- You've all read blogs where on any given day, you might find yourself enjoined to participate in "Wordless Wednesday" or "Thoughtful Thursday" or "Flip-off Friday." This actually isn't a bad idea. Aaron over at Delayed at the Speed of Aaron (his last name is "Delay...get it? GET IT?...ahem) has assigned each of the days of the week with a certain theme. I'll be doing the same thing for I'm Not Hannah, even if it's only in my head: Mommy Mondays, Tomes on Tuesdays (book reviews), Writing Wednesdays, politics or religion on Thursday, lists on Friday, favorite posts over the week on Saturdays, and poems on Sunday. Staying organized this way can help you come up with a topic quickly, especially if you choose things that you love to write or think about.
- Speaking of lists, lists are a FANTASTIC way to get a post out of the way on days when you'd rather chew off your own face than write. (It happens...) You can go basic (favorite books, scariest movies, best beaches) or get weird with it. I've seen lists like Things You Probably Like That I Hate, Cartoon Characters We'd Make Out With (although they left out Hank from Dungeons and Dragons, which clearly is a mistake) and once I wrote a list post while sitting on my driveway having locked myself out of the house.
- Childhood memories are great fodder. Most folks have a few hanging out in their brains. The awesome thing about childhood memories is that because your readers were once children, they probably have a few memories, too, and they'll share theirs with you! And lo, a conversation will take place.
- Sharing a favorite photograph is always good. Even if it's just a blurry snapshot and you type a few sentences about it, it gives folks an interesting glimpse into your life.
- Got a favorite recipe for salsa? Cheesecake? Vegan tortilla wraps with chipotle-drenched tofu crumples (do those exist?) Share it with us. October is the gateway to Visiting Season and some of us are sick of the same old casseroles and cookies. (Alternately, if you have a cooking blog...um...maybe you could write something that ISN'T about food you cook. Maybe you could write about books you love with good food in them. Or movies. Or whathaveyou.)
- If you are really scraping the bottom of the barrel, how about just linking to a few news stories you found interesting. Or your favorite Joseph Gordon-Levitt YouTube video. Watch. It's easy. (It must be admitted that I have developed an unhealthy obsession with this dude. And this song. But only when he sings it.)
- Another bottom of the barrel scraping idea: hit up the NaBloWriMo 2010 list of writers on the sidebar and read their stuff. One of them MUST have a good idea for a post. After all, there are FORTY FOUR of us right now. FORTY frickin' FOUR, people. Anyway, if you decide to use one of the FORTY FOUR of us as inspiration, make sure you offer up a link to that person's blog in your own post, mkay? That's only nice.
Writing Tips (In General)
You'll note that a lot of these have to do with your readers--whether they'll enjoy your posts or relate to them. This might seem a little odd, but if you're joining NaBloWriMo in order to get into a habit of writing, one assumes you want to be writing in order to publish your work someday, and if you want to publish your work someday, building a solid reader base is never a bad idea. (Sorry to get so hardcore wrierly version of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. If you're here to make friends and read awesome blogs, that's simply stupendous and I luff you sooo much and pretend I just wasn't heartless in my writing advice. For reals.)
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