People sometimes ask me how I come up with all my crazy ideas for blogging (well they don’t actually say “crazy”---but I know what they mean). 

     First of all there are a couple of techniques I use to keep myself focused.

#1. The total number of blog ideas is infinite.

     #2. When you have the cojones to think that #1 is not true---reread to #1.

     I think an important component in coming up with fresh ideas is more about being “receptive” than is about “giving.”  If we have our eyes and ears----and all our other senses open----things will come to us.  But if we start with the notion that we must hunt and find something to give away, it will be very difficult indeed----especially after one has been blogging for awhile.

     Rather than offer a list of ideas that one might try, I instead will share some of the specific things I do to “encourage” the flow of ideas.

     Think of your brain as “Google”----your own personal, caffeine (or chocolate) powered, 24/7, search engine (yes---even while you are sleeping).  Your total life experiences are “tagged” in infinite combinations so that even a single word, song, picture, cloud, dream, color, or even a smell can trigger an idea. 

     When that idea floods in----all you have to do is start playing with it.

     Sometimes I will let the idea float around in my head for days (marinating so to speak---some might say fermenting) as I fiddle with different ways to “Dress it up,” to make it interesting, palatable----or sometimes even “plausible” to a reader.   Also I like to conjure some way (if possible) to connect the idea to my activities as a Seattle Home Inspector or the real estate industry in general----otherwise I just toss it out there anyway.

     In conjunction with the whole business of coming up with ideas, is the conclusion by some that what I do must take an incredible amount of time. 

     Well----sometimes it does (like this one).  More often than not though----they do not take as long as one might think.  Much of the post is written before I sit down to the keyboard.  It is written in my head or on a napkin while waiting in a restaurant.  Others get written while waiting for everyone to arrive for the inspection, stuck in traffic, driving here and there, sitting on the toilet (come on you know I had to say it), standing in the shower, -----WHATEVER!  The point is, that there are lots of times when whatever I am doing will not prevent me from working out ideas in my head before I actually get to the keyboard.

     Here is another rule:  All ideas are OK----they will lead you “somewhere.”  Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that some ideas are more valid than others.  And remember----you have very little control over what you think.  Even “bad” ideas can be transformed into “good” ideas.  Think of ideas as being like “seeds” that you can plant and nurture and watch grow----and then PRUNE, espalier or compost as deemed appropriate.  Every thought that runs through your brain and everything that stimulates your senses has the potential to trigger some tag in your brain----we just need to pay attention. (Man this post is going to need some “Roundup” before I am done)(Where the heck did that tag come from?)

     NOW: about “Dress-up.”

     Doesn’t everyone like to play dress-up? 

     Steve Smith does. 

      So, once you have this “great idea”----what kind of clothes are you going to put on it?  You can’t just send it naked into the blogosphere (and trust me----I have tried). 

     Dressing-up, IS your own personal voice. 

     This is where we make the post appear as if it is about “sex, drugs and/or rock-n-roll”----things that people can relate to.  Think of it as cake.  People like cake, but if you put the kind of frosting on it that they REALLY like, they will eat it up like crazy.  Lately I have been having a lot of fun dressing mine up in children’s stories. 

     How you dress-up your idea will be what makes your idea look different from everyone else’s version of the same idea.

     Not only does an idea trigger tags in your brain, but the words you write will trigger other tags which will trigger other tags----thus making the process even easier.  This is where it all starts to be actual fun.

     And this brings me to perhaps the most important point I can share.

     JUST START—

             stuff

              will

            follow.

     Pretty soon, if you practice these simple steps, you will notice yourself letting ideas go floating though your consciousness without doing anything about them---without jotting them down---without taking their picture.  Then you will find yourself in the unfortunate position of beating yourself up because although you can “remember” that you had a great idea to play with, you now can not recall it to save your neck.

     Not to worry---like any good drain, another idea will float on by soon enough.

     All that remains is----are you listening?

P.S.

     The original “seed” for this post was, “What are you smoking?”

Charles Buell

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DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.