Here's a little situation that's very common for me: It's the day before a blog post is supposed to publish. (I have no blog post.) I think to myself, Oh, I have the whole day [afternoon, on school days] to come up with something and write it! No biggy! Soon it's past the afternoon: evening moving into night, and I still don't have a blog post done. I don't even have an idea. What's next? Why, the only thing I really can do: Panic.
That's what happened this time, sad to say. (Whoops: I did it again!) I have a little list of blog post ideas that I have conjured up with hours of research spent on the internet, and as I was mentally going through the list, I recalled an idea that I had seen at http://www.getspokal.com/i-challenged-myself-to-create-100-blog-post-ideas-in-30-minutes/. In this little post, the writer - Sarah Burke - challenged herself to create 100 blog post ideas in only 30 minutes.
I thought to myself, Hey! I have time since it's an early dismissal day, so I should be able to think of 100 post ideas! I certainly liked this idea, but the whole 30 minute factor seemed intimidating. So, rather than doing that, I altered the challenge by keeping the 100 post idea, but changing the actual challenge part of it to how quickly I can get all of it done.
I grabbed a pen and a sheet a paper, and I was off!
Doing the Challenge
The stopwatch feature on my phone has a little option to track "laps", so I used it to compare how long it took me to write 10 ideas. Here are the results, with my fastest time in green and the slowest in red:
#1-10: 2 minutes, 8 seconds
#11-20: 3 minutes, 33 seconds
#21-30: 4 minutes, 30 seconds
#31-40: 3 minutes, 38 seconds
#41-50: 5 minutes, 17 seconds
#51-60: 4 minutes, 53 seconds
#61-70: 4 minutes, 14 seconds
#71-80: 4 minutes, 59 seconds
#81-90: 3 minutes, 21 seconds
#91-100: 5 minutes, 11 seconds
In the end, to think of 100 blog post ideas, I took 40 minutes and 24 seconds, which means that I would have failed that 30-minute challenge. Oh well. Good thing that's not the challenge I was doing!
When I was doing it, I started off with simple ideas - book reviews, bookshelf tours, etc. - and gradually began venturing into the unknown, where I would have to pull my hair out trying to think of something creative. Of course, it doesn't help when you have a runny nose and a horrible cough, but I fought through it, until - finally, FINALLY - I had reached 100 ideas.
The Results
Guess what? I'm not just leaving you there! Below you'll find a list of blog post ideas. And before you say anything: no, they're not 100 ideas. Why? Well, I found that some ideas were really similar despite my efforts to try to make them different, so I have narrowed it down some by categorizing them. There were also just some really silly and absurd ideas that I had added towards the end because I was getting desperate. I don't think it's necessary to add those.
 |
| Notice a "silly" idea here? (Ahem! "I don't feel like writing a blog post...") |
- Book Review - This one doesn't require explaining.
- Bookshelf Tour - If you don't know what this one is, it's when you go through your bookshelves and give a tour of them. Basically go through your books and knicknacks, add your own little touch, and run with it!
- Movie Adaptation Comparison/Review - I have done this one in the past. All you have to do is compare a book to its movie adaptation and review the adaptation. Was it a good adaptation of the book? Which was better: the book or the movie?
- Plot/Theme/Character Analysis - The idea is to take a book's plot, theme, or characters and analyze them. What did the author do to create the plot, theme, or character? A good one if you're interested in writing.
- Favorite Quotes - Self explanatory. Take your favorite quotes and share them! What do you like about them?
- Bookshelf Organization - Everyone organizes their bookshelves differently! How do you organize yours?
- Lessons From a Book - Books have themes and lessons in them, so why not make a post out of them? I did this fairly recently with Stephen King's On Writing. (Idea from Garrett Moon at http://coschedule.com/blog/find-blog-ideas/; thanks!)
- Throwback Time! Then vs. Now - Heard of Throwback Thursday? Well who says that it has to be for social media only! Here are a few throwback ideas I had:
- Old Bookstagram Theme
- Old Bookstagram Posts (first post??)
- Old Review of Book vs. New Review (see #32)
- Old Bookshelf vs. Today's
- Old Blog Designs
- Bookmark Tutorial - For the crafty type for sure, this blog post idea actually needs another idea behind it, this being how to make a neat little bookmark! I have done this before with my "Flower Pattern" bookmarks and little sticky note corner bookmarks.
- Month Reflection - We do these ones every month. In our little monthly reflections, we reflect back on the month for our blog and bookstagram, and then go ahead and give a sneak peek of the next month along with making goals.
- GAMES - Throughout this challenge, I thought of a few games for the writer and/or readers to do. Some are below:
- Can you remember all of the books you read this year?
- Guess the book? (by description or it without dust jacket)
- Blogging Themed - I also thought of quite the number of blogging-themed posts, some of which are listed below:
- How To Get Out of a Blogging Slump (note: if you know some tips, please help!)
- Blogging Tips
- Blogging Problems
- Bookstagramming Themed - Since we are a part of the bookstagram community, I do have some bookstagram post ideas:
- Tips on Bookstgramming
- pictures
- posting
- gaining
- Photogenic Books (helpful for people who want a nice feed)
- How Bookstagram Has Changed Me
- Bookstagramming Problems
- Discussion Post...with a Twist - This isn't an actual discussion, but it's like one! I did this once with the book Rumble, in which I went online, looked at some common comments made by people on the book (reviews on online stores, book reviews, etc.), and then responded to them in the format of a blog post!
- Book Merch Review - Like a book review, except you're reviewing book merchandise! (*Might be helpful for people who represent a shop.*)
- Opinion Post - You have an opinion, so shout it out loud and proud!
- This or that?
- Bookmarks or Dog Earring?
- Best and Worst Fandoms (be respectful!)
- Favorite Characters of ALL TIME - Who are your favorite characters of all time? Make a list along with reasons why!
- Play BFF Match Maker - Take two characters from different books who you think should be friends and explain why!
- Why I... - Not really a good category, but I had a lot of ideas starting with this one phrase. Here they are:
- Why I'm a Bookworm
- Why I Blog
- Why I Bookstagram
- Why I Started Reading
- Why I Started Blogging
- Why I Started Bookstagramming
- How Reading Has Helped You - Reading is powerful to us bookworms! In what ways have reading and books helped you?
- All About My Favorite Book - Have a favorite book? Then you're qualified for this post. I'll let you run with it from here....Just explain why you love it, and then add anything else: favorite quotes, fanart, stories about it, etcetera etcetera etcetera.
- Discuss a Book w/ Another Bookworm - Sounds fun, right? Get together or message each other, and use your conversation for an interesting blog post!
- Books to Read Around... - For instance, winter is just around the corner! (Unfortunately.) What are some books that you feel are just right for the occasion? Or any occasion, whether it be a holiday or season!
- Favorite Bookstagrammers - Spread the love! While this can be easily done with a few screenshots uploaded to your Instagram story, it's also nice to include descriptions and stories about how you first found their account!
- Rewrite a part of a book - Didn't like the way something turned out? Rewrite it! Make that sad ending into a happy one where your OTP is cannon!
- End of Year Reflection - Like the monthly reflection, but for the whole year! How'd you do? Make some New Year's resolutions while you're at it!
- Bullet Journal Posts - A good number of bookstagrammers are into bullet journaling, so if you have one why not use it to your advantage and share it?
- Best Plot Twists EVER - Plot twists! Oh, you have to love them! (And hate them...oh, they're a double-sided sword sometimes.) With the proper spoiler alert, list your top plot twists.
- Playlist Post - A common post in this bookish community, it brings out your creative side and gets you really thinking about the themes and characters in the book! Create a playlist that matches the book, or one you'd like to listen to while reading the book!
- Writing Prompts - Be nice and create some writing prompts to push the creativity out of some fellow writing bookworms! (Us bookworms tend to enjoy writing.)
- SFS Results/Analysis - If you hold a shoutout-for-shoutout, then take the opportunity and make a post out of it! Look over how well it went and if you gained (or maybe even lost!) followers.
- Rereading Review - When you reread a book, your perspective might change a bit! That means that a new and updated book review is due!
- More Than Just a Name - Explore the background story of your blog name or Instagram username!
- ABC's With Books - Don't let the name drive you away! Here are two alphabet-related blog post ideas:
- Spell name with book titles
- Go through the alphabet with book titles; include descriptions of books
- Latest Trip to Bookstore - Talk about your most recent trip to a bookstore, including books you were interested in and what you bought!
- A Bookworm's Must-Haves - What are some essentials to please the inner bookworm in you?
- Give a Book a New Title - Get creative!
- DARE: Read 3 Books of Your Least Fav. Genre - Don't worry: you'll survive! You can make this a series of posts or one complete post in which you go through the process (was it hard? easy? alright?) and determine your feelings at the end (is this genre not as bad as you thought it to be?).
- Confession Post - Is there that one book everyone's read but you? Do you secretly hate a character? Not have a bookshelf? Like that one overdone cliche? Write about it here.
- Bookish Locations - Let's just say that your OTP kissed at a certain place, and you happen to visit said place. You would be freaking out. Turn your experience into a post! (Potterheads: have you visited platform 9 3/4?)
- Tell a "Horror" Story - We all have one bookish horror story: that time it started to pour during a photoshoot, a week-long reading slump, some jerk at school stepped on your book when you dropped it....
- Create a Reading Challenge For Yourself - For instance, challenge yourself to read seven books over winter/holiday break. Make a series of blog posts with updates on it.
- Signed Books? Yes, Please! - Signed books are always nice! Show them off!
- Create/Show Off Your Reading Spot - Don't forget the pictures!
Comments
Post a Comment
We would like to hear from you! What did you think of this post? Do you have any suggestions? Then please leave a comment. (We allow anonymous comments too!)