How To Get Super Ideas For Blog Posts

One of the most common let-downs for bloggers is the lack of ideas - let alone - great ideas for new blog posts. After the first 100 posts on your blog, has everything come to a standstill? Does your brain refuse to cough up the same old topics you once so enthusiastically wrote about? Well, this article is just the thing you were looking for! I've come up with some simple tips to give you 5 fantastic ways to collect stores of ideas for new updates on your blog.

Ideas from TV programmes

We've been told that TV makes you boring and dull. This is not entirely true. Of course, watching too much television leads to an unhealthy, lonely lifestyle. However, TV viewings in small dosages can give you unending ideas to write about. Even reality programmes can trigger ideas for posts you would've never thought of. Who's really the biggest loser in the world? Never mind the people who won the talent shows, whatever happened to their runners-up and who are the most successful non-winners? Quiz shows, for example, can give you ideas to put together interesting 'top ten' lists which are then read by thousands of people interested in that topic.

Ideas while going for a walk

Nature in itself is inspiring. Even a cold winter's day, when the world seems covered in snow, can bring bright, shiny ideas. However, we have to go out there to get to it. So get on your walking shoes and go for a stroll, meet people, and take note of the behaviour of strangers around you. Something they do or say can give birth to a character for a short story. You can write an entire short story/article based on something strange, odd, or remarkable one stranger did. Do not seclude yourself from the world. I know it's no longer popular, but I find talking to strangers wonderfully satisfying, and totally inspiring. The best thing is that people tell strangers things they would never reveal to friends and family. Did you almost step in dog poop (like I did this morning)? This can be the starting point of a very amusing blog post, or a serious article about society and the responsibility people have for their pets.

Ideas from Google Trends

Not all of us are experienced when it comes to  search engine marketing  but a quick search on Google Trends will show you all the hot topics people are searching for right now. Have you run out of ideas of your own but want to create a blog post that will be popular? Go to the link and see what's come up. This is pretty straight forward. Just research and write about one of them.

Ideas from old photographs

My kids love looking at their baby pictures. We find lots to talk about when I tell them stories of the photos we took of them. At the time of taking the pictures, we didn't realise they even had stories. Old photographs have a very inspiring quality to them. The sense of sight works overtime to conjure up forgotten or hidden thoughts and events. A wonderful childhood memory can be a beautiful blog post. It doesn't have to be a personal revelation, you can disguise your article/story as much or as little as you want. Events can also trigger ideas. Adding an old picture of yourself to your post will certainly be popular with your regular visitors. It will also give validation to your new update.

Ideas from reading other writers

There's a difference in copying from other writers/bloggers, and being inspired by them and their stories. I've been enriched by blog posts from fellow bloggers. Sometimes reading their articles have reminded me of things I've wanted to write about, but had forgotten (because I didn't have a pen when the inspiration hit). Reading is still one of the best ways of getting ideas for writing. We'd all be lost without each other.

It goes without saying, always carry a pen and notebook with you. The most inspiring and exciting idea can be lost in a second if you don't write it down.

If you find this post helpful please share it on your favourite social networking site. Thank you.

Who's Stuff Is This

Nashville Author Shares Methods to Help Highly-sensitive People Shield Themselves from Detrimental Energy

I am participating in a 28-day virtual tour for a new book titled Whose Stuff Is This? Finding Freedom from the Thoughts, Feelings, and Energy of Those Around You written by Yvonne Perry. The book offers empowering, proactive techniques to help empathic people manage energy and information overload coming from the collective unconsciousness of Earth. See http://whosestuffisthis.com/ for details.  

Yesterday, Yvonne visited Business Card to Business Blog.  Today, she is my guest blogger.  I hope you enjoy the press release she wrote announcing the release of her new book about empathy and intuition.

Summary: A highly-sensitive empath launches a book, WHOSE STUFF IS THIS? Finding Freedom from the Thoughts, Feelings, and Energy of Those Around You, with ways to stay emotionally healthy in am over-stimulating world.

NASHVILLE, TN February 24, 2010 — Humans are connected in many ways: the air we breathe, our basic needs and physiology, and energetically/spiritually. No one feels the power of this connection more than the energy-sensitive people, known as empaths, who unknowingly pick up on the detrimental thoughts, feelings, and even the illnesses of others and their environment. Many carry this negativity as if it were their own. In fact, some empaths are so burdened with the energy of others, they are no longer aware of what their own energy feels like. Mysterious illnesses, anxiety attacks, hearing voices, seeing shadows, feeling negative, fearful, anger, or having an impending sense of dread,— you name it, they feel it. And most empathic people have no idea where this stuff is coming from.

“Around your physical body, there is a magnetic shield of energy known as your aura. Its purpose is to provide protection and gather energy and information as you interface with your environment. In grade school, we were taught to keep our hands to ourselves. The same is true with the energy field surrounding our body,” writes Nashville author Yvonne Perry in her new book, WHOSE STUFF IS THIS? Finding Freedom from the Thoughts, Feelings, and Energy of Those Around You.“Ideally, your energy field should be kept two to three feet from your body, but many untrained empaths unknowingly allow their aura to extend and blend with the energy fields of others who have lax boundaries around their auras. When empathic people tap into the thoughts or emotional impulses of another person, the intuitive gift of empathy (much stronger than heart-felt compassion) reaches in and absorbs energy in an effort to heal or ‘fix’ whatever is out of sync. In doing so, the empath can become contaminated with unhealthy energy. Unfortunately, most of them do not know how to clear the psychic clutter in their auric field.”

Yvonne Perry

Yvonne is joined by psychotherapist Dr. Caron B. Goode, ED.D., NCC, DAPA to provide a fresh perspective on the psychological aspect of empathy and intuition. “Some of the characteristics that empaths display can also be diagnosed as ADD, agoraphobia, bipolar disorder, or clinical depression,” says Caron. “Most doctors and counselors are not aware that empathy fatigue exists, much less how to treat it, but this intuitive overload is a very real problem to energy-sensitive people.” Caron is the author of The Art & Science of Coaching Parents, Raising Intuitive Children, and Kids Who See Ghosts - Guide Them Through Their Fears.

“Yvonne Perry's book thoroughly explains the process of being an empath in today's world. She provides cognitive, emotional, physical, energetic, and spiritual explanations for the origin of deep empathy, while sharing her own amazing story and the stories of others,” says transformational coach Gini Grey. “This book offers an array of powerful techniques to help empathic people create healthy boundaries, stay balanced, and release other people's energy and emotions from their personal space. This book is a must read for anyone and everyone who is sensitive to the thoughts, moods and problems of those around them.”  Gini is the author of FROM CHAOS TO CALM: How to Shift Unhealthy Stress Patterns and Create Your Own Balance in Life.

About:

Yvonne is a graduate of American Institute of Holistic Theology where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Metaphysics. For years she was enmeshed with the dogma of religion that her family and church leaders passed down to her. Before she had a label to put on her empathetic ability, she called herself an intercessor. While praying for others she empathically took on their suffering until it severely challenged her emotional and physical health. Embracing a totally different path and belief system, she now openly uses the gift of empathy to help others heal their lives. http://WhoseStuffIsThis.com 

Come along on the tour with us. Tomorrow’s blog stop will be at Kids Who See Ghosts.  See the tour schedule at http://tinyurl.com/EmpathTour. 

Top 5 Irish Books To Buy For St Patrick's Day

March 17th is St Patrick's Day. As a person who considers herself a honorary Irish woman, this day has always been special to me. Having lived in Cork (Ireland) for nearly 7 years, I've experienced St. Patrick's Day celebrations first hand - as the Irish really celebrate it. The picture of myself and family, in St. Patrick Street, drenched in cold rain and filled with the warmth of the Irish people (sometimes the Irish warmth was induced by a dollop of rich Guinness), will always stay with me...green and orange flags...de-de-li-aye music... girls in curls...the odd smash of glass...dark bottles of frothy alcohol...

Reading is definitely not one of the things the Irish do on this holiday. Nevertheless, to celebrate St Patrick's Day A Blogger's Books style, I bring you a selection of the top Irish books selling on Amazon this year. Please click on the links in the images to read a full reviews on the website.

Ulysses - James Joyce (literary fiction)

• A record  440 customers' reviews


• 258 gave it 5 stars


• Amazon review (in part): Two characters, Stephen Dedalus and Leopold Bloom, go about their separate business, crossing paths with a gallery of indelible Dubliners. We watch them teach, eat, stroll the streets, argue, and (in Bloom's case) masturbate. And thanks to the book's stream-of-consciousness technique--which suggests no mere stream but an impossibly deep, swift-running river--we're privy to their thoughts, emotions, and memories. The result? Almost every variety of human experience is crammed into the accordian folds of a single day, which makes Ulysses not just an experimental work but the very last word in realism.

Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift (YA fiction)

• 162 customers' reviews


• 95 gave it 5 stars


• Amazon review (in part): Divided into four parts, "Gulliver's Travels" is presented as the historical memoirs of Lemuel Gulliver who narrates his strange adventures in undiscovered countries. In doing so, Swift explores and satirises almost every conceivable issue important in both his time and in ours: politics, religion, gender, science, progress, government, family and our basic ideas of defining humanity. As well as this, the novel is full of wonder and humour (some of it bordering on the vulgar!) and Swift's exploration of imaginary societies and countries is satire at its peak - no one before or since has reached Swift's mastery of this style. 

The Butcher Boy - Patrick McCabe (family life)

• 66 customers' reviews


• 41 gave it 5 stars


• Amazon's review (in part): Francie Brady is a disaffected, working-class, Roman Catholic teenager living in Northern Ireland. His alcoholic father works in the local slaughterhouse and his mother, despite being a whir of household efficiency, is suicidal. The latest phase of the "troubles" in Ireland have not yet formally begun--it is the early '60s--but Francie is nonetheless caught in a cycle of pride, envy and poverty aggravated by the ancient conflict between Protestants and Catholics. 

Dracula - Bram Stoker (adult horror)

• 20 customers' reviews


• 6 gave it 5 stars


• Amazon's reviews (in part): A naive young Englishman travels to Transylvania to do business with a client, Count Dracula. After showing his true and terrifying colors, Dracula boards a ship for England in search of new, fresh blood. Unexplained disasters begin to occur in the streets of London before the mystery and the evil doer are finally put to rest. Told in a series of news reports from eyewitness observers to writers of personal diaries, this has a ring of believability that counterbalances nicely with Dracula's too-macabre-to-be-true exploits.

Angel's Ashes - Frank McCourt (true life)

• 1, 558 customers' reviews



• 1,124 gave it 5 stars


• Amazon's review (in part): McCourt paints a brutal yet poignant picture of his early days when there was rarely enough food on the table, and boots and coats were a luxury. In a melodic Irish voice that often lends a gentle humor to the unimaginable, the author remembers his wayward yet adoring father who was forever drinking what little money the family had. He recounts the painful loss of his siblings to avoidable sickness and hunger, a proud mother reduced to begging for charity, and the stench of the sewage-strewn streets that ran outside the front door. As McCourt approaches adolescence, he discovers the shame of poverty and the beauty of Shakespeare, the mystery of sex and the unforgiving power of the Irish Catholic Church.  

Well, there you have it - five books by Irish writers you should definitely get your hands on. Have a look at the reviews of these novels. They're mostly positive and readers certainly got a pleasure/satisfaction from reading them. I agree that Ulysses is a bit pompous. Frankly, I've abandoned attempts to read it myself. If you can get into it, readers have promised an unforgettable experience indeed.





Let me know how you get on. Happy St Patrick's day! If you're going out to see the parade, here are some St Patrick's Day costumes you may find useful to help you get into things.



  

   

4 Brilliant Online Sites To Write For

Bloggers are constantly looking for online sites that will pay them for their writing efforts. Today's post is short and to-the-point. The aim is to simply list 4 brilliant on line sites that will pay you for your blog posts. Of course, your blog traffic and Google ranking will affect how much you're offered for each job you complete. Note: These are online-writing little earners. If you're looking for hard copy writing opportunities please see my update page.

Note: signing up with any of the links below means that I will be listed as your referrer. This gives me a percentage of what you earn. I don't mind sharing the love if you don't :-) 

Social Spark

Submit as many blogs as you wish and earn from your blog posts. Their prices are reasonable, even for blogs without  high Google ratings. There's no worry about sharing your work on social networking sites because you get paid whether one person reads it or not. Sign up here.

Triond

You're free to write as much as (and when) you want. You don't have to wait to be invited, and there's no limit to what you can write each day. Payment per article depends on which of their sites you publish on. The drawback is that if your article isn't popular, you may not earn as much for it. Articles are all published on Triond's sites and not on your own blog. You can however, link to them from your own site. Sign up here.

Chitika

Place ads on your blog (compatible with Google ads) and decide whether you want your followers to see them or just your passing visitors. You can personalise ad units and tell Chitika what topics you want advertised, and what you wish to avoid. Place your ad (step-to-step guide on website) and start earning. Sign up here

Bukisa

This site is a bit like Triond. You can write as much as you wish, however, you have to promote your own work if you want to earn big. Click on the image to join up and start publishing or sign up here. There's not much scope here for making Wicked Profits, but every little adds up as long as you're constantly creating and writing. 

Each of these four sites will bring you hours of writing opportunities and potentially significant earnings each month. As you become more familiar with each site, you can decide which fit your needs and which ones you'd like to discard.

So what are you waiting for, Blogger? Sign up, get writing and start earning. How much you earn is entirely up to you!

Book Tour

I'm participating in a virtual book tour connected to Yvonne Perry's new book, Whose Stuff Is This? Finding Freedom from the Thoughts, Feelings, and Energy of Those Around You.  You're cordially invited to come along with me as I drop by more than twenty blogs dealing with empathy fatigue, emotional burnout, and intuition as well as information about how she wrote and published the book.



Visitors get to read something new each day as they follow the book tour from blog to blog: audio clips, video clips, written interviews, links to radio interviews, book excerpts, media releases, and content-rich articles.



Topics include the following:

• Authors Must Learn to Sell What They Write


• Clearing Your Energy Field


• Detaching Politely Before You Reach Your Limit


• Empathic Babies, Children, and Teens


• How I Published My Book on Empathy Fatigue


• Identifying Your Own Energy


• Setting Boundaries with People


• Stories from an Empath


• Why I Wrote a Book for Empaths


• 5 Steps for Developing Your Intuition


• Characteristics of an Untrained Empath


• Difference Between Empathy and Intuition, The


• Excerpts from the book


• Gift of Intuition Reveals a Sister’s Secret, The


• Influence Ghosts Have Upon Human Emotions, The


• Make the Voices Stop!


• Psychology of Empathy, The


• Q&A Interview with the Author


• Temper Tantrums ~ An Opportunity to Teach Your Child How to Process Emotions


• There’s a Ghost in Our House. Can We Keep Him?


• Understanding Empathy


• What Is an Empath?


• When Fear Turns into an Anxiety Problem


• Why I Chose to Self-publish My Book About Empathic Overload

Here is the tour schedule:



Join the pre-tour warm-up on Wednesday, February 23 as Dr. Caron Goode and Yvonne Perry chat with @LynnSerafinn on Garden of the Soul Radio at 6 p.m. UK Time, 1 p.m. Eastern Time.



Another running start for the tour is on Saturday, February 26 Joyce Shafer will share an article in her State of Appreciation Newsletter: http://stateofappreciation.webs.com// Follow @JoyceShafer.



Monday, February 28 - The Shift Guru Barbara Joye will host an article by Yvonne titled "5 Steps for Developing your Intuition" http://shiftguru.wordpress.com/. Follow @TheShiftGuru.



Tuesday, March 1 - Joanne Sprott (@muselady11) will host Yvonne on Beyond Words Radio Show at Believe in the Moment radio http://www.believeinthemoment.com/bitm-radio.html.



Wednesday, March 2 - Carol Denbow (@author101) will share an article titled “Why Yvonne wrote the book” on her blog, A Book Inside http://abookinside.blogspot.com/.



Thursday, March 3- @positivepresent Dani will post an article: "Psychology of Empathy" on her blog, Positively Present http://www.positivelypresent.com/.



Friday, March 4 - Irene Conlan @ieconlan has an article: "Setting Boundaries with People" to share on The Self Improvement Blog.



Saturday, March 5 - Shelagh Jones @SpiritusShelagh will be hosting an audio interview with Yvonne for her Spiritus blog.



Sunday, March 6 - Penny Ehrenkranz @pennyehrenkranz Article: "How Yvonne Published the Book" on One Writer's Journey http://pennylockwoodehrenkranz.blogspot.com/



Monday, March 7 - Doreen Pendgracs @wizardofwords will be sharing an article from Yvonne titled: "Why I Chose to Self-publish My Book About Empathic Overload." See http://doreenisthewizardofwords.blogspot.com/



Tuesday, March 8 - Nickolove Lovemore @nickolove Skyline Coaching Blog http://www.skylinecoachingblog.com/ has a video clip, an excerpt from the book, an article “Clearing Your Energy Field,” and a book review.



Wednesday, March 9 - Callie Carling @moonpoppy shares a video, book review, and article on her blog, Empowered Healer http://www.empoweredhealer.co.uk/



Thursday, March 10 - Irene Conlan (@ieconlan) hosts Yvonne on The Self Improvement Radio Show.



Friday, March 11 - Dr. Caron Goode @parent_coach shares an interview with Yvonne and a video about the gift of empathy on the Academy for Coaching Parents International http://academyforcoachingparents.com/blog/



Saturday, March 12 - Dr. Caron Goode will be joining Shelagh Jones @SpiritusShelagh for an audio interview about the psychology of empathy. See Spiritus blog.



Monday, March 14 - Soulmate Coach Crystal @soulmatecoachc shares an article about detaching politely http://www.soulmatecoachcrystal.blogspot.com/



Tuesday, March 15 - Lisa Jackson @lisajjackson shares her question & answer interview on Lisa Haselton's Reviews and Interviews http://lisahaseltonsreviewsandinterviews.blogspot.com/



Wednesday, March 16 - Pat Bertram @PatBertram has an article, “ Stories from an Empath,” on Dragon My Feet: http://dragonmyfeet.wordpress.com/



Thursday, March 17 has two stops: Elizabeth Bennett @PeerAbuse will post an article: “Empathy in Children and Teens” on http://www.peerabuse.blogspot.com/ AND Barbara Techel @joyfulpaws shares a YouTube video on Joyful Paws http://www.joyfulpaws.typepad.com/



Friday, March 18 - Barbara Joye (@TheShiftGuru) will share her interview with Yvonne on her Creative Cafe Radio Show: www.blogtalkradio.com/shiftguru.



Monday, March 21 - Reno Lovison Marketing Communications Services presents an article “Authors Must Learn to Sell What They Write” on his Business Card to Business Blog: http://businesscardtobusiness.com/blog. Follow @renoweb



Tuesday, March 22 - Get hold of your prescription glasses because Anne Lyken Garner (that's me) at @esther96 has a superb media release on http://www.abloggersbooks.com/ Don't forget to have a look when this is up.



Wednesday, March 23 - Dr. Caron Goode @parent_coach presents a book excerpt and press release on her blog, Kids Who See Ghosts http://kidswhoseeghosts.com/blog/.



Thursday, March 24 - Faith Ranoli interviews Yvonne on @positiveradio Heart and Home Radio Show http://healthylife.net/RadioShow/archiveHH.htm



Friday, March 25 - Vonnie Faroqui @inkslngrswhmz has an article on Ink Slinger's Whimsey blog http://inkslingerswhimsey.blogspot.com/



Monday, March 28 - Dr. Caron Goode @parent_coach shares a book excerpt on Raising Intuitive Children blog http://raisingintuitivechildren.com/blog/.

Blogger: You Have Been Hacked

Today I got yet another fake email encouraging me to update my PayPal account. I knew better than to click on the link in the message. It evidently redirects to a phishing website. Sites like these steal your details (and your password if you log in), and do whatever they please with your account and email address. Writers and bloggers who use PayPal and other large sites - beware. 

Hacked email address

My sister's email address was hacked recently. She had no idea about this until my 9 year-old daughter sent her a message asking her to stop sending the 'weird' emails to her. My daughter was getting all kinds of spammy emails from my sister - including ones with serious adult content!  A few days later my husband, then I, began receiving a flurry of emails from my sister. Some said, 'Hope you had a good time over the hols. See you soon. Check out my pictures'. Others asked us to click on links to buy 'pant-area' enlargements etc. I knew straight away that my sister wouldn't have sent these messages.



Fraudsters accessing your contacts' details

After hacking your email address, fraudsters not only access your important details. They also give themselves access to all your saved contacts on your list (as in my sister's case). Funnily enough, she was most worried about her preacher receiving 'helpful' emails about his love life from people pretending to be her.



Search engines and virus

Big search engines all redirect our searches - first to an address which records what websites we're interested in. So technically, we've all been hacked and infected with this 'redirecting' virus to some extent. Search engines know where we've been and sometimes, even where we're going next.  Bloggers clickthrough to many blogs each day. All our activities are duly recorded and redirected. We like the fact that when we type in the first two letters of a favourite website, it comes up in our browser. We like being able to open a new window and see the last 10+ sites we've visited. After all it's convenient - but is it worth it?



Some helpful tips

• Always type in your Paypal address into your browser and send them any messages you think are fake. They have a great support system. 


• (Do the same when/if your bank emails you. Keep in mind that your bank will rarely send you an email. Call them up or drop into your local branch if you think they need to talk to you.


• Emails that start with 'Dear (fill in name of company) user' are usually fake. Real emails are sent in your name.


• If unsure of a website, type in the address in your browser rather than clicking on a link in an email sent to you.


• Prevent the search engines from infecting your computer with the redirecting virus in the first place. Click Here to see how you you can do so. You don't have to live with it, when there's something you can do to prevent it. 

Have you ever been hacked? How long did it take you to sort the problem out and what help did you receive? Please let us know in the comments' section. Thanks.

The Oddities Of The English Language

 

For those who love reading, books and the history and exploration of the English language, the British Library is preparing a scrumptious treat. They’re hosting ‘Evolving English: One Language, Many Voices', a free exhibition which is presently running and will be open until April 3^rd, 2011.

The event will investigate the diversity of the English tongue and compare classic books with modern text messages and language used in social media. It will explore the cultural and historical richness and International diversity which makes English what it is today. Around the globe, millions of us speak a dialect of English, even though we may not all be able to understand each other.

Years ago, when we lived in Ireland I visited some Nigerian women I was helping with their garden. They were chatting away with each other in a language I assumed was Yoruba or something else. I thought it was a bit rude of them to talk to each other and not include me (after I’d done them a favour, clearing up their garden and helping them plant out some bedding plants). After about 10 minutes I asked what the language was and they told me it was English. They were actually surprised I couldn’t understand a word of it.

I think this adds to the beauty of our language. There’s no other tongue – so versatile and adaptable! This exhibition allows you to record your own voice for the collection. Perhaps like the two Nigerian women, in 100 years future generations will find you difficult to understand.  Consider the language of today’s teenager and you will see this is not so far-fetched.

Go to the link to record your voice. It doesn’t matter where in the world you live. (http://www.bl.uk/evolvingenglish/maplisten.html)

Visitors to this one-time exhibition will be able to see the only surviving manuscript of Beowulf, Shakespeare ‘quartos’, the King James Bible, and Dr Johnson’s dictionary. Recordings of famous speeches by Churchill, Ghandi and Mandela will also be on show. In addition, the public will be able to sample early examples of advertising posters, newspapers from around the world, comics, dialect recordings, web pages and much more.

Go here to get involved and take the quiz. It’s fun. Test your knowledge of the origins evolutions and oddities of the English Language. I got full marks, but that’s only because I took the easy level. :-)  http://www.bl.uk/evolvingenglish/quiz.html

 

British Library  Sponsored Post

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