6 Ways to Capture Blog Ideas “On The Go”

Capturing blog ideas on the go, did you ever think it was possible?

Writing is a matter of inspiration, and those blog ideas often come at the most unfortunate moments, when you have no laptop handy, not notepad, where you can quickly write these blog ideas down. If you are stacked on the bus, for example, during a date, or while you have just crawled under the duvet after a tiring workday. You probably won’t get out of bed, so that you can write down your idea for the next blog post. Even in this digital age, it is not always possible or desirable to swing your laptop or tablet to write down a fresh idea, but at the same time, as a blogger, you obviously do not want to see good articles slipping through your fingers.

So, you will have to rely on other ways to record your blog ideas on the go.

Let’s discuss some of them…

It starts with a pen.

A pen is something you used to learn with at school before you switched completely to digital or non-digital keyboards. Probably there is still some pens laying around at your home, collecting the dust. If that is indeed the case, look for one, dust it off and put it in the inside pocket of your coat. If you come across more, spread it strategically over other places where you often stay. Your bedside table, backpack, desk, counter and why not one in the bathroom?

I just generalized a little bit, because pens are, of course, still used quite often. But it is true that fewer and fewer people make it a habit to have one in their pocket. You can not go along with it as a blogger, because a pen is, of course, a great tool to quickly write down what you think you have. Noting down something with a pen is never seen as rude, so this tool offers a solution in many situations. If you are in a middle of a conversation and take out your phone to write something (and people have no way of knowing, if you are writing in your digital notepad, or just texting), it’s considered rude, in today’s society. On the other hand, pulling out your notebook to make a note is a whole different story. It doesn’t look rude, and the person you are talking to won’t feel offended by your lack of attention.

A notebook

Of course, you also need something on or in which you can write with your newly re-discovered pen. A beer mat or your forearm (on your hand wears ink faster) can help you out of the fire in an emergency, but a real must is a notebook, of which the best known and probably best of the Italian brand Moleskine. I have already written an article about how to pick the best companion notebook, and I have many blog posts praising the idea of having a handy notebook with you at all time. For me, this is something extremely personal, and I can’t stress enough about the importance of having a high quality, beautiful notebook, with thick paper and high-quality design and cover. Such a journal alone is going to inspire you tremendously and will make you happy every time you pull it out.

In this very notebook, you will not only write things down more easily, but you can also keep your notes together so that you can find them again at a later time, which is handy.

Put it on your phone

Virtually every phone has a standard notepad app with which you can quickly make a note. You can use this perfectly to store an idea on the road. The big advantage is that you always have your phone with you, so you can always rely on it to write something down.
The phone is, in some cases, even your only option, for example, if you suddenly get an insane idea during the trailers in the cinema, and it is too dark to take the pen into your hand.

However, I will repeat myself, but it’s worth mentioning again, that you should be careful in situations where your phone can be seen as antisocial. For example, during a meeting at work, it is more appropriate to note sudden inspiration with a pen. People will then think that you simply write down something about the job, while at the sight of your phone they probably assume that you are whacking.

Send yourself an e-mail.

Almost everyone at least once in their lifetime had sent an email to themselves… In essence, it is an act that takes as much time as putting something in your phone, but an additional advantage is that you will get the note back faster when you check your mail. So you increase the chance that you actually do something about your idea.

An additional advantage of the ‘self-mail’ is that you can search for certain terms in your inbox, especially if you use Gmail and have plenty of never-expiring storage. This way you can easily find your notes even weeks or months later.

“Writing down ideas is fun, but if you do not have to look around, it does not make much sense. ”

Record yourself

You do not necessarily have to write down to record your ideas. What is what inspectors in crime movies can do you too! Record yourself with the recording app on your phone, or get it all professional by getting a real voice recorder at the electronics corner around the corner for two decades.
Most people talk faster than they can write, and the biggest advantage of recording yourself is that it takes less time to register the note. You will also be more inclined to deal with specific details of your idea in advance if you already have one.

A small disadvantage is that everyone who is close to your fantasies can enjoy, but on the other hand, it is quite interesting to take yourself in a busy shopping street suddenly.

Organizational tools such as Wunderlist and Evernote

There are dozens of if not hundreds of programs in circulation that can help you manage your tasks, ideas, and appointments. Wunderlist and Evernote are two such organizational tools that are also useful for quickly writing down thoughts, especially because they have both desktop and mobile applications that automatically synchronize with each other. An idea that you enter into your phone, you can view on your laptop at a later time without having to repeat anything.

The useful thing about such organization tools is that you can also do something with your notes, like a deadline or a reminder of linking. This way you can be sure that the idea does not fall into oblivion.

Do not let your inspiration be lost.

And that is the most important thing to watch out for. Writing down ideas is fun, but if you do not have to look around, it does not make much sense. Do not let your inspiration get lost, and regularly read or listen back to what you have gathered from ideas.

You’ll see that you’ll have less trouble finding blogging topics when you’re capturing blog ideas using these methods.

Obviously, many other roads are heading to Rome in the field of quick annotation. If you know good methods, we would like to see them in the comment section under this article!