.)
• Read other media.  News, magazine articles, television shows (or even advertisements), the Bible, quotes, and books all have the potential to inspire ideas.  (If you’re totally drawing a blank, maybe you could try “stumbling” for a few minutes.)
• I review products.  Obviously, this would make for a very one-dimensional blog if it were the only thing I did, but it is simply a fact that sometimes having a book or product for review gets me out of my comfort zone a little bit by “forcing” me to write about a particular topic.
• Participating in similar blog campaigns is the same general idea.  (In either case, I find that it’s wise to participate only with those networks that let me choose which campaigns I will or will not participate in.)
• Use journaling prompts.  (Some examples may be found here, here, and here.)   These are, after all, designed to be writing prompts!  Not all of them will be appropriate for public display and/or suited to the theme of your blog, but some may be.
• Define your own recurring themes or series.  (Do you post a “Wordless Wednesday” image every week?  Or put up a “Frugal Friday” post?)
• Use reader questions or comments.  Rather than just responding to these in additional comments all the time, can you respond to them in new posts?
• Draw on your life.  Perhaps it goes without saying that our lives provide subject matter for our posts, but this can go beyond biographical.  If I’ve just had a home birth, then, yes, I can write about that birth — but I can also use the opportunity to write about birth.  My life may prompt the sharing of my own birth story (or it might not; I’m not much of a “birth story” girl, myself), but it can also suggest related post topics, like “recommended supplies for a home birth,” “the safety of home birth,” “why we choose to birth at home,” (or even “why you might choose not to birth at home”), “caring for a newborn,” etc.

Perhaps most importantly, I keep a list!  We all come up with ideas, I think; the question is whether we actually remember them when we need them.  If I come up with twenty great ideas in one day, that doesn’t mean I will necessarily remember even one of them two days later when I’m trying to write.  So I keep a running list with all of my post ideas, and refer to it when I need to write a new post.  (This is also a good way to capture those spontaneous ideas.)

(Scheduling posts helps, too, so there isn’t a glut of posts one week and a shortage the next.)