Comments on: Idea File: Finding Freelance Writing Ideas in Conversation

By: Your Freelance Writing Career: Finding work now, building for the future | Words on the Page

Thu, 18 Jan 2024 19:19:45 +0000

[…] Bonus: Some ways to generate ideas can be found here. […]

By: lwidmer

lwidmer — Mon, 06 May 2019 17:09:19 +0000

In reply to Paula Hendrickson. I would have loved your dad. Never knew a cartoonist! Everything is material!!

By: Paula Hendrickson

Paula Hendrickson — Mon, 06 May 2019 15:34:39 +0000

In reply to lwidmer. Like Devon said, everything is material. Or as my cartoonist dad used to say, "There's a cartoon in that."

By: lwidmer

lwidmer — Fri, 03 May 2019 20:26:30 +0000

In reply to Paula Hendrickson. You've had a few of those lately, Paula. Amazing how any conversation can be that blockbuster idea, right?

By: lwidmer

lwidmer — Fri, 03 May 2019 20:25:36 +0000

In reply to Devon Ellington. That's indeed the joy of it. :)

By: Paula Hendrickson

Paula Hendrickson — Thu, 02 May 2019 17:03:01 +0000

I had one of those on Sunday. I came home to find a large branch had fallen from a scrap maple tree in the back yard. No property damage, just a mess to clean up. I texted my brother a photo, he said if I can’t get it cleaned up sooner, he might be able to come out in mid-May with his chainsaw. I don’t want to ask my brother to do something that huge. But he also asked about the ginormous black walnut tree in the back yard. (It was struck by lightning 19 years ago, but has produced more walnuts ever since. A top branch is dead, but inaccessible. And a couple years ago my neighbor asked if he could have a few branches “trimmed” – but his trimmer did a hack job and I had to order them off the tree. Yet it leafed out better than ever.) My brother thinks the walnut wood is valuable – and it might be. But the research I did after the neighbor’s tree trimmer butchered it indicated that even if the wood is worth $5000, it would cost at least $3000 for a crew to take it down in a tight city lot like ours.

Anyway….our conversation led me to the Illinois Forestry Association, and suddenly I got an idea I plan to pitch to the regional quartery – maybe for their fall issue. I know a couple who owned a large wooded lot and would see cherry, oak, and walnut trees to lumber companies. Each tree he’d agreed to sell was marked. Anyway – there’s got to be at least one or two angles for articles in there.

By: Devon Ellington

Devon Ellington — Thu, 02 May 2019 15:27:46 +0000

I consider nothing wasted as a writer. Because EVERYTHING is material. Although it often morphs into something quite different than where it starts. But that’s part of the joy of it.