Do you ever feel short on writing ideas? Do you ever know you should be writing, but can’t even think of something to write about?

Guest writer Leona Choy is here today with a pep talk and some practical tips for capturing, developing, and generating fresh writing ideas.

Before we begin, be sure to join the Five Minute Friday email list to get the latest news and updates for writers delivered straight to your inbox.

Here’s Leona: 

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Who owns ideas? No one. Help yourself. They are free and can’t be copyrighted. In a sense, there are no new ideas, only recycled ones. As a writer, you can even salvage an idea gem someone discarded and polish it to a brilliant luster in your own way. It becomes yours. Take a mediocre idea and transform it into a powerful, innovative one with your creative touch.

Ideas are like butterflies flitting all around. We need to know how to capture them. Go about your daily life with your idea antennae extended all the time. Your senses are the portal to ideas. Be a noticer, a reflector, and a recorder.

[Tweet “”Your senses are the portal to ideas. Be a noticer, a reflector, and a recorder.” ~ Leona Choy”]

Don’t let the rare ones get away. Net them by jotting down every idea no matter where or when it flies by you. Write it down on whatever is handy—a restaurant napkin, the back of an envelope or a grocery receipt or on a bank deposit slip. Better, of course, to carry little spiral notebooks in your pocket or purse.

It’s a given that we shouldn’t plagiarize—so closely imitate another person’s material and represent it as our own. We aren’t stealing if we adapt, refashion, or develop an idea in a fresh way, restating it, adding our particular perspective, insights and applications.

There’s no point in simply collecting ideas. As writers who are Christians we are responsible to write what God wants us to communicate to readers. We need to evaluate the ideas and listen to God.

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It has been said that some ideas are like SEEDS: they should be buried while they germinate awaiting the right time to spring forth. Some are like SOUP: let them simmer, stirring occasionally, adding ingredients and seasonings as needed. Others are like EGGS: keep them warm while you brood over them. Some are like NUTS: get rid of the unwanted, inedible shell and get to the usable kernel. And some are like CHERRY PITS: spit them out as unpalatable and unproductive.

If God vetoes an idea, let’s not sulk or insist on pursuing it. Graciously accept the nudge in your spirit from your Supreme Editor, God.

RELATED POST: How to Generate Ideas for Writing

Write about what you know and research what you don’t know. One idea leads to another. Spin-offs to additional markets mean multiple sales for your ideas. Look for legitimate ways to squeeze more mileage from your research efforts.

[Tweet “”Write about what you know and research what you don’t know.” ~ Leona Choy #writingtips”]

Whatever happens to you is idea-generating. Personal trials are God’s back door deliveries of blessings and grist for your writing mill. As you pray and work through your adversities, you may find solutions worth sharing with hurting people.

Ideas are as capricious as butterflies. They are hiding everywhere. Some are like the butterflies that take on the color of their surroundings. You have to look carefully since ideas are often found in ordinary places.

Related Post: Out of Ideas? Be an Idea Machine

You can cull ideas from the media, draw them from within yourself and your personal experiences. Observe the world and the people around you and harvest those ideas. Our walk with the Lord and the study of His Word is a never-failing source of ideas.

Help yourself to life where writing ideas abound without limit. Writer’s block need never be an issue for you.

 

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Leona Choy

About Leona Choy

Author * Speaker * Publisher *Broadcaster *Mom * Grandma * Great-Grandma

No, Leona isn’t Chinese. So why does she have a Chinese name? Her late husband Ted to whom she was married for 46 years was Chinese. Read his autobiography My Dreams and Visions and Leona’s titled Czeching My Roots. Leona’s parents were of Czech descent and she was born and spent her formative years in America’s heartland, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Ted and Leona met as classmates at Wheaton College, IL.

 

They were co-founders of Ambassadors For Christ, Inc., a campus ministry among Chinese university students and faculty in North America. Her quarter century of service with AFC was administrative and editorial. She made fourteen trips to the People’s Republic of China, some in the company of Ted, other times as guide/escort for groups of Americans traveling to China. Together they made a number of journeys to encourage and assist the underground churches and also to find positions for English teachers in China’s schools. These travels enriched her research and experiences to write the book, Touching China.

Leona was widowed more than two decades ago and since then has devoted full time to her writing and publishing ministry. She serves as editorial director of the ministry Golden Morning Publishing which she and her son Rick founded. She was president of the Board of radio station WTRM-FM (Southern Light Gospel Music Network) for 30 years, established with Rick, who was the builder and chief engineer. She produced her own daily radio program for five years on the station. Her book Living it UP! contains in print some of the best of her programs. CD’s of her compiled broadcasts are also available.

She is writer, editor, and collaborator of over 40 books and many foreign language editions of her books, most of which are reviewed on her publications website. An increasing number of her books are available as e books. Leona lives and works in Winchester, Virginia, a part of the picturesque Shenandoah Valley. She has four adult sons, ten grandchildren, and so far thirteen great-grandchildren who keep her busy when she is not at her computer.

Visit Leona’s publications website: www.goldenmorning.com

Leona’s blog: www.leonachoy.blogspot.com

 

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