How to get new Topics and Ideas for writing Great Hubs and Articles

You are a writer and a good one too. But there is sometimes a limit to creativity. You want to write and plenty of ideas are criss crossing but you cannot get locked on to a particular topic. Your fingers are itching to pen down (or type on the keyboard) all the thoughts which want to come out of you but the centre point is missing.

What you need is a good theme to focus on so that your ideas can start flowing out of your mind in a systematic manner. Can there be a system which can outsmart the temporary creativity deficiency (if not temporary bankruptcy)?

If you have had such an experience before and want to have plenty of right ideas and topics to write about then you might find my experience useful.

Creativity is not erratic, rather it is continuous. We humans, especially the creative people like writers, painters, actors etc. have a deep and rich reservoir of ideas waiting to be tapped. Once you have the right technique to tap into the treasure of ideas hidden within, there would be no need to get into that ‘mood’. It is like switching on the light button – though not quite literally.

Here are a few steps suggested which work well for me.

The more you interact with people, the higher is the flow of ideas, issues, concerns which are of concurrent importance to individuals, groups, society, state and the country. Naturally, people will talk about what concerns them today and they would like to discuss, read and share the information and facts about it.

Increase the size of your “inbox” - as your interaction increases with people both in depth and width you will get loads of information which can be used by you selectively and in accordance with your areas of expertise.

Therefore, you will need to increase your receptivity by listening, seeing and observing the people you have chosen to get ideas from. They could be your friends, relatives, fellow professionals, thinkers, authors, influencers.

Even the public places could be great learning grounds for picking up fresh ideas such as shopping malls, chit-chat in the hotel lobby, people exchanging notes while waiting outside doctor's office, exhibitions, tourist spots etc.

Suppose you are on a flight or travelling by train you could strike a conversation with your co-passenger keeping in mind his / her priorities, for example a teenager would be well informed about the features of latest mobile phones. Similarly, a 60 plus lady would be quite interested in health issues.

Everyone has a story to tell.

A doctor would know lot more about life style diseases, its reasons prevention and control much more than a common man because this is his field. Similarly, an architect can tell you about the latest products or techniques in the area of building a house – may be better, faster or economical.

Everyone is happy to share updates and latest development in his / her domain.

Definitely it would help to browse through the printed material such as books, newspapers, magazines, newsletters besides increasing to visits to your favorite websites. If you already doing that then increase your time spent and include more publications / websites to burrow for topics and ideas.

You may like to pay special attention to the sections such as ‘Editorial’, ‘Letters to the Editor’, ‘Editor’s Choice’, ‘Main Story’ etc. sections of a newspaper / magazine to get a better grip on topics in which the community is interested currently.

It is a natural human tendency to be curious about the current even which is of interest. In a country which is going for elections, topics about the backgrounds of the leaders, their chances of winning etc. The fans of the particular game would go to any length to keep themselves informed of the developments of the match and the life of star players. You can feel some kind of mania or euphoria in the air.

The issues which are social, political, environmental or economical can also become very popular on the national / international level. Even weird things like Gangnam Style can go viral

During Olympics games a handful of players win a steal away all the limelight, for example Michel Phelps or only 7 to 10 countries walking away with more than 10 medals. You may choose to write on your country’s players, the method of preparation, the infrastructure and facilities for training etc.

Each country / state / city has a history and important land marks. Remember the dates of important events, the birth dates of the leaders and this would give a much needed start to your ideas.

You can also review important historical milestones, such as over throw of a dictator and establishment of the democratic rule in the country.

You could come up with a unique angle, new ideas and thoughts to be shared on ‘Father’s Day’, ‘Valentine’s Day’ which your readers may find useful or interesting.

You may have quite a few friends on Facebook who are actively posting and sharing their ideas, concerns and what interests them. Treat these posts as the treasure house of fresh ideas for you to write on. The more you see the comments / likes / shares below the post, the better attention it deserves from you.

Take it for granted that such a post is current and popular enough to give you a great idea.

Your own life is a big original book or rather a unique novel to which fresh pages get added every day. Every time you travel, attend a wedding, go to a party you are adding a lot of information to the ‘hard disk’. Similarly, your hobbies, interests, skills, family, pets, neighbors are all inexhaustible source of inspiration and ideas for writing.

There could also be memorable events such as birth of your child, situations such as change of line of career etc. which you can recall and write about.

Let us assume that you are fond of writing on cookery. Most certainly, almost all kinds of dishes have been written about and can be found in the form of articles, blogs and videos.

In that case, why not be a little innovative and helpful to people. For example, you could search about making breakfast or lunch from the leftover of dinner. Your keyword search would be something like, "how to make a breakfast out of leftovers of dinner dishes?".

This will kill two birds with one stone. Firstly, you will actually introduce yourself to the usefulness of key word research ( later you can learn a lot more about it) and secondly, you may like to try out one or two such dishes before you sit down to write.

Suppose you idea is unique and useful then it is sure to attract the traffic and may even go viral - if you are lucky.

If you think these tips are helpful and you are excited to publish your work then go ahead and search for sites and blogs which welcome the freelance writers.

Here are a few links:

• GreatLifeZone
• PowerfulMoneyAffirmations

Check them out!

This is not an unusual problem. Perhaps your mind needs some inspiration or a lead. Also if you are physically tired or mentally over stretched, then also there could be a temporary deficiency of ideas.

Try the tips given above - as it is or with your own variation and I am sure you will discover your own buttons to increase the creativity in you.

Let the good ideas continue to flow like a river and keep your readers engaged.