Summary

The website content provides guidance on finding writing inspiration by drawing from personal experiences, knowledge, and emotions, emphasizing the value of writing about what one knows and feels.

Abstract

The article titled "When You Don’t Know What To Write About" encourages writers to explore topics based on their own lives, including experiences, travels, lessons learned, and feelings. It suggests that age and life stages offer a wealth of material for writing, advocating for the documentation of both mundane and extraordinary events. The author, who has a broad range of experiences and knowledge, from parenting to historical insights, emphasizes the importance of writing about what one is passionate about and knows well. The piece also advises on writing for teaching purposes, ensuring clarity for readers unfamiliar with the subject. The article outlines a three-step process: listing personal experiences and knowledge, reflecting on the associated feelings and lessons, and consistently writing to improve one's craft. It provides examples of diverse writing topics, from personal anecdotes to broader societal issues, and encourages writers to maintain a draft folder with potential story ideas.

Opinions

The author believes that almost any topic can be suitable for writing, except for those that promote harmful activities.
Writing about personal experiences and knowledge is seen as an easy and authentic way to generate content without the need for extensive research or deep thought.
The author suggests that controversy and challenging common perceptions can lead to higher reader engagement.
Writing is also viewed as a teaching tool, with the author stressing the need to make content accessible to those unfamiliar with the topic.
The article conveys that writing consistently and about a variety of subjects can enhance one's writing skills and provide a diverse portfolio of work.
The author values the personal touch in writing, advising to include personal stories, especially when writing motivational or inspirational pieces.
The author is confident that as one ages, the breadth of potential writing topics expands due to the accumulation of life experiences.

WRITING | CREATIVITY | LIFE | LIFE LESSONS | SELF

When You Don’t Know What To Write About

Write What You Know, What You’ve Done, What You’ve Seen, What You Think, What You Feel, and What You’ve Learned

So you’re not sure what to write about. The answer is easy: Almost anything. Sometimes it’s hard to decide because of the unlimited number of choices.

(Ganted, some choices aren’t such hot ideas: please don’t write about inciting people to loot and riot and don’t write pornography. And it’s probably not a good idea to write about how to rob a bank or build a bomb.)

I probably have more ideas about what to write about than you do. No, I’m not smarter than you are. No, I’m not more creative than you are. No, I don’t have better ideas than you do.

However, I’m probably older than you are. (My husband likes to remind me that I’m almost 80 years old which is a few years older than he is. He’s right.) Being older than you are means I’ve had more experiences than you’ve had. So I have more experiences to write about than you do. Don’t worry. You still have lots of experiences to write about.

Maybe you have kids. Great, you can write about them and about parenting. Me too. Maybe you have grandkids. You can write about them also. Me too. BUT do you have great-grandkids? Ha! Bet I got you on that one. I’ve got two. I can write about them.

This leads me to one of the easiest things to write about. No research needed. No deep thought. No list of sub topics or outline. No complicated explanations.

Write about your experiences: in school, as a parent, marriage, divorce, dating, trips you’ve taken, adventures with cooking, how you fixed something that was broken, trouble you got into as a kid and how you survived.

Tell us about living through a forest fire, a hurricane, a blizzard, an accident, something sad, something that made you and your whole family laugh. The list is endless. Then add how you felt about this experience and what you learned.

That’s it: your experience, how you felt, what you learned. Easy, peasy.

Writing as teaching is also not difficult. Write about things you know how to do. I have years of experience as a ghost writer, as an editor, as a proofreader. Guess what? I often write about writing. What do you know enough about that you could teach us how to do it or tell us more about it?

The trick to writing to teach is to make sure your writing can be understood by someone who knows nothing about the topic. Sometimes we know our subject so well, we don’t realize that others may not get what we’re talking about.

First Steps

Make a list of what you’ve done, where you’ve traveled, what you’ve learned, hardships you’ve gone through, jobs you’ve had, miserable failures followed by grand successes. Everything on your list is a story.

Make a list of what you know. I know about history and classical music and Colorado and writing/editing and 2nd wave feminism and adoption and ADHD. And I’ve read 100s of books. (I’m thinking about starting a Medium publication for book reviews for readers. Would include classics, kids’ books, best sellers. Stay tuned.)

Write about what you’ve read and liked. What you’ve read and didn’t like even though it was a best seller. Favorite series on TV. Favorite movies. Tell us why you liked what you liked . . . or didn’t like and why. Tell us how it made you feel and what you learned.

Make a list of things you know and feel strongly about: politics, climate change, racism, sexism. Keep in mind that things we know a lot about, we often think others do also. That’s not true. By the way, controversy and going against the grain always gets lots of engagement.

Every time you think of something to write about, give it a temporary title, and add a few notes to the title. Put this in your drafts. I have 20 or 30 ideas in my drafts. Sometimes I’m working on a long story that needs some research so it’s going to take some time. Then I go to my drafts and find something I can write about more quickly.

For example, I’m working on a story about one of my favorite topics: Johann Sebastian Bach. It involves research which I love to do. (And I promise it will be livelier than some dull biography.) Since my goal is to write every day, I find quick things to write about while I’m working on my Bach story.

Some people like to write about one subject. It’s their passion. That’s great. Others, like me, like to write about everything. That’s fine too.

Second Step

For each story or topic on your list, note how you felt, and what you learned. If you like to write motivational and inspirational stories, be sure to include a story about yourself to give it a personal touch. Readers like to know about you.

If you want more advice on what to write about, here’s another story.

Third Step

Write. Write some more. Keep on writing. The more you write and write consistently, the better your writing will become.

Examples of What To Write About:

In addition to lots of stories about how to write, edit, and proofread, I’ve also written on everything from World War 2 to Girl Scout Cookies to Louisa May Alcott. Here are some other stories to give you an idea of the variety of things you can write about.

Of course, your bio if you haven’t written it yet. Here’s mine.

Something as ridiculous as your toaster.

Yourself as a child: I wrote about when my Mother made me eat disgusting canned peas.

How about some yummy cake recipes?

Write something funny: How I got a grandson to read (My now grown-up grandson and his Mom both cracked up reading this.)

Write about when you really screwed up. Like when I burned up my Master’s Thesis

What’s been your reaction to current events? I wrote about COVID-19 and George Floyd

Tell about the death of a parent. I told the story of the death of my birth-father, a paratrooper, who was killed by Nazi gunfire on D-Day and portrayed by an actor in Spielberg’s Band of Brothers.

Now make your own list of everything you can write about. Don’t forget to put your list in your draft folder on Medium.