How I Constantly Come Up With New Ideas To Write About

I’ve been writing on Medium for about a year now. I follow the advice to write every day to get better. I don’t always publish every day but I make sure to write something.

I don’t like to follow the trends and write the same kinds of things other people write just to get views. That might be hurting my chances of making money.

But the reason I write is to express myself and do what I want, not to follow the crowd.

So the question is where do I get ideas to write about?

For me, the answer is ideas can come from anywhere but they usually come from 3 main sources.

News/ social media

There is always a constant flood of posts online every day. Some of it is relevant and interesting, but most of it is irrelevant and stupid. With that being said, you never know how something you see will spark an idea, or inspire you to share something with the world.

I try not to spend too much time on social media but occasionally a few gems are hiding in the rough.

Life experiences

Whether it’s something I’m experiencing now or something I’ve dealt with in the past, if it happened to me it probably happened to someone else too. You never know how something you share can affect or inspire someone else.

I don’t think of myself as a particularly wise or motivating person, but as long as I’m honest and sincere in wanting to share something with others, people seem to respond.

Even one clap or one nice comment is enough to feel like my words had an impact on someone.

Books

This is one I know you’ve heard before. If you want to be a good writer you have to read. I agree 100%. There are some days when I don’t feel inspired and have no idea what to write about. When those days come I head to my bookshelf and grab the first book that catches my eye.

I open a random page and start reading. It doesn’t always work right away, so I grab a different book. This is by far my favorite way to find ideas to write about.

All it takes is one line that makes me think, then I’m off to the races.

If I had to sum it up:

1. Always be on the lookout for ideas, wherever they come from. 2. Be honest with yourself and your readers. 3. Read, read, and read.

There is no way to force an idea. But there are plenty of ways to summon something inside of us that is dying to come out.

We just have to be looking for it and open to whatever may come.

Thanks for reading, here are some other articles I wrote if you want to read more. Or follow me for updates when I post.