Read! Read! Read!

Writer’s block? Lost interest in your project? Got in the doldrums? It is time to fill your cup back up!

Grab a book…a magazine. Grab a cup of tea and dig into something fresh.

An excellent way to get the writing juices flowing again is to read.  Dig into a new book just for you. Grab a magazine. Enjoy the fresh ideas.  Often times, an article will be well written but it might only touch on a portion of a subject that you love. Just reading will fire you up again.

An example might be that you open up an interior decorating magazine and spot a wonderfully written article on making quilts.  The article talks about things that a quilt could be used for and some basic instructions on how to make one.  However, without plagiarizing that article, what other things about quilts could be written about? Grab your Idea Notebook and brainstorm.  Perhaps historical information could be added, or locations of museums.  People might be interested in knowing the best type of fabric to use.  Many people start a good article but only cover a small portion of the subject matter.

One of my favorite things to do to generate ideas for my writing and to overcome the dreaded writer’s block is to spend a few hours in my favorite bookstore.  I love to browse through books and look for ideas.  Again, we’re not talking about stealing someone’s content, we are talking about finding ideas which you can write your own original content.

Visit a bookstore.  Or a library.  Or a magazine stand.  Or the internet. Just browse through materials relating to what you are interested in writing about.  And you are almost certain to find some great ideas to write about. If you are like me, once your cup is filled back up, you are ready to slosh everywhere and on everyone.

Want to be a great writer? Read. Read. Read.