“The RoseBouquet”

(article first written for April’s site http://AprilBoyer.com)

You’re convinced you can write productively after all, and have even resolved to make time in your life to actually do it. Most likely you cleared a block of time in your schedule, and chose a desk to work at, got a computer hooked up, and found a comfortable chair. Hey, maybe you even went shopping for file folders and attractive pens.

But the minutes of your writing time a ticking away and your bright ideas for articles have - well, flown south?

Now you need a plan for getting ideas on command.

My answer is so simple it may stun you; go rooting through the things you have already written. Look them with a fresh, objective eye, as if they were written by someone else. Do you see a little gem here? What about the potential of that piece if you gave it a fresh introduction and closing?

I’ve been an inveterate journal-writer for years. When I’m really stuck I go reading in old journals and it doesn’t take long until I spot whole passages I could lift out and turn into articles. Sometimes I see two or three that have something in common. Suddenly I see them turned into a series of articles. That’s a red-letter day!

Here’s another place. If you send out an ezine, you may have written focused articles there. What if you slant them to a more general market, or (if they were written in a general way), perhaps more focused towards one group or segment of society, then you have a new article there. Maybe batches of them! That’s what I’m discovering in my ezines of a few years ago.

So you have never published an ezine? Have you ever written letters or emails to friends in which you described some experience in fairly good detail? If you take out the personalized parts, or change them to speak to a more general readership, could some of those passages not turn into articles?

No doubt you receive by email some of these touching, tear-jerking stories that have been forwarded all over the internet. You don’t want to steal someone else’s writing, but does that piece remind you of another story or point to make in an article? Maybe the converse scenario, or what was applied to animals, you can write as applying to people. Remember to use those ideas as springboards for your articles and stories, not to just re-tint the written piece. (The Bible does warn that our sins will be found out and shouted from the housetops; you don’t want plagiarism shouted along with your name).

If you save letters, journals and emails the way I do, you have a fabulous treasure trove of writing ideas. You will never run out of ideas.

On your computer, create a list of key words and ideas and topics that you have some passionate interest in, or some training and experience in doing. Now make a folder for each of those ideas or topics. It is also smart to create a spreadsheet with those keywords as column headings.

As you have ideas, start articles and stories, or even book outlines, be sure to file them in the right folders. Set yourself a naming rule, so that you can tell at a glance which ones are works in progress and not finished yet, and which ones are ready to publish or send out as a freelance submission. Try to keep a record on the spreadsheet too, although that may be as simple as jotting down the titles and dates in each column when you start and when you finish or publish a piece. (You may need to add columns as you go along).

The next time you come to your writing period feeling blank, skim over your chart/spreadsheet, or your folders. Very often in just moments your eyes will camp on a certain piece and you realize that today you want to get that one edited and polished, and instead of starting a new one, you can spend time working on one that you are already enthused about. Your writing energy will rush to the surface, and your block of time will be productive.

Ruth Marlene Friesen (c) October 2008