Kick-Start your Juices

 by: Mary Attard

Listen, consider this scenario.

You have a deadline to honour. Time is pressing, tighter and tighter. You are hoping to come up with some topic for your project.....

However, ideas on what to write about keep eluding you.

What are you going to do in situations like these?

Today there are various software and information to start you off when finding yourself in such a rut. They all can come handy, but one sure technique to provide quick results is Keyword Brainstorming.

Let's see what this is all about and how it works in practice.

• find a quiet place and set a time limit

• take a sheet of paper and write the subject keyword at the top

• now, any idea that this word brings to your mind, jot it down

• don't be judgmental, and keep focusing on the start keyword

• just write key words - enough to trigger your thoughts in future

• keep going as fast as you can

• jot down in a list form, without analysing for spelling, validity, etc

• derive as many ideas on paper while keeping the fast pace

Here is an example of how a KEYWORD brainstorming page would be:

HAPPINESS

This can be taken further by building another keyword from this very list to start a fresh list and getting you deeper into the subject.

You can even challenge yourself to stick to only a predetermined number of responses you are able to come up with.

As you see every word in the list can provide you with a particular angle in relation to the main keyword which in turn can lead you to a totally unique approach to your writing project.

There are times, as everything else in life, when writing is a bit of a chore, but having the right tools at hand it can be turned into an enjoyable experience and even fun to do.

You can kick start your juices with the right tools!