Generating Ideas: Off and On the Page

1. Active Reading (next week) of course material--and really, EVERYTHING!

• Speech/conversation
• Daily Interactions
• Read the news
• Objectively view Facebook/social network debates (don't participate!)

2. Record, record, record

• Take notes in your college classes. College professors expect you to remember the things they lecture on--and copying lectures from the board (or this blog) are never enough.

• Your peers will say something brilliant about the texts or assignments
• Your professor may say something less brilliant but pertinent about the texts or assignments

• Brainstorm 24/7. try to apply what you read for classes to life: past, present, future

• If you have a tablet or Smartphone that acts like a vital organ, use it. Don't let it be just an appendix!

• Use a note pad 

• Writing Journals: besides being a great place to store and organize course materials, notebooks are great for attempting ideas that nobody else will ever see ... 

• until you are dead and your spouse uncovers and sells your notes to the highest bidder, or reads through them, cries as she/he recollect the person they find inside those words before she/he either holds on to them in the back of the closet or burns them bonfire.

3. Diction...wait for it...ary. Dictionary.

• and thesaurus, and listening to other peoples' languages and recording beautiful language in your head. 

4. Follow YOUR interests down a rabbit hole. Pose questions about college topics as they relate to areas in your life that you are interested in. Involve yourself and likes and dislikes into the conversation. 

• Questions may lead to clustering of ideas, and you may find yourself attempting to connect things that seem far away

• Anthony Bourdain, a famous chef and travel show host, often tries to understand different cultures through his belly. 

• Anne Malum connected her passion for running to start an organization called Back on My Feet, that helps homeless people get off the streets and into jobs and affordable housing. 

5. Pay attention. Language and ideas are all around you. In songs, in over the counter conversations, at the diner, and in your own head! 

• "If only I had an enemy bigger than my apathy, I could have won."
• "Of all the things my hands have held, the best by far is you."