Sourcing blog post ideas and inspiration from those around you

At the risk of jinxing myself, I generally don't have a hard time coming up with ideas for new blog posts. This isn't to say that I haven't had times when the muse was off taking a generously long coffee break, but rather that, as a whole, post ideas tend to spring into the ol' brain with regular frequency (a subject which I also touched on in this post last March).
 
I keep a Word document on my desktop devoted specifically to the various ideas for blog posts that I come up with, which I add new entries to on very regular basis. Sometimes I'll go through and take stock of these ideas, deleting ones that, for whatever reason, I'm not actually too keen on (for example, they may overly similar to existing posts I've written). I'll also add any new thoughts I might have had to existing entries and frequently pull ideas from the list to use in upcoming blog posts (this is a key part ensuring the blogging schedule I use runs as smoothly as possible).
 
However, just because I'm often able to generate fresh ideas to write about and have a list of future topics to cover waiting in the wings doesn't mean that I'm not open to even more ideas. Goodness, no! In fact, I love and actively welcome them from just about any source you could think of.
 
I'm always on the prowl for things that might trigger my mind to whip up an idea for a blog article, and keep a running list in a notepad app on my phone (which I transfer to my the idea file on laptop when I get home) so that I can be sure to jot down any ideas - or even just the seeds of a well formed idea - once I get home.
 
Over the years, I've had post inspiration ideas come in from sources as diverse as modern magazine articles to vintage product packaging, famous quotes to the plethora of items I enjoy pinning on Pinterest (another of the main places where I house inspiration for future blog posts).
 
I love to get ideas from actual present day people, too, be they members of the vintage community or not. Recently I asked Tony if he happened to have any thoughts pertaining to subjects I might want to blog about in the future.

As one of the smartest (no, I'm not being biased, he's knock-your-socks-off intelligent), most analytical, creative, and well-read people I've ever know - not to mention much more of a left brain oriented person than I tend to be - I always welcome Tony's impute about this site and was eager to hear what he'd come up with off the top of his head.




{My husband, Tony, is a fantastic source of fresh, exciting posts ideas and I love to pick his brain every now and then for just this very reason. He's always game and has come up with several great vintage related thoughts before, some of which have - and will continue to be - converted into actual blog posts here. Image source.}


True to form, the man did not disappoint. In the span of about ninety seconds, he pulled four blog post ideas out of thin air, each of which I thoroughly liked. One I'd already essentially covered before (here), another has been discussed at length in the vintage community (which isn't to say I wouldn't write about my own thoughts on it at some point), and the other two are going to very likely going to become posts in the not-too-distant future.
 
One of his idea was a complete 180 from the way my mind tends to think, and that's precisely why I love - and cannot wait to do – put it into action. Tony doesn't wear vintage and isn't overly consumed by the study of history in the way that I am. He's a computer programmer and technical writer, but also enjoys writing poetry, fishing and watching romantic movies. We share a great deal in common (which certainly helps our marriage of nearly nine years run smoothly), but are also immensely different people in many respects, and it's fantastic to get his impute - which can be so awesomely different from my own - on topics related to blogging and even my vintage outfits from time-to-time.
 
I extend this same principle however to many people in my life and am always open to post idea from my mom, grandparents, siblings, friends, second cousins once removed, dentist, shop clerks I interact with, you name it!
 
Just about anyone can come up with one or more ideas when you give them a broad topic like vintage history and fashion, and it can be so exciting to hear about some of the ideas (and/or questions, which you may be able to answer in-depth in a future post) that those whose impute you readily welcome may come up with.
 
This doesn't mean that you have to run out, pen and notepad in hand, and badger every last neighbor, relative, and acquaintance you encounter, of course not (and few, if any of us, really would, I’m sure), but rather that it doesn't hurt to ask for ideas every now and then, as well as to draw future post ideas from the conversations you have with the people you interact with during the course of your dy.
 
Whether you're burning the midnight oil trying to come up with new topics to write about, having a bevy or ideas in the wings, or just want some fresh thoughts and perspectives relating to vintage, it never hurts to stop and ask those around you what they might like to read about on your blog.

Who knows, you might even do as I did and end up getting a blog post out of this very topic itself! :)

Reflecting on a year's worth of daily blog posts

✯ Day 364 of Vintage 365 ✯

Just as the classic verses of that beloved New Year's favourite Auld Lang Syne ponder if old acquaintances should be forgotten (generally speaking, no - friends new and old are endlessly important threads in the tapestry of our lives), so too do I feel that old blog posts deserve to be remembered from time-to-time.

And what more fitting an occasion to look back a handful of the entries that graced Chronically Vintage's pages over the course of 2011 than on the second to last day of the year.

As most readers know, this past year I embarked on a daily blogging project called Vintage 365 (which would feature a different vintage related topic and image for each day of year).

The notion to do so came to me pretty much a year ago to the day, and at first seemed both so far-fetched (knowing how tricky it can be for me to blog frequently at the best of times) and seriously awesome. I gave the idea one, maybe two days of thought, but could not shake it from my mind and fell in love with it more with each passing hour.

Thus, when January 1st rolled around, I announced and began this ambitious project, which - I'm ticked pink to say - was able to weather various storms in my life over the past year and hold on tight for a full 365 days (ok, technically tomorrow will be the 365th post, but as I've already written that entry, so I can safely say that it will go live tomorrow).

Over this past year we've delved into topics as diverse as the history of mail order catalogs, dog nail polish, popular vintage baby names, the lives of vintage items before they reach you, WW2 Canadian ration coupons, Paris in the 1920s, and a new name for our grandparents' generation – to list but a few of the many, many subjects that called the Vintage 365 series home.

It's hard to believe that in less than 48 hours this project, which had been a part of my life for an entire year solid, will start to become a memory.

Though, I won't lie to you, there were days when it was tricky (for whatever reason) to post or to rustle up the mojo to keep going, more often than not I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and often found myself faced with quite the opposite problem - more topics to post about than I had days in a given week!

{Much like the upbeat looking vintage gal pictured above, I usually sat down to write posts for this year's daily blogging project with eagerness and a smile on my face. I had a blast covering such a broad range of topics, challenging myself to keep going on those tougher days, and coming up with new, varied ideas for each day's entry. Image via allposter.co.uk.}

Many of you have been with me from the beginning of this project, others became avid readers along the road, and a for a few this post itself may be the first they've ever read Chronically Vintage. Wherever you joined up in this yearlong blogging adventure, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support, encouragement, comments, and inspiration.

It was you, my sweet readers, who fuelled me on and helped keep my spirits soaring high all through the year. It has been a joy and an honour to share in this daily vintage blogging project with you, and I truly look forward to all the wonderful new adventures 2012  holds in store for both this blog (which will be reverting to its pre-vintage 365 state of regular, but not continually daily posts) and all of our lives.