What to do when you run out of great topic ideas

Managing a blog can be tricky. No matter how much you love the topic after so long it gets old. When you reach that point, any topics you come up with will also be dull and uninteresting. To get your mojo back, you’ll have to work a little harder.

Start by taking a much-needed break. Sometimes you lose that creative spark because you are burned out. Going out for a run/hike/walk/ice cream might do the trick. If playing through the writer’s block isn’t cutting it, then you can move on to plan B.

Put yourself in a quiet, peaceful environment (away from any distractions or interruptions). Get comfortable—but not too comfortable, start a timer and get to work on dirtying up a blank page. For the next twenty minutes, start jotting down every topic that you can come up. Don’t try to think too hard… the trick here is to go for quantity instead of quality.

This is the only time that quantity is more important.

The next step, when the timer goes off, is to clean up your list by crossing off every topic or title that just won’t pass the inner editor.

There might not be many topics left, and that’s okay. From here, start to write out what you can out of your top picks. If you quickly lose interest in a subject, scrap it (but don’t erase it) and move on to another until you are able to produce a full draft.

If this exercise doesn’t work, you can always move to Plan C. Look at headline templates, article prompts, or trigger questions. These exercises are all guaranteed to inspire a genuinely unique and useful page.