13 Unusual Places to Find Blogging Inspiration

Sometimes the blog topics flow into your mind like a raging river. Other times the Muses are so silent you wonder if they have hightailed it back to Mount Olympus. To help you brainstorm ideas for blog posts I have compiled a list of 13 Unusual Places to Find Blogging Inspiration to help you the next time you are struggling to find something to write about.

But before I share my list, I want to strongly suggest that you decide on a place to keep a list of possible blog topics, if you don’t already have one. If those ideas are just floating around in your head they might just fly away when you need one.

Your blogging inspiration list can be physically written down in a notebook, or kept electronically in an application (such as Evernote) or note/document on your phone or computer. I currently have 30 ideas on a spreadsheet, plus a few in Evernote and a few more that popped into my head while making this list. Don’t be like the disorganized me, keep a master list in one place.

Got your pencil or stylus ready? Let’s go.

13 Unusual Place to Find Blogging Inspiration

1. Calendars

This may seem obvious to many of you, but I didn’t discover this trick until recently. I have lost count of the number of times that as a Food Blogger I kicked myself for missing National Rocky Road Ice Cream Day (June 2nd) and the various other made up holidays and pseudo celebrations in existence. Now, I sit down once a month and look at the upcoming list of “days” and “months” to schedule social media shares for posts I already have written or to schedule some new content to coincide with those days.

2. Lists

Doesn’t everyone love a list, and to debate them? A few lists you could look at for ideas: Billboard Hot 100, NY Times Best Seller List, AFI’s Top 100 Movies, Grammy/Tony/Logie/FilmFare/Nobel Prize winners, Top Baby Names and so many more. Search current or archived lists, and even future releases (such as movies or video games).

3. Television Shows, Movies, Video Games, Sports

One of my highest viewed posts was inspired by a children’s TV show. I always know when the episode airs because there is a spike in traffic for the post. Lancashire Hot Pot, mentioned in The Artful Detective, is on my possible blog topic list. Again, this isn’t just for Food Bloggers. Decorate a room like Mad Men. How can you dress in 20’s style like Phryne Fisher? Is there a life lesson to be found in the NBA Finals? Words that should be allowed in Words With Friends but aren’t.

4. Books

I separated books from the above categories because I have a creative exercise I like to do with them that you can’t do with the above. Close your eyes and flip to a page (or randomly pick a number and scroll to that page in your e-reader). It can be a novel, a cookbook or even sacred scripture (Bible, Torah, Koran, Bhagavadgita, etc.). Make that recipe, or write about a memory triggered by the recipe. Compare the scripture verse in the Koran to something similar in the Bible. You get the idea…

5. Grocery Store Tabloids (or online gossip sites)

You don’t need to write about celebrities to use this one. Just look at the headlines. You can write about diets, body image, fashion, handling criticism, alien conspiracies.

6. Social Media Trending Now

These are the popular topics being discussed at the moment. Do you already have a post to add to the discussion? Are you appalled that one topic is being discussed when another should be more important? Who is that celebrity anyway? That reminds me of when ….

7. Online Stores

Similar to Social Media, online stores such as Amazon show you what is popular at the moment. How could you turn that into a post? Is it something you want to try? Is it something you think is ridiculous? Could you make it for less?

8. Travel Brochures

The last time I was in a hotel I spent a bit of time in front of the rack of brochures for local attractions and activities. Some are places I would never go with my family, but I could still turn them into a bucket list type post. You could turn it into a memory post of a funny time you went there.

9. Photo Albums

Go for a trip down memory lane by looking at your old photographs or social media posts. Once, I found an entire craft project I had photographed but never written up and posted. Write about a trip you took as a child, how your hairstyle has changed through the years, how your child is the spitting image of your Great Aunt Jenny.

10. Spam Folder and Search Terms

I keep a folder of SPAM that are so bad, funny, creative, etc. that I need to share it. “You look like a whale!” (That’s one way to get me not to buy your product.)

And some of the search terms people use to get to my site amaze me. “How do you dye salsa blue?” (You don’t, EVER! get out of the kitchen NOW!).

11. Pinterest

I don’t mean Pinterest in the obvious time sucking way we all usually use it. Hopefully, you have a board for all of the posts from your own blog. Look on that board. Are there posts that you thought were great but have no repins? How can you refresh that post with new content or photographs and republish it?

12. Other Bloggers

Every week, three of my fellow bloggers and I write a post with the same theme every week. We take turns coming up with the topics. I struggled with the Lip Synch/Lip Dub topic, but it was good for me to write about something out of my comfort zone – and it ended up fairly popular.

Have you ever written a very long winded comment on someone’s post? Next time you could turn that into a post and instead leave them a comment that they inspired you to write about it and invite them to check it out.

I have written entire posts inspired by a single social media meme such as which of these places would you like to visit (Narnia, Westeros, Camelot, Middle Earth etc.).

13. Flip the Script

Now that you have a nice little list from the items above, flip the script and consider writing the opposite. Five reasons I love my yoga pants and follow it up with five reasons I hate my yoga pants. Instead of joining the Gwyneth Paltrow is awful bandwagon, flip the script and write about how she could be seen as a positive role model.

[bctt tweet=”Where do you find blogging inspiration? This list of unusual places is sure to inspire #IBABloggers” username=”IBAbloggers”]

Your Turn

Hopefully, this list gave you a little blogging inspiration and helped fill up your possible blog topics list. Now we’d love to hear some suggestions from you about possible places to find blogging inspiration. Please share in the comments.

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