Newsgroups - There are over 70,000 newsgroups. Most of these are worthless, but several thousand of them contain useful information and varied conversations. Lurk in any active newsgroup for a while and you should find something worthwhile to write about.

Yahoo and DMOZ - Visit any big directory site and you will find thousands of subjects to explore.

Egroups and Topica - There are thousands of email discussion lists available at these two sites. Sign up for a few and get articles ideas from them.

There are many other places to look for article ideas all over internet. I tend to avoid looking at things like ezines, ebooks and web sites for article ideas. Why? Because when I look for article ideas I am not looking for answers.

What I tend to look for is questions. What kind of questions are people asking? Is there a question which begs some further analysis and a little more explanation than a simple sentence? It does not matter if someone else has already answered, as my primary purpose is not to provide raw information.

My primary purpose is to help people understand. You can find out raw information from any number of books or encyclopedias, but finding out how to clean up clutter in your bedroom, well, that takes something different. That requires experience and knowledge passed from someone who has had to go through experience of cleaning many times, so many times that it has become easy.

Interestingly, I've found that television is not as worthwhile as one would expect for article ideas. Excluding a few reviews, I've found television to be a vast wasteland, void of anything but most trivial or violent concepts in our society. The exceptions are, of course, channels such as Nova, History channel and Discovery.

So next time you are trying to figure out something to write about for your own ezine, web site or ebook, just check out a newsgroup, elist or directory on a subject which you find interesting. Sooner or later, you will get an idea and you can start writing.

INSPIRATIONALS! Articles that inspire, motivate and/or move people to tears or laughter fall under this category. Religious or secular articles are also forms of inspirational articles. If you're new to writing, submitting inspirational pieces for church or religious magazines is a good way to break into writing and publishing field.

JAUNTS! Travel articles appeal to practically everyone, even to those who have never traveled. Have you been someplace where you found sights, customs, food, habits, or culture different and interesting? If you travel frequently, start taking down notes of where best places to stay are, where interesting sights can be found, where to stay, and how to get to those places. Keep a travel notebook and log your travels. Write your impressions of places, people and cultures.

SPECIAL INTERESTS! Some special interest subjects are parenting, child nutrition, home and garden, and health. There are certainly thousands of publications that cater to special interest subjects. If you have been gardening for years, you can write articles for gardening enthusiasts. Specialize on your area of interest and over time, you will establish yourself as an expert in that area.