Where to Get Writing Ideas when Your Inpiration is on Vacation

There are many sources for writing ideas, conversation ideas, and lesson ideas online and offline.

For instance, if you are a blogger or an internet writer having a slow mental day, you might want to go out and get a newspaper. Taking a look at how the old school journalists do it and at what they are writing about could be just the ticket for you.

If today it's Copenhagen and concerns about climate change on people's minds, the paper will tell that it is so. If tomorrow, it's the South African World Cup that everyone is talking about, the paper will tell you that too. (Next summer Africa will host its first World Cup ever, in South Africa, sub-Saharan Africa's most "developed" country. Other countries like Ghana, Ethiopia, and Kenya are also developing peacefully and prosperously, but no country has a tourist trade and a reputation in sub-Saharan Africa like South Africa.)

Political writers already use the newspaper for their source material, but if they want to get the inside scoop and write about what congress is talking about - that has not yet been covered, these writers should look to the Senate's website and the website of the US House of Representatives.

We all know that the things that surprise us can be the most fun to write about because the act of discovery is centrally involved in the writing process.

Where can you go to find surprises?

Try Gary's List of Lists which presents lists of listed information on subjects from agriculture to public works.

Or take a look at e-investigator, a website dedicated to presenting interesting statistics and facts that could make for some good writing fodder. (Ex: A toaster uses almost half as much energy as a full-sized oven. Did you know that? Come on now, don't pretend you did. It's me you're talking to. I won't tell anyone. See, I knew you didn't know. No one knew that.)

And, to keep your whistle whet, here's another item from e-investigator: About twenty-five percent of the population sneeze when they are exposed to light.

It turns out twenty-five percent of us are allergic to the thing that brings life to our planet.

Of course, if you are having trouble coming up with ideas, you may want to simply step away from the glowing computer screen and breathe the fresh air of planet earth. Forget the virtual world for a while, and sip the wine that is your due.

Every writer has his/her mug. Sometimes it's filled with coffee, sometimes it's filled with beer, and sometimes, when the writer is lucky, it is filled with the voice of the muse (which can sometimes taste like coffee or beer).