Article Writing: How to Find What to Write

It doesn't matter what message board, discussion group, or forum you're part of. If there are writers on it, you've seen the same frustrated phrase time and again (and probably asked it yourself): I don't know what to write! And it is frustrating, no doubt. Why can some authors pump out thousands of articles while others are struggling to come up with topics for more than a few?

It's not you. You've not lost your creativity, you haven't failed as a writer, and it's definitely not writer's block. Seriously, repeat that to yourself.

Now we've got that out of the way, let's move on to how to generate article ideas. That's what it really boils down to, after all. When we're sitting at the computer staring at a blank screen, the panic can settle in quickly if we don't know what to write about in the first place. Having a list of topic ideas helps... but takes us right back to the question of how to get those topic ideas in the first place.

The Internet: A Writer's Best Friend

Inspiration is - literally - at your fingertips.

Every day, the Internet grows to even more impressive sizes. There is content on everything you could ever imagine - and many, many things you'd never thought to imagine before. With this invaluable tool, generating article topic ideas really isn't difficult. Half the work is done for you.

The key to remember is that unless you're writing about something so new, so local, and so unique that you're the only person who has ever seen/heard/experienced it, it has been written about by somebody to some extent. A lot of variables in that sentence - that's where ideas begin.

Your goal is to locate some good information and study it. Sit down with pen and paper or word processor and start taking notes. Here's the process:

1. Find an article. There are a ton of article directories, and any site worth the cyber-space it takes up has dozens more specifically targeted to a topic. You could do a wide search for, as an example, cameras. Just make sure the topic is something you are very interested in and, preferrably, have some experience with. It will save you a lot of time, eliminating a good percentage of your research.