50 Writing Ideas I Couldn’t Find on Another List
by Frank Gilroy on February 19, 2008
in personal
I was skimming through my new copy of the “six-word memoir book” tonight and I stumbled across the entry of Jennifer Shreve. Jennifer says, “Blogging is easy. Writing is hard.” As I read this memoir the first thing that came to mind for me was that I do find blogging easy. A little bit too easy at times. For me it’s finding the ideas to blog about that’s hard.
I searched for a fairly comprehensive list of blog post idea joggers and found one here by Philip Liu. I wrote a mini list of ideas last week when I was stuck. Tonight I thought I’d really challenge myself. Philip’s 101st idea is to write a 101 idea post. I thought I’d try and “one-up” Philip by writing a list like his without duplicating his content. I couldn’t come up with 101 ideas without getting ridiculous, so here’s 50.
- Send out a twitter asking for a random word to write a post about.
- Google your name, find somebody that isn’t you, and write about them.
- Find two experts in a field and start an argument between them.
- Write a letter of resignation for a job you don’t have.
- Write a resume cover letter for a job you have no chance of getting.
- Re-write a great speech from history like the Gettysburg Address.
- Write a letter to yourself in the future.
- Write a letter to yourself in the past.
- Write a letter to a son or daughter you don’t have.
- Write a letter to an extra terrestrial.
- Write a review of a book that hasn’t been written.
- Write a review of a movie that hasn’t been made.
- Write a review of a product that hasn’t been developed.
- Write a travel review of a place you haven’t visited.
- Write yourself a spam e-mail.
- Write yourself a sales letter for a product you’d never buy.
- Write a lawyers closing arguments.
- Write a judges dissent.
- Write a new book or chapter for your favorite religious text.
- Write a political campaign victory speech
- Write a political campaign consolation speech.
- Write a speech abdicating an office.
- Write a script for a motivational video.
- Write a script for a commercial.
- Write a script for an infomercial.
- Write a jingle for your blog.
- Write a poem without making it rhyme.
- Write a monologue for a late night talk show.
- Write an award acceptance speech.
- Write a toast for a wedding you crashed.
- Roast a celebrity or expert in your niche.
- Write a story on the opening of a time capsule.
- Write a post in a language you don’t speak.
- Write a letter to a stranger in a foreign land.
- Open the yellow pages, point to an ad and review the company.
- Write a commentary on something from CSPAN.
- Write a review on an obscure piece of software you use only at work.
- Write a script for a news cast.
- Write a synopsis of a sporting event.
- Heckle a fashion show or beauty contest.
- Write an award citation.
- Write your own performance appraisal.
- Write your bosses performance appraisal.
- Write a greeting card.
- Write a service level agreement for your readers.
- Write a statement of work for a blog.
- Write a business plan for your site.
- Write a script for a porno movie.
- Write a script for a video game.
- Write your own eulogy.
LMAO - I love #3. You could even do it in a Platonic style and argue from their perspective, predicting their words =)
This list is awesome. But I think you should add, ‘write a list of things to write about’ to your list :)
I definitely couldn’t find these anywhere else
2-16 are damn good ideas. I will immediately rip them off and pretend i thought of them first… possibly
throw some chocolate cake on your bed and let your dogs have a party
If I bothered to look I’m sure I could find these elsewhere as well.
Loved your ideas!! Awesome!! Will follow some as if they are my ideas ;)
I’ve actually written a review of a book that hasn’t been written… It was an assignment for a class. (We also had to do back cover copy, a profile of the author, and a few other items.)
I did #2 about a year ago and ended up having some correspondence with the other Martin Higgins. He’s one strange dude :)
i did number 27
‘ the oceanic sound ‘
seaweed.
coral.
dancing in the twilight of the sea.
waves splash.
people cry and die.
war is what is going on.
nobody tries to stop it.
Great list! I am taking the making a business plan and statement of work ideas. Needed to do that anyway, it’s always great when someone reminds me. Thanks!
I would add something I do: keep a VHS tape ready with a notepad (time/date/channel), file complains on every possible grounds against stupid ads.
Nice! There are definitely some good original suggestions here!
I love your list,we were laughing when we read it #2-14 was my favourites might try them out.
Great post.
liked the idea #10 - thanks!
So witty!!
Writing your own eulogy is depressing, but a fitting last line.
Great list. I used to have books of writing prompts when I was younger and wish I still did.
Caramba! What a post… but by the time it reached 50, it DID start looking ridiculous…
-DH
http://techrunch.blogspot.com/
You have the best writing prompts. I am 9 and I am using them.
I love number 30. Now that takes guts. I have never crashed a wedding. If I was the sort of person who could do that, I guess I would also be the sort of person who could make a toast at a wedding they crashed.