When you are stuck for ideas on what to write about it can seem to be difficult to find that one subject that speaks to you. You sit there struggling to find the thing that will get the words flowing so you begin to feel like the writer you want to be. Yet, no matter what you try, nothing comes to mind and the more you try to force it, the harder it becomes.

Lists

I have written in the past about writer’s block and how I don’t believe there is such a thing as writer’s block, that there is only choices and all you have to do is to decide what to write about. But how do you decide when you don’t even know what your choices are? Well, I can tell you what works for me. Usually I begin by looking at things I’ve read or blog posts or even in a few books, to see if anything strikes my interests. As I look through a few things, I begin to make a list. This list is anything that sticks out and even sparks a bit of an interest. Sometimes I combine a few things or try something new. Usually however, something begins to feel right for me and I begin writing about it. Before I know it, I have an article written.
We often make writing more difficult than it needs to be. I have found that I come up with the most ideas when I am writing. The best thing to do is to write these ideas down and make sure that you are keeping them all in one location. In the past, I have had a bad habit of writing them down on any piece of scrap paper that I could find. But then I couldn’t find the scrap paper later.

Emotions

Read articles and form opinions. Make notes of these opinions and your beliefs, it will be these thoughts that will get you fired up all over again when you look at your list. Emotions are a good thing, use them to your benefit. Because when you instill your ideas with emotion, it will fire up your writing but it will also flow over into what you have written, making it that much stronger.
But what if you don’t have any feeling for what you are writing? Fake it! Just like women have done for years with sex [bad joke]. What kind of emotion should you have about the subject you are writing on? Then act that way. If this subject should get you excited, then act excited. If it should piss you off, then pretend you are pissed off. This will instill itself in your writing and eventually you won’t have to act it anymore because your true feelings will be spilling out.
The best course of action for getting moving when you are stuck writing, is to just start writing. You are a writer after all. So write. By writing, you will find something to write on. And don’t worry, not everything needs to be a Pulitzer right out of the gate.

How do you get started writing when you are stuck?

Where do you find inspiration?