For most every blogger/writer, there are times when the wind is not strong enough to move your sailboat along your chosen course.  You sit at the helm watching as your canvas hangs limp from the mast, hoping for any kind of breeze at all.  Instead of throwing your hands up in the air and going below decks for a nap, generate some power-wind with these writing idea starters:

• Cruise through your bookmarks.  Take your time and really look at each one.  Are there any you’ve not been to for a while?  if so, go have a peek.  There are bound to be some things there that interest you, otherwise you would not have bookmarked it in the first place.  Look for a piece of information – even just a snippet, that you can use as a foundation.
• Pick a favorite blog site that pertains to your niche.  Scroll through the sidebar looking at the previous posts.  Is there an archive?  All the better.  Find something that you feel comfortable with and write your post using your own unique spin.
• People watch.  Go to a mall, restaurant or large store.  (If you’re really ambitious, go to an airport.)  Sit and watch people.  Observe some of the more colorful ones and make up their story in your head.  Listen to pieces of their conversation and build your story based on the dialogue.  These are also great venues to work on your character development.  What are people wearing?  Hair styles?  Nervous tics and habits?  How are they speaking?
• Take an hour or so and look through your latest edition of Writer’s Market ( 2009 Writer’s Market).  Skim through the listings, paying particular attention to the type of writing or articles the publication is looking for.  Jot down a few of these key words and use these as sparks to light your creative fire.
• Go pick up a copy of today’s newspaper.  Looking at just the headlines, write your own version of a news story.  This could be the basis of a great short story – fiction can almost be as strange as real life!
• Spend a few moments at the bulletin board at the supermarket.  Look at all the flyers.  Pick a flyer and write a story about the person selling the item.  Why are they selling it?  How did they acquire it in the first place?  What will happen if they can’t sell it?
• Go and visit some sites that consist primarily of varied photographs.  Write a story based on an image.  For example, you find a picture of a rocking chair on the porch with a teddy bear laying next to it.  What happened here?  Was granny rocking a toddler when a gunshot boomed out from across the street?  Maybe the phone rang bringing some terrible news.  Perhaps the rapture came to pass.
• Find a book with writing exercises (What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers ).  Commit to writing an exercise a day until all of the exercises are complete.  You may not end up with publishable prose, but you may spark other writing ideas and most importantly you will be writing.
• Open a dictionary, close your eyes and point to a random word.  Now write a 500 word story or article on the word.

Don’t drift aimlessly in a sea of frustration.  There are dozens of every day objects that can put the creative wind back in your sail.  Keep your eyes open and use your keen power of observation.

How do you generate ideas?  What suggestions do you have for finding topics?  Do you have a sure-fire method that works for you every time?  If so, Let’s hear it!