Writers On The Move: Blogging Prompts

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September Blogging Prompts

Whether or not you are in school or have kids in school, there is something about autumn that makes people want to regroup and get a fresh start on any and all projects. Much like the beginning of the calendar year, September feels like a clean slate. So offer tips to encourage productivity and help your readers re-approach their writing projects.

Here are some other ideas of what to blog about in September.

Plus:

September Holidays: September is National Courtesy Month, Self Improvement Month and Classical Music Month. September 13 is Positive Thinking Day (challenge you readers to think positive all day long), September September 19 is International Talk Like A Pirate Day (you've probably seen goofy promotions on social media. Be creative and see if there's a way to tie it into your business), and September 28 is Ask a Stupid Question Day (no question is too stupid. Ask questions of your readers and encourage them to ask them of others).

September Food Holidays: September is National Breakfast Month, National Waffle Week is the second week of the month, and National Pancake Day is September 26. Plus, Drink Beer Day is September 28 and National Coffee Day is September 29. Love it! Writers can relate to all things food and drink, but there's something about coffee and alcohol (and the fact that they are a day apart) may inspire some creative posts..

Bonus: Fiction writers, send your characters to school. If they are the right age, send them to a new school and see how they interact with their classmates. If not, send a character to teach for the day (substitute!) or have a character take or teach a continuing education class or workshop. Another option is to send them back to school. Put a character in as much of a fish out of water scenario as you can concoct and see how they handle it. It may lead to creative scenes you can incorporate into current work or just be a character-building (pun intended) exercise to see how much your characters can handle.

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Debra Eckerling is the author of Purple Pencil Adventures: Writing Prompts for Kids of All Ages. She's a writer, editor and project catalyst, as well as founder of Guided Goals and Write On Online, a live and online writers’ support group. She is an editor at Social Media Examiner. Debra is also a speaker/moderator on the subjects of writing, networking, goal-setting, and social media.

August Blogging Prompts

It's approaching the end of summer. It's hot and sticky. There are things to do, but chances are you don't want to do much of anything. Instead of letting the heat get the better of you, beat the heat! Pour a cold drink, sit by the fan or air conditioner, and write some cool blog posts,

Here are some ideas of what to blog about in August.

Bad Poetry: August 18 is Bad Poetry Day. The idea is to get bad poetry out of your system, so you can write better. There's value in writing poorly (in any genre), whether it's to get bad ideas out of your head to make room for the good ones or to just write bad material on purpose, just because you can, and to have fun in the process

Plus:

August Holidays: August is Family Fun Month, Romance Awareness Month and National Picnic Month. August 13 is Left Hander's Day, August 15 is Relaxation Day, August 16 is National Tell a Joke Day, August 25 is Kiss and Make Up Day, and August 27 is Just Because Day.

August Food Holidays: There are lots of food holidays in August. August is National Brownies At Brunch Month, National Peach Month, and National Sandwich Month. August 20 is Lemonade Day, August 24 is National Waffle Day, and August 30 is National Toasted Marshmallow Day (campfire stories, anyone?). August: 31 is Eat Outside Day, International Bacon Day, and National Trail Mix Day.

Bonus: Fiction writers, you've taken characters out on day trips over the summer months. Time to send them on vacation. No, I'm not talking about taking a break from your writing (although you can do that too). Send them out of town (or even on a staycation). They can have some fun, of course, but something always goes awry on vacay. Throw some challenges at your characters during their "time off" and see how they handle it.

Take you characters out of their normal routine, it will get you out of your routine, as well, and maybe even help you expand your creativity. Have fun!

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Debra Eckerling is the author of Purple Pencil Adventures: Writing Prompts for Kids of All Ages. She's a writer, editor and project manager/goal coach, as well as founder of Guided Goals and Write On Online, a live and online writers’ support group. She is an editor at Social Media Examiner. Debra is also a speaker/moderator on the subjects of writing, networking, goal-setting and social media.

July Blogging Prompts

The 4th holiday may have come and gone, but there's still a lot to blog about during the month of July.

Here are some topics to write about in July.

Summer Fun: It's summertime. Share with your audience unique ways to have some summer fun, that reflect your specialty or relate to your business.

Summer Productivity: On the other end of the spectrum, share productivity tips to will help your audience get more done (expand their audience, build their expertise, or do more networking in the summer months) when they really just want to chill out or get out and enjoy the beautiful weather.

Plus:

July Holidays: July is National Anti-Boredom Month! July 13 is Barbershop Music Appreciation Day, Embrace Your Geekness Day, and Fool's Paradise Day. Plus, July 26 All or Nothing Day (go for the extremes), July 27 is Take Your Pants for a Walk Day (promote exercise), and July 30 is the International Day of Friendship (show support - promote the website, blog, or business of your friends).

July Food Holidays: There are lots of food holidays in July. It's National Grilling Month, National Hot Dog Month, National Ice Cream Month, National Culinary Arts Month, and more. Sundae Sunday on the third Sunday. Also, July 13 National French Fries Day, July 21 is National Junk Food Day, and July 31 is Cotton Candy Day and Jump for Jelly Beans Day.

Bonus: Fiction writers, in June your characters headed to the beach. This month, invite them to a barbecue. Have a main character, love interest or supporting character host a barbecue for their fictional family, friends and/or coworkers.

What is the host making? Who is coming? Which guest is bringing what side dishes and desserts? How does what they prepare reflect their interests and personality? For example, one character buys something at the store and transfers it to his or her own cookware, while another spends hours perfecting a scrumptious dessert.

There's lots of fun to be had when you put characters in a social situation and see what comes out of their dynamic. This kind of exercise can lead to all sorts of awesome material.

Double Bonus: Extra gold stars to anyone who hosts a barbecue for inspiration

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June Blogging Prompts

Don't let June gloom get you down. Do something to lift your spirits. For example, do some blogging.

Summer is rapidly approaching and it won't be long til those beautiful summer days start calling your name. If you want extra summer fun time, plan ahead and stockpile some blog posts.

Here are some topics to write about in June.

Father's Day (third Sunday): Dads like toys and gadgets. What are some great gifts for Dad that are related to your niche. See what you can come up with that's out of the ordinary. You can also so an advice post.

Summer Camp: Kids heading off to camp mean a few things. Parents may have a little extra downtime. Give them advice of how they can spend it. Also, kids at overnight camp will require some fun letters from the parents. Do you have a crazy letter writing idea that adds spark and sizzle to an ordinary letter? Share that with your readers too.

Plus:

June Holidays: In addition to Father's Day, June is Aquarium Month, Gay Pride Month, National Accordion Awareness Month, National Adopt a Cat Month, and Rose Month. June 14 is Flag Day, June 15 is Smile Power Day, and June 18 is International Panic Day (it's also International Picnic Day). Summer solstice is June 21, Forgiveness Day is June 26, and Camera Day is June 29.

June Food Holidays: June is National Candy Month, National Dairy Month, National Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Month, National Iced Tea Month, National Papaya Month, National Seafood Month, National Steakhouse Month, National Turkey Lover. (Covered all the bases, didn't they?) Also June 13 is Kitchen Klutzes of America Day, June 17 is Eat All Your Veggies Day, and June 22 is National Onion Rings Day.

Bonus: Fiction writers, it's time for a beach party. What do your characters do when they let loose on the beach? What do they eat? What games do they play? Do they tell stories around a bonfire? Give your characters space to have some fun. They may give you some fun adventures to include in your prose or they could be involved in something that they must keep secret. Either way, it'll sure be fun to see what happens. And then use that as inspiration for your writing.

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May Blogging Prompts

Happy Mother's Day! Whether you are a Mom, Mom-like, or a Dad who plays both roles, kudos to everyone who takes an active role in guiding others.

Speaking of guidance ...

While you may tend toward sharing wisdom from Mothers in May and Fathers in June, advice roundups on your blog can be done anytime of year.

Just reach out to your favorite people in a profession (writers, marketers, business owners) or category (foodies, sports enthusiasts, entertainment lovers), and ask for a few lines to put in a round-up as an answer to a question. The topic, of course, should relate to your expertise.

For example:

What your favorite tip for writers block?
What's the most important marketing platform and why?
What tool should all business owners use?
What's your favorite food/restaurant/recipe?
What's the best sport to watch? To play?
What can you learn from a (book/film/tv) series that you can apply to real life?

Once you get the response, choose the best ones to edit and compile into a blog post, along with your intro and conclusion. Be sure to like back to the blogs of the people you quote and tag them when you share on social channels.

What to stick with seasonal content, here are few more things you can blog about in May.

Plus:

May Holidays: In addition to Mother's Day, May is Date Your Mate Month, National Bike Month and National Photograph Month. May 12 is Limerick Day, May 22 is Buy a Musical Instrument Day, May 25 is Tap Dance Day, May 27 is Sun Screen Day, and May 30 is Water a Flower Day.

May Food Holidays: May is National Barbecue Month, National Hamburger Month, and National Salad Month. May 11 is Eat What You Want Day, May 15 is National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, May 19 is World Baking Day, May 25 is National Brown-Bag-It Day, and May 27 is National Grape Popsicle Day.

Bonus: Fiction writers, take your characters out on a picnic. Write a scene where your characters are enjoying a meal, in nature and away from technology, and see what they have to say. Extra points if you write this scene while you are sitting outside ... and having a picnic of your own.

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March Blogging Prompts

Spring into March with fabulous blog posts, designed to help your audience hop into the new season.

Here are some ideas to get you started.

Spring Cleaning: One of the best things about spring is that you get a fresh, clean start. Help your readers take a fresh angle on a project or offer ideas to help them clean up their home or workspace.

March Madness: Are you a basketball fan? Do you love sports analogies about teamwork? Perhaps you're a food writer, who talks about social restaurant venues. You can also go full-on creative and craft a unique bracket, having nothing to do with sports. These are a few angles for writing about March Madness.

Pi Day is March 14: Is it a food holiday? A math holiday? Maybe it's both. If you blog in either of those categories, make sure to acknowledge it.

St. Patrick's Day is March 17: Whether you celebrate the luck on the Irish or just love the color green, think of a unique way to incorporate one or the other into a March blog post.

Plus:

March Holidays: March is Irish American Month, National Craft Month, National Nutrition Month, National Women's History Month, Red Cross Month, and Social Workers Month. National Goof Off Day is March 22, Make Your Own Holiday Day is March 26, and National Mom and Pop Business Owners Day (celebrating small business owners) is March 29.

March Food Holidays: March is National Celery Month, National Flour Month, National Frozen Food Month, National Nutrition Month, National Noodle Month, National Peanut Month, National Sauce Month, and National Caffeine Awareness Month. American Chocolate Week is the third week of the month.

Bonus: Spring Break is coming. Fiction writers, have some fun and send your characters out on a wild vacay. It'll be lots of fun for you and your characters, and will open up tons of opportunities.

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February Blogging Prompts

Hearts abound for the month of February. In addition to Valentine's Day, February is American Heart Month.

There's a lot to write about hearts, the literal and physical kinds.

Let's try something different for this month's blogging prompt article. Write a list of everything related to "heart," and see what ideas for posts come out of it.

For example:

Heart Health (food and exercise)
Heartfelt (what do you truly believe in)
Heart-to-Heart (advice to share)
Heart Shaped (what comes in that shape: candy hearts, cakes, jewelry; what )
Heart Break (lessons from loss)
Songs with heart (favorite "heart" song")
What you Heart (Love) about What you Do
Sweethearts (love)
The Color Red

February Holidays: February is Black History Month, Canned Food Month and Creative Romance Month. The third week in February is 3rd Week International Flirting Week. Plus, Random Acts of Kindness Day is February 17, International World Thinking Day is the 22nd, and Tell a Fairy Tale Day is the 26th.

February Food Holidays: February is Celebration of Chocolate Month, National Fondue Month, National Heart Healthy Month, National Hot Breakfast Month, and National Snack Food Month. Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk Day is February 11, Drink Wine Day is the 18th, and Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day is the 23rd. Who knew?

Bonus: February is also the height of awards season, wrapping up with the Oscars on February 22. Whether you are a movie-lover, screenwriter, or a writer of film-related content, take any and all opportunities to write about your award-season movie favs.

Put some heart into your blog and blog with heart!

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January Blogging Prompts

It’s a brand new year! I know things have been busy, and that’s okay. Now it’s time to dust off your blog and get back to it.

No matter what the theme of your blog, there’s always something to write about to educate and/or entertain your readers.

Here are writing prompt topics you can use to generate blog ideas in January.

The New Year – Saw that coming, didn’t you? Share your New Years’ Resolutions or offer reasonable resolution recommendations for your readers that are relevant to your subject matter or niche. You can always do both! For example, if you write about writing, come up with a list of writing resolutions that your readers can do along with you. Food bloggers, try this with new dishes. Adventure bloggers, challenge your readers to try similar (safe) experiences and compare notes. For many of these types of resolutions, take photos and encourage your readers to do the same. That way you’ll have pics (and proof) for future blog posts. A resolution a month = 12 interesting and engaging blog posts.

Food and Fun Holidays – I’m not quite sure when claimed and created holidays became so popular, but I don’t really care. They are awesome inspiration for blog posts.

January food holidays: National Soup Month, National Egg Month, and Bread Machine Baking Month (not quite sure about that one). National Coffee Break Day is January 20. Given how much writers love coffee that alone could make for a variety of different types of posts. Here are some topics off the top of my head: How Do You Order Your Favorite Coffee, Favorite Coffee Break Activity, Best Coffeehouse Writing Spots.

January fun holidays: January is National Hobby Month, which offers a world of possibilities, especially if your blog is on a topic that some people consider a hobby. You can write about how to turn that hobby into a career or the importance of hobbies alongside work. Even better, tell your readers about a hobby you enjoy. Other notable days include International Skeptics Day on the 13^th, Thesaurus Day on the 18^th (what are your favorite synonyms?), and National Handwriting Day on the 23^rd.

Bonus: Fiction writers, make resolution for your characters. Whether or not you actually share them is up to you. But it’s a fun way to dig into your characters and their motivations.

Blogging, just like writing, should be fun. Come up with ideas that relate to your niche and experience, and you’ll get back to your blogging mode in no time.

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December Blogging Prompts: List Posts

I realize the last thing you have time for is blogging … Between extra holiday commitments and wrapping things up at the end of the year, there’s little time for anything else. But, still, you want to keep your blog active, so your visitors have new posts to read.

An easy type of post is a list post. Choose a topic and then compile a list of items with a best, worst, or unique slant. Write a few lines or a paragraph, add links and/or images, whatever works for you and is in line with your tone, perspective, and area of expertise.

Here are 10 easy lists posts you can write for your blog in December.

1. Books: fiction, non-fiction, or a mix of both.

2. Tools for writing, productivity, and/or business.

3. Moments of the year in your industry.

4. Food holidays. Food writers, also consider writing a recipe post either under a theme or a list of favorite.

5. Top blogs in a specific industry or all-around favorites.

6. Notable writers, marketers, consultants, or something else, depending on your niche.

7. Most popular (or favorite) posts on your blog.

8. Outstanding customer service (traditional businesses, indys or both)

9. Characters. These can be fictional (from books, film, TV or games) or people you met throughout the year.

10. Non-Traditional holidays. Some of these are kind of ridiculous, but many bring awareness to an issue or are just plain fun.

Although these may seem end-of-year specific, many can be written for any time of year.

The key with list-posts, as with all blog posts, is to infuse your personality and experience into recommendations. There may be similar items covered, but for the most part, lists are like snowflakes: no two are alike.

Happy Holidays!

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November Blogging Prompts

Just because the year is winding down, doesn’t mean you can slack off on your blog posts, even if you really don’t have the time. Consistency is a huge part of blogging, so even if you have to write a little shorter the next couple months, just keep to your blogging schedule as best as you can.

Here’s some seasonal content ideas to get you through November. (I am U.S.-based, so for those in other parts of the world, adapt as appropriate.)

Shopping: We have Black Friday (shopping day after Thanksgiving), Small Business Saturday (day after that), and Cyber Monday (the Monday after Thanksgiving). However, holiday shopping starts sooner each year.

If you offer a product or service, and you have a holiday deal, post about it on your blog. Most of what you blog about shouldn’t be about selling, but it’s fine to make an exception every now and then. If you have an opinion on peoples obsession with shopping holidays, that’s another way to go. It could be serious, sarcastic or funny, but whatever you write, keep it honest. Stay relatable - that’s how you gain and maintain fans.

Food: November has an abundance of food holidays to blog about, whether you write about food or just enjoy eating. Among others, it’s Good Nutrition Month and Vegan Month. (Funny, it was just Vegetarian Awareness Month in October – I guess November takes it up a notch.) Healthy eating is a great topic to write about as we approach the holidays, even when you write about writing. For example, “5 Food-Related Advantages of Working and/ Writing from Home.”

On the other end of the spectrum, November 16 is National Fast Food Day. And then there’s National Espresso Day on November 23. Talk about a great stereotypical writer holiday. The majority of writers I know have an opinion on coffee. And I know a lot of writers!

Thanksgiving: There’s a ton to write about regards to Thanksgiving. There’s the history, the food, and of course, the theme of being thankful. The best way to write about a holiday is to flip it on its side. Think outside the box. Brainstorm. Make a list of 10 or 15 things that you can write about in regards to Thanksgiving (or any of these ideas for that matter) and how it relates to your blog or business. Then, take a fun, original approach and run with it!

Bonus: Fiction writers and bloggers, November is National Novel Writing Month. If you are participating, consider writing posts on your progress. If you are not, offer advice and encouragement for those who are. You don’t have to write a novel in November to post about this fun International event.

As previously noted, November starts shopping season. Especially if you have a business website, keep your blog active, so potential customers can find you.

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Debra Eckerling is a writer, editor and project manager, and the author of Purple Pencil Adventures: Writing Prompts for Kids of All Ages. She founded Guided Goals, as well as Write On Online, a live and online writers’ support group. She is an editor at Social Media Examiner. Debra is in demand as a national speaker addressing writing, networking, goal-setting and social media.

Writers On The Move