20 blogs for the uninspired: the version for the rest of us

feeling rather dull today, i clicked on a blog post that popped up on my twitter called 20 Blog Topics To Get You Unstuck. it has all sorts of useful questions to answer - like "what challenges are your potential customers facing?" and stuff like that.

and by "useful" i mean "useful if your blog is one of those snazzy ones with all the ads on the side and readers who routinely make comments that include words like 'marketing,' '2.0,' and 'bootstrapping'." so, what about those of us who are just making a feeble attempt to share our quest to survive???

here's my version - for those of us writing to friends, not customers, who are sharing, not marketing, who are friending/parenting/spouse-ing/working/etc.-ing, instead of bootstrapping.

1. what was the last insect, hoard of insects, or arachnid you saw inside your house, and how did the experience affect you?
2. lists, people! lists are easily organized and easy to read! how about...
   "10 ways my progeny have misbehaved in the last 2 hours"
   "20 breeds of tropical fish i have owned and the gruesome ways they died"
   "5 ways my spouse makes me laugh"
   "7 things i have learned from [name your most distasteful chore]"
   "10 people who shaped my life in _____ way"
   "35 methods i have used so far to potty train my 13 year old that have not worked"
   (ok, maybe you wouldn't want to blog about that one...)
3. share your favorite recipe .... and a delicious memory that you associate with it.
4. when was the last time you hauled yourself out of the house/workplace and into nature? what made you laugh/cry when you got there?
5. have an idea that is cheap/easy/effective/fun/just stupid but funny?
6. what's your favorite room in your house? use all five senses to describe why it's wonderful.
7. in what areas would you like some advice (that you don't mind sharing with, you know, the whole world)?
8. "how [some part of your life] is like [anything else]."
9. summarize something:
   "my history with venomous snakes"
   "my children's affinity for the emergency room through their lives"
   "my husband's escalating clumsiness"
10. if you can laugh about an embarrassing moment, you can write a funny blog about it. pictures are a bonus.
11. speaking of pictures, everybody loves to see old photos! scanner + 80's hair = instablog!
12. what is your favorite power tool or appliance, and why couldn't you live without it? (write a poem about it if you like.)
13. "a day in the life of [your spouse/kid/dog/purse/minivan...]"
14. borrow a well-known literary form or paradigm to tell a story.
    ____ and the terrible, horrible, awful, no-good, very-bad day
    limerick
    haiku
    'twas the night before ____
15. how are you exactly like your mother/your son exactly like you/your husband just like his father?
16. "the [your surname] guide to [city you live in]"
    best restaurants, parks, stuff to do with kids, stuff to do without kids, prettiest views, coolest graffiti, awesomest local bands ... (your readers will love this!)
17. share an issue that you've worked through - your readers will identify and appreciate the openness! (if you can't bring yourself to throw in some self-deprecating humor, pick a different issue for the blog and reassess the "worked through" part.)
18. what are you really bad at? play up your weaknesses.
19. be uncool. what's the worst that can happen? and when you're free to be uncool, the inspiration starts pouring! like fairies. what cool person would write a blog about fairies? cool people are so boring.
20. ask your child/spouse a totally random and weird question and post their answer.
    me: where does the tooth fairy get her quarters?
    joel: she steals them from fountains and vending machines.
    (this would be funner with an imaginative 5 year old than a scientific 29 year old.)