You Have Plenty of Ideas to Write About

All you need is a key to release them

Photo by Matthew Payne on Unsplash

Every writer needs help to come up with fresh ideas. Getting started can feel daunting for many of us, whether it's a blog post, business communication, class assignment, short story, screenplay, or novel.

Once we commit, it's typically a series of fits and starts with a dash of uncertainty as we push through the process. It's something like giving birth — finally, the effort's complete. We feel exhausted yet elated about our finished draft.

Carefully, we read through it again for the umpteenth time and make some final tweaks. We let it rest for a time. With a groan and sigh, we hit "Publish." And so goes another story, out for public consumption. Hopefully, it will do well, and the world will be kind.

I started listening to a podcast some time ago, The Writer Files, with host Kelton Reid. I've been working my way forward from the first episode in 2015.

I enjoy listening to these writers and their respective journeys. Many of them are accomplished and recognized as brilliant in their field. Reid's guest writers run the gamut. They include bloggers, journalists, poets, short story writers, novelists, online content creators, and screenplay writers.

All of them are storytellers in one form or another. They all reflect both the agony and the ecstasy of this writing process. Many of these writers are introverts. All of them are inspiring.

What's interesting about listening to these people is they all express many of the same experiences we share—writing that crappy first draft, running low on inspiration, and not feeling creative at times.

Most also speak about getting fueled through exercise and long walks, being unable to focus with music or less ambient background noise, and letting a writing piece rest for a time, only to gain renewed perspective and direction upon returning to it later.

They talk about their daily habits and rituals, how they unplug, their writing fetishes and muses, how much they read vs. write, their favored devices, and how they organize their notes, platforms, and software tools.