What Should I Write About?

Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.
— Orson Scott

Step 1

Create an idea trap. Too often your brilliant ideas flow in, and you say "Oh wow, that's a good idea", then they flow out never to return.

You must capture those slippery buggers before it's too late. Enter the idea trap.

This can be as simple as a pad of paper and a writing utensil. When that idea comes, you need to pounce. Stop what you are doing and jot down key points of the idea.

Some ideas on what to write about may come after solving a problem. This may be a great topic to write up on.

Others may come after using a product or reading a book. Your review may help others to know if it's worth pursuing.

Step 2

As you make use of the idea trap, ideas will begin piling up. You will then send them through the IPU or Idea Processing Unit.

The IPU is a system to test and refine your ideas into blog-worthy material.

This needs to be something you come up with.

I've decided to start with a very simple IPU.

Am I interested in the topic?
Will writing a blog post on this topic bring value to me and others?

If it passes those screening questions I then add it to my list of potential blog posts that are sorted by priority.