5 Ways to Find Inspiration for Your Writing

Do you log on to your blog each day wondering what on earth you're going to share with your eager readers? You've written about everything under the sun and now your mind is a complete blank. You're wondering if there's anything else you could possibly blog about that would be of interest to anyone besides you and your faithful circle of devout readers - your spouse, your kids (when you make them), and your precious kitty who usually watches from your lap or the desk as you peck out your next masterpiece.

The thing is writing or coming up with ideas to post about shouldn't be as difficult as we often make it. As a blog author or freelance writer, inspiration is all around us if we take the time to notice. Here are a few tips for getting your creative juices flowing

1. Join a Writing Community - There is definitely strength in numbers. Submitting articles with any or as many writing communities as you'd like offers an opportunity to improve your writing skills and find ideas about things that might interest your readers. Many of the sites grade or rank your articles - an unbiased critique of your style, content and reader importance. Searchwarp.com is one of my favorites. However, there are many out there.

2. Outline vs. Inspiration - Even the most prolific writers often utilize outlines  as preparation for their writing. Writing an outline is a great remedy to writer's block, as it allows you to express your ideas briefly without getting unduly bogged down in the details or in correct grammar or word choice too early on in the writing process.

3. Have a Meeting of the Minds - Talking with friends or colleagues about a topic you're considering writing about can help flesh out ideas and creativity - utilizing your view and the views of others can make for a great article.

4. Make Sure Your Environment is Conducive to Creativity - Personally, I find it difficult to write anything meaningful while SpongeBob Squarepants is blaring in the background. The area you find yourself doing most of your writing should be comfortable and relatively noise free. I'm not to offended by clutter. Some of us love that stuff...

5. Bring Along your Handy Dandy Notebook - Blues Clues had the right idea in mind. Taking a notebook with you when you're out and about to jot down your thoughts can be a great help. How many times have you been away from home and see something or hear something that you think would be an awesome post only to completely have forgotten about it by the time you get back to your computer.

These tips are some I've used in the past to get "over the hump" so to speak. What are some of the things you do to keep your writing ideas flowing smoothly?