The Sociable Scribe

When I worked for Families.com, I often posted 3-5 blogs a day between Pets and Marriage. People often asked me, “How do you find that much stuff to write about?”

At that time I mostly relied on life experiences or various stories I stumbled across in the news.

For instance, our cat Tabby came along just a couple of months after I started in the Pets section at Families.com. From writing about how the little stray was adjusting to our household, to her suddenly being mean to our other cat Mr. Meow, to finding out she was “with kitten,” then nearly losing her to complications when she got spade, to her and Mr. Meow finally figuring out how to get along…wow. I was rarely short of material!

Likewise, when I started writing in Marriage, there were all kinds of controversies in the news about powerful married men, like governors and other state leaders, and their penchants for infidelity. I also had a great reader, Jade Walker, who’d often shoot me links about interesting stories which almost always sparked some sort of commentary by me.

When I started Haunt Jaunts, I sort of floundered there in the beginning. (However, it’s important to note I was still going through chemo. It wasn’t uncommon for me to have bad days, or even bad weeks, where the big event of the day was getting a shower. That’s truly all I had energy to do.)

But once I went into remission and really set my sights on providing quality content on my blog, I added a few story generating tricks to the bag of them I’d acquired during my times at Families.com. Nowadays it’s not uncommon for other bloggers to ask me, “You always seem to come up with such original story ideas. What’s your secret?”

There’s no secret. It’s more a matter of asking others whose blogging I admired the same question and seeing if their tricks worked for me.

I’ve compiled a list of all the ways that do work for me when it comes to generating ideas and finding content for my blogs. Maybe you’re already using some yourself. Maybe some will be new to you that you’ll add to your bag of tricks.

1. Personal experiences. Even though I don’t use this one as much as I did when I first started blogging, I still use it. Take this blog, for example. It was basically sparked after I was speaking to someone at a meeting recently who said, “I don’t know how you do it. I wouldn’t know what to write about.” and I went ahead and promptly explained all the ways they could find material. I got to thinking that’d make a good blog, so…here we are! But it’s not just my personal experiences. Friends sharing their dilemmas, challenges, and triumphs also qualify.
2. Stories I find in the news. This includes televised news broadcasts and print.
3. TV shows. Reality TV never lets me down. I can find something to light my muse’s fire when I watch just about any of the ghost hunting TV shows. But CNBC advertised a show the other day which, if I can figure out when it’s on, might spark a post or two for this blog.
4. Movies. On Haunt Jaunts I have a theme day called Movie Mondays. Mostly I talk about upcoming paranormal, horror, or sci fi movies that have caught my eye. (The one I’m most eager to be released is Phasma Ex Machina.) However, something seen in a movie has also been known to spark posts. (Chick flicks never failed to highlight relationship issues worth writing about when I blogged in Marriage at Families.com)
5. Google Alerts. This is a staple in my content generating bag o’tricks. Sometimes I find ideas that can make stand alone blogs. More often I find great links to share on Twitter. (This is especially true for Haunt Jaunts.)
6. HARO. I don’t know how I came across HARO (which is short for Help a Reporter Out), but I’d consider it a must for any blogger interested in (a) finding top notch sources for original content they’re writing about on their blog, or (b) who want to be a source and garner extra PR for their blog, firm, product or service. The first time I used it was when I wrote Haunts with Heart last Halloween on Haunt Jaunts. I wasn’t expecting anyone to pay my little blog any mind when I sent out a query looking for people who knew of Halloween events benefiting charities. I was very wrong.
7. Other blogs. Sometimes I notice patterns developing on the blogs I follow, including the Twitterstream of Tweeters I follow. A great example of this was when National Geographic Channel aired the “Bigfoot” and “Haunted Prison” episodes of their American Paranormal series. I was reading about it everywhere. And another blogger I follow, Autumnforest of Ghost Hunting Theories, specifically sent me a link to NatGeo’s site saying I had to check it out. Which, is a good example of the power of getting to know your fellow bloggers by leaving comments on their posts. In time you develop relationships which can prove mutually beneficial, like this one was by providing me with info to keep me in the know.
8. Comments readers leave on my blogs. Speaking of leaving comments, both Autumnforest and Jade Walker have a habit of inspiring the wordsmith in me with their observations. That’s why I always enable comments on my blogs. I’ll risk the pesky Spambots for the glimmers of wisdom and inspiration from the devotees!
9. Holidays/important dates lists. When I worked for Families.com, I used to rely on the Brownielocks Holiday and Observance Days lists to find awareness days and theme days relevant to Pets and Marriage that I could write about. I also liked the New York Times on the Web’s On This Day list for the same reason.

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