How do we come up with the ideas we write about? For me, this falls into two categories for my business - novel ideas and blogging ideas.
Novel ideas are fairly easy for me. Is it because it's easy to come up with an obscure take on a topic or discover how nuanced a new character can be? No...those things still take both time and effort. However, I love to play around with those things. Sometimes a day-dreaming idea generation session can last all day and yield nothing. And that's okay. Ideas are malleable and can be reshaped into whatever we want them to be. It's the sheer spontaneity of raw ideas that makes them attractive, and the biggest part of their "ease" is the flexibility I'm allowed. Since I don't have an editor on my ass about finishing up so they can make some artificial deadline, I can take my time writing my ideas down. I can mold them, rework them, and store them until I'm ready to play with them again.
Blogging, on the other hand, is something different altogether(I know, I know...let's forestall the eyerolling about Russ writing yet another post about blogging being harder than he thought). Some writers post only occasionally and erratically. Those that follow this pattern have no worries. Sure, they might like to post more, but they're worried more about their other writings and usually view blogging as something nice that will get done when it gets done. Others, like me, post much more frequently and on some kind of schedule. This gives their audience a sense of predictability that they can find fresh content.
But getting fresh content can be challenging. Some of those I know fill that content with politics, something I swore, mostly successfully, to not get into on my blog. Others fill that schedule by mostly posting links to other sites, sometimes with a brief commentary. I like to visit these blogs, but usually as a gateway to other blogs rather than as something independent. Just not my style for my own posting. Therefore, most of my ideas have to be original ideas about writing and books. That kind of subject concentration is hard.
So how do I come up with ideas? Usually, something will strike me as interesting and what I want to talk about. However, I also have a horrible memory, so I need to write down these ideas so I don't lose them(I typically put them in the Notes section of my phone). I cannot tell you how many ideas I've lost because I didn't write down an idea within a short period of time after having it.
Trying to keep track of my ideas and then getting them written on a predictable schedule is the next step, and the one where I fail the most. I'll look up and suddenly discover I'm supposed to have a new post up tomorrow and haven't started it yet. I try to get ahead, but I still let time slip by and get near the end of the period, after having up a lot of posts ready to go, and then find out I've got to play catch up again. Frustrating sometimes, but totally worth it when I get feedback from what I've presented.
Novel ideas are fairly easy for me. Is it because it's easy to come up with an obscure take on a topic or discover how nuanced a new character can be? No...those things still take both time and effort. However, I love to play around with those things. Sometimes a day-dreaming idea generation session can last all day and yield nothing. And that's okay. Ideas are malleable and can be reshaped into whatever we want them to be. It's the sheer spontaneity of raw ideas that makes them attractive, and the biggest part of their "ease" is the flexibility I'm allowed. Since I don't have an editor on my ass about finishing up so they can make some artificial deadline, I can take my time writing my ideas down. I can mold them, rework them, and store them until I'm ready to play with them again.
Blogging, on the other hand, is something different altogether(I know, I know...let's forestall the eyerolling about Russ writing yet another post about blogging being harder than he thought). Some writers post only occasionally and erratically. Those that follow this pattern have no worries. Sure, they might like to post more, but they're worried more about their other writings and usually view blogging as something nice that will get done when it gets done. Others, like me, post much more frequently and on some kind of schedule. This gives their audience a sense of predictability that they can find fresh content.
But getting fresh content can be challenging. Some of those I know fill that content with politics, something I swore, mostly successfully, to not get into on my blog. Others fill that schedule by mostly posting links to other sites, sometimes with a brief commentary. I like to visit these blogs, but usually as a gateway to other blogs rather than as something independent. Just not my style for my own posting. Therefore, most of my ideas have to be original ideas about writing and books. That kind of subject concentration is hard.
So how do I come up with ideas? Usually, something will strike me as interesting and what I want to talk about. However, I also have a horrible memory, so I need to write down these ideas so I don't lose them(I typically put them in the Notes section of my phone). I cannot tell you how many ideas I've lost because I didn't write down an idea within a short period of time after having it.
Trying to keep track of my ideas and then getting them written on a predictable schedule is the next step, and the one where I fail the most. I'll look up and suddenly discover I'm supposed to have a new post up tomorrow and haven't started it yet. I try to get ahead, but I still let time slip by and get near the end of the period, after having up a lot of posts ready to go, and then find out I've got to play catch up again. Frustrating sometimes, but totally worth it when I get feedback from what I've presented.
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