It seems it would be a snap to write a short article of five hundred to a thousand words. After all, you're knowledgeable in many subjects, you're intelligent and you're a talented writer who enjoys writing. So why do you face that dreaded writer's block when you sit down at the keyboard?

Most daunting, perhaps, is finding a topic to write about. You've already written articles about all the subjects you know best, often two or three times from different angles, and you can't use any of those subjects again. The deadline is tomorrow.

You're good at research, so that's not the problem. Usually the Muse is with you once you get going, so that's not it either. All you need is a new topic for your next article, and you'll be able to knock out a good one. How do you come up with a new subject?

It's best to let the topic come to you, to strike you in the head, if you will. In order to do this successfully, you can't be thinking about it too hard. That's certainly paradoxical!

One great way to come up with topics is the somewhat old fashioned process of reading the newspaper. Read all the sections. More often than not, there is some story that grabs your interest about some subject you've never heard of before or about one that has been scratching at the back of your consciousness for a few weeks. Often the newspaper article will provide all the facts you need to pop out an entire article of your own. If not, it doesn't take long to do a little research in Google to get the missing pieces.

Another way to find new topics is to read magazines and books for pleasure and cash in on the ideas that strike you while reading that remind you of other things. Your mind makes associations and sees things in new ways when it's relaxed by reading.

You can also observe products while food shopping. There are always plenty of items for sale you've never noticed before, and some of them are fads. Fads are good to write about because they tie into the current collective consciousness of society and therefore people are interested in reading about them.

It's good to let your mind wander. This is how different ideas that are floating around a bit aimlessly in your consciousness can suddenly juxtapose themselves atop one another in a new way.

Sometimes by purposefully pursuing this mind wandering, you can come up with several topics you've never thought of writing about before. You find yourself enthusiastic about writing your new article and effortlessly pop it out and a few more. You may even end up with a list of new topics that will keep you busy for a few weeks!