Need help turning on that light bulb in your head? Give the 5 sites in this post a try! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
As many of you know the Ultimate Blog Challenge for July is up and running. If you haven’t already signed up for the challenge, I strongly suggest you go to the UBC website and get started! All you have to do is blog 31 times in 31 days. That’s it!
With this challenge comes a lot of support from other bloggers, and a daily prompt to help you generate some great content. There may be times that those prompts won’t fit you or your blog. And there may be days that you just can’t come up with anything on your own. What do you do then? Well, you could take a break for one or two days (no one is going to punish you!), or you could look for inspiration elsewhere…
If you choose to look elsewhere for your inspiration, may I suggest that you take a peek at the following 5 websites? I go to them all the time when I need that extra push, and I hope they can help you, too!
Creativity Portal
Website: http://www.creativity-portal.com/
I love this site. It is jam-packed with inspirational articles, writing prompts, pictures, quotes, and links that will help get your creative juices flowing. My favorite thing is the 365 Pictures daily photo prompts. Each day there is a different picture (no repeats) followed by a few words of motivating text to inspire you.
One Word
Website: http://oneword.com/
One word is a great way to break writer’s block. Seriously! Each day one word appears in big, bold letters and you get one minute to sit down and write the first thing that comes to your mind. Don’t think about what you are going to write—just write. You don’t have to register, but I recommend it because you can save everything you’ve written and connect with other users.
Language is a Virus
Website: http://languageisavirus.com/
If you’re into creative writing, this is a great place for you. It’s loaded with generators, prompts, and games to help cure your writer’s block and maybe help give you the nudge you need to finish the next great American novel. 🙂 Sure, it hasn’t helped me in my journey to finish the book I’ve been writing for 7 years, but I don’t think anything will. It has helped me with writer’s block on more than one occasion, though!
Shorpy
Website: http://www.shorpy.com/
Unlike the first three sites, Shorpy isn’t a site geared toward writing prompts and generators—or writing period. It’s a blog chock full of old pictures for you to gawk at and comment on. The older the pictures are, the more inspired I become. I really love looking through everything posted on here and reading all the comments from people who have a lot of information about a photo’s history. If you’re ever stuck for something to write about…try wandering around Shorpy for a few minutes!
Mother Jones
Website: http://www.motherjones.com/
Mother Jones is what its website says it is. It is a “nonprofit news organization that specializes in investigative, political, and social justice reporting.” Mojo has inspired us lefties for well over three decades. If reporting about leftist politics is your cup of tea, have a look around their website if you need to be inspired about current events and politics. If Mother Jones isn’t your thing, then you can search for news stories just about anywhere. Most major newspapers are online now, and there are tons of blogs and vlogs that aim to get the news to people in one way or another.
Are there any special websites or tricks you use for inspiration on your blog? Please share with the class by leaving a comment below. I look forward to your feedback!
Related articles
- 12 Tips To Help Overcome Writer’s Block (bloggingtips.com)
- What I finally learned about writing, through art. (jaimeskelton.wordpress.com)
- 20 Ways to Kill Your Writer’s Block Forever (lifehack.org)
- Photography: The Cure for Writer’s Block (writingstraight.com)
The Daily Hottentots 
athenabrady1
/ July 2, 2012Great post, thanks for the inspiration.
Angie Hottentots-Laurel
/ July 2, 2012Anytime!
Lisa | Practically Intuitive
/ July 2, 2012OOOH! Gonna check those out! Especially that shorpy one (I keep wanting to type shmoopy!) – I dig stuff like that! Thanks for the links!
Angie Hottentots-Laurel
/ July 2, 2012Shorpy is interesting because there are so many photographs of people just doing ordinary things, but they give you great ideas. I like picture prompts A LOT (as you can probably tell) because seeing a picture of a person, place, or thing gets my brain working.
Marilyn Schendel
/ July 2, 2012awesome awesome post for day 2- I favorited (is that a word) the 5 sites that are real keeperes-thanks for sharing such great sites! Another place to check out is TEDtalks – grear stuff there too. Check out Sir Kenneth Robinson on creativity!
Angie Hottentots-Laurel
/ July 2, 2012Thank you for bringing up TED talks, Marilyn. I am addicted to those! 😀
Kelly http://kellystclaire.com/
/ July 2, 2012Wow, THANKS for this 🙂 I love finding new avenues for writing inspiration, can’t wait to explore!
Angie Hottentots-Laurel
/ July 2, 2012Glad I could help. 😀
Susan
/ July 2, 2012This is a great post, Angie. I love Creativity Portal, too, but I haven’t heard of the others so am definitely going to check those out. Thanks for sharing.
Angie Hottentots-Laurel
/ July 2, 2012Creativity Portal is by far the best on the list, I think. There is so much to see and do around there, so many articles to help you with your creativity.
Fran
/ July 2, 2012Wonderful suggestions have checked a few out and added them to my favourites.
Angie Hottentots-Laurel
/ July 2, 2012Great to hear, Fran! 😀
CMSmith
/ July 3, 2012Thanks for the writer’s block tips or sight links. I started blogging last year with a post-a-day. I did that for about 6 months, and then decided I needed weekends off. Now I’m down to about 3 posts a week. Still trying to decide how all the posting, reading, and commenting fit into my life and my life’s goals. For now I’m on it.
Angie Hottentots-Laurel
/ July 3, 2012And you do a great job! I really enjoy reading your stuff.
Alana Mautone (@RamblinGarden)
/ July 3, 2012Thank you for posting these links. Except for Mother Jones which I wouldn’t have thought of for inspiration. I did subscribe to it many years ago. I hadn’t heard of any of these other sites. Where do I get inspiration? From everyday life. I’ve been fortunate so far – either that, or I am boring my audience!
Angie Hottentots-Laurel
/ July 3, 2012Everyday life can be good as well. 🙂 I know plenty of people who blog about normal, everyday things and wind up with hilarious results in their blogs.
One site that I am really disappointed that I couldn’t use is Newsmap. That site was way cool. It was just a wall of news stories from all over the world, ranked from newest to oldest and hottest to little blurbs in a couple papers somewhere. The site was hijacked a while back and will attempt to install a blackhole exploit kit on your computer. Such a shame. I would have put that on here instead of Mojo for breaking news and that sort of thing. But Mojo and PoliticusUSA are two sites that I frequent most.
todoadriana
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