What to write?
By Arkine
@Arkine (216)
United States
May 9, 2011 7:54pm CST
There are days, like this morning, when things come to me and it's easy to crank out 2000-3000 words in an hour or so ... other days (or this afternoon) I can't think of a damn thing. Which sucks, I was doing so well! I posted 4 articles this morning and now I'm starting at my blank word document going ... uh, duh....
I hate it when this happens. It's like, I know that there are TONS of stuff out there to write on, but I start writing and my whole train of thought just flitters away.
I think it's because I know there are some really hot topics out there, but they are things that I simply have no interest in writing about. Yet, the stuff I'm interested in is really only for a select group of people, therefore my audience is narrowed down too much and I don't make any money on it.
So, on half of my brain is saying, "You must write stuff that people find interesting!" And the other half is saying, "Don't sell out! Write on topics you know and care about!"
Blah, any suggestions would be helpful. :)
2 people like this
7 responses
@sophiecheer (931)
• Philippines
11 May 11
I know the feeling because I too have off days when it comes to writing. I read somewhere that this is called "writers block".
@Arkine (216)
• United States
11 May 11
Oh, I hate my computer sometimes! I had this whole comment written out and when I hit the "post comment" an error came up and it erased my whole post! Ugh.
Well, anyhow, I've had writer's block before where I couldn't write anything, this is a bit different because it's just that I can't think of topics that people might find interesting. I'm certain if I opened one of my unfinished novels and started working on it that writting wouldn't be much of a problem.
Hmmm, maybe I should just do that when I'm stuck on topics? ;)
@sophiecheer (931)
• Philippines
11 May 11
Well sure, Arkine! It wouldn't hurt to try, right? It might help you get inspired to find a topic that would interest people. Good luck!
@carolscash (9492)
• United States
11 May 11
I do the same thing. On the days that I have time to really write it seems as though I can't think of a thing to write about, but the days that I do not have time to write, I sit down and a million thoughts come to mind. I also find that many of the hot topics are things that I either do not know much about or things that I really do not care to write about.
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
10 May 11
I know the feeling. I've kind of put mylot aside lately because it felt like all my discussion topics were boring and no one was responding to them. I need to try and get things started here again, but it's just a matter of jumping in and getting started.
I agree with your last statement though. One of the first things we learned in Journalism school was "write what you know!"
@dodo19 (47317)
• Beaconsfield, Quebec
15 May 11
I can certainly understand how you feel. Sometimes, it just happens that some days you have a lot of inspiration and can write a lot, while other days it's the opposite. I think that sometimes it can be a good idea to take some days off. Set some days aside for writing, and other days to just do other things and not worry about inspiration or writing. You can also have a note book where you can write down all your ideas. This notebook you can bring with everywhere and you can just write things down when you have something come to you. Just some suggestions.
@ip5217 (1655)
• Philippines
23 May 11
Are you doing this full-time? I salute you for being able to complete 5 in a day, or even more. I know, hope, that I can do this even when done part-time. I tend to write only on topics I love.
I sometimes enter the limbo mode when I see a lot of good topics and I don't know which ones to focus on. Starting one is hard, but if I have started a few paragraphs I feel like words are pouring easily.
@nerein (283)
• United States
16 May 11
I go through the same thing myself at times. There are times when I can put out 4 or 5 articles in a few hours and then sometimes it will be days when I can't put out any articles. Yes you are right there are a lot of topics out there to write on. We all usually go with the topics that we are interested in or have a lot of knowledge on. Now when I get into a writers block I take some time and I relax and listen to music and not think about writing at all. As well when it comes to sticking with what you know and are interested in you should go with both. Alternating the two. Like when you can't think of anything to write about topics you already know go with topics that you don't know. Yeah when you go to writing topics that you don't know you end up having to do research on those topics but that is a part of the whole article writing thing is doing research. As well when you are in a bind for writing articles try making a list of topics that you can write about and separate them into two categories. One category for topics that you know and are interested in and one category for topics that you don't know much about and need to do some research one and alternate between the two. Hope this helps.
@Holly_Liu (20)
• Singapore
11 May 11
In my country, there is a singer. She is our country's idol.
We respect her. Her unique dispositon and melodius voice make her great popular.
The secret of her success is the balance between popularit and personality.
In her record, there are some popular songs that everybody do like.
There are also some songs that appeal to a select group of people. She insists on her personailty while make records to suit the public.
May be you can consider this, earn money and insist on your own taste at the same time.