Kim at Sophisticated Dorkiness has slated “brainstorming” as this next installment of the Blog Improvement Project. The goal is to brainstorm ideas for content, so you have a stockpile of topics when you’re at a loss for inspiration.
As in the previous week, she’s done an amazing job with the footwork for us, and points to some great articles about brainstorming:
- 24 Things to do When Stuck for a Topic to Blog About
- Brainstorming Techniques for Bloggers
- 9 Steps to Better Blog Post Ideas
These articles have loads of ideas about how to brainstorm. Mapping/clustering works well for some people (my kids use it in school with their writing assignments). I’m a list-maker, and tend to group my lists into major topics, then break it down into smaller, more specific items. Think of a grocery list with DAIRY followed by eggs, milk, cheese, yogurt, and another heading PRODUCE followed by lettuce, cucumbers, apples, grapes.
Kim’s assignment was in two parts. First, to read the articles and try various brainstorming techniques. Second, she asked us to use these ideas to generate a new, regular feature for our blogs.
I’ve done the first part, and love the articles she refers us to. Did anyone else think of the George Costanza character from Seinfeld and his Art Vanderlay alter-ego when you saw the website of the second article?
I’ve seen some new features on other blogs since Kim announced Week 2, so she’s definitely motivating us! Kathy at Bermudaonion has added a Wondorous Words column; go see how familiar you are with the words she’s uncovered in her recent reading!
I’m going to twist that second part of the assignment for my blog. Rather than create a new feature, I’d love to remind everyone about my weekly Spotlight on Bookstorescolumn, and invite you to participate. Guest writers submit a post about a bookstore that’s special to them (not necessarily favorite, I’m careful not to box anyone into a corner with that!). It could be an independent store, “big box,” new or used books. The index of previous posts is here, and the most recent post, by author Sarah Pekkanen, and featuring an amazing used bookstore in Connecticut is here. I invite anyone, not just book bloggers, to contact me (dawn [at] sheistoofondofbooks [dot] com) about writing a Spotlight post!
I’m glad the articles were helpful for you. I read a lot of blogs on blogging, so I just try to keep track of articles I came across that were sort of helpful, but I never know if they’ll be interesting for other people. Thanks for the reminder about your feature — I’ve noticed it before but apparently did realize it was a regular