Leahey.org

The simple answer is, don’t. The elaborate answer follows.

I was asked recently, by someone just starting up a blog, what they should do for inspiration for their entries. I’m pretty sure they don’t know about this blog, so I think they were just asking me to make conversation, but that’s neither here nor there. It…inspired me to write an entry on it, and here it is.

The simple answer really does sum up the point that I plan on getting to, so if you realize what I’m saying by “don’t” already, you honestly can stop reading right now. The way I write, what works for me, is not writing an article, rather recording a thought and expanding it with explanations to make it coherent to a third party. For instance, lets say I’ve made a change in my day-to-day ritual that I have found productive, and I think it would make for a good entry. I would do the following:

1. Write the idea down as simply as I can.

This past week, I’ve started drinking one cup of coffee in the morning, and replacing my second with green tea.

2. Consider (and write) my reasons for making this change.

Excessive caffeine has been causing me to feel jittery throughout the day.

3. How has this change helped me?

I feel a lot better, and it has inspired me to change other aspects of my diet that may be unhealthy.

Now, the simplest way to form this in to an article would be to take #2, expand it in to the opening paragraph. Expand #1 by explaining any roadblocks I may have run in to in giving up the coffee for the middle two or three paragraphs, and finally close with a paragraph based on #3. Obviously this does not work for all topics, and I don’t use it all the time, but its definitely a good tip to remember when writers block sets in.

Look for a much-longer Part 2.