Being a consistent blogger not only requires the habit to write but also the habit to constantly get ideas on what to write. In this article, let me explain how I brainstorm, find inspiration and come up with writing ideas for the past 5+ months.
First, let me thank Tapas Adhikary for his article which inspired me to write on this topic.
Without further ado, here are my top 5 ways to get ideas for my blog. Enjoy!
1. Finding Connections with Everything
Ideas live everywhere. That's what I believe in. From day-to-day conversations with your client, team, friends or family, to just mundane small observations in your surroundings, finding connections is how I get some of my ideas from.
For example, I was talking with my friend about tea (I know, random right?). And then for some reason, she asked if there's a tea API out there as we are just being curious ridiculous developers.
When I found that there isn't, I decided to make it as a mini side project and the Let's Build a Node.js REST API Series was born!
But it doesn't stop there. Since I have already built an API, why not build an app for it? So the Let's Build a React progressive Web App was published!
Just because of a random conversation, I got an idea and published 8 articles for it.
2. Being Curious
Some inspirations behind my articles stems from my curiosity and reading. I try to read on new technology, developer tools, books and blogs whenever I am free.
Reading and learning something new gives me the urge to want to write about it because:
- If I think it was insightful or useful, I want to share it with my community
- It also serves as my reading notes to jot down what I've learned
Some articles that were born from this type of idea curation:
https://lo-victoria.com/an-essential-guide-to-grow-your-website-with-google-analytics
https://lo-victoria.com/recommendation-systems-how-do-they-work
In my opinion, curiosity leads to inspiration. By opening your mind to new possible interests and genres, you can find new ideas to write too.
3. Listening to Readers
Sometimes, my ideas also come from my readers, who have constantly supported and motivated me to keep writing. Whenever I get stuck on what to write, I read some comments from readers in my previous articles and see what kind of topics they want to read more from me.
Listening to what my readers want to read also helps me discover new technologies to try out. Some of my favourite articles from my readers' suggestions are:
https://lo-victoria.com/making-draggable-components-in-react
https://lo-victoria.com/test-apis-with-supertest-and-jest
4. Write to Read
This is one of the ways I started with when brainstorming. Write what you want to read about. You will also enjoy your time writing that article. And after publishing it, you'll enjoy reading it too!
Here are some articles in this category:
https://lo-victoria.com/introduction-to-devops-with-buddy
https://lo-victoria.com/comparing-3-ways-websites-render-onto-browser
5. Learnings
The best way to learn is to reflect on your mistakes and so writing it helps to see how you can grow in the future. Some articles I've written include sharing my past mistakes, what I've learned and my personal reflections.
These articles not only help me see my progress but it also helps other people learn from my mistakes.
https://lo-victoria.com/why-every-developer-should-start-blogging
https://lo-victoria.com/100-days-of-hashnode-the-journey-so-far
And So...
Ultimately, finding ideas to write is never easy and comes with both patience and practice. With enough determination and perseverance, you can start getting inspired from your day-to-day activities, reading materials and people around you.
Lightbulbs will glow above your heads at the most spontaneous times. It's always helpful to jot down your ideas whenever you can, no matter how small or underdeveloped they are. You can come back to it later to elaborate and solidify it.
Thanks for reading this pretty long article. I hope it's helpful in any way. Please share your ideation process in the comments below too. I would love to hear them! Cheers!
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