You might even have your own way that works better for you.

Do not be afraid to give your articles a little personality and/or humor. Subscribe to some ezines and read articles to get an idea of what people are writing. But do not try to copy somebody else's style. You want YOUR knowledge and personality to come through in your articles.

After you have finished your article, you should read it from start to finish. Sometimes just reading through your article will give you more ideas on what to write.

Once you finish your article and make any necessary changes, you will need to submit your article to as many sites and ezines as you can. Here is a list of sites to get you started.

http://www.allforwomen.com/network/articles.shtml http://www.appp.isthebe.st/ http://www.certificate.net/wwio/ideas.shtml http://www.connectionteam.com/art.html http://www.dime-co.com/articlesub.htm http://www.ezinearticles.com/ http://www.freezineweb.com/ http://www.HerAssistant.com http://www.ideamarketing.com http://www.mailbiz.com/mailbiz/magcat/ http://www.makingprofit.com/ http://www.marketing-seek.com/articles/submit.shtml http://www.netterweb.com/articles/ http://www.pagecrafters.net/newsletter.html http://www.powerhomebiz.com/archives/articles2.htm http://www.smarteremarketing.com http://www.the-best-list-site-in-the-world.com/lotsart.html http://www.websitings.com/classads/submit_article.cfm

I wrote three articles before I came up with one I liked and since then I have written four more with no problems. Once you get past doubt, you will do just fine.

I like to visit with a pad of paper and just wander up and down corridors, just looking at things. Ideas pop into my head and I write them down. Quite a few of these become articles (and a few stories). Magazines - I skim over a dozen magazines every single day, looking for anything interesting. Sometimes I'll stop and read and article, but mostly I am looking for ideas for articles of my own.

I must stop here for a moment and discuss copyrights for a moment. The concept I present in these articles is how to find ideas for articles, not to copy or paraphrase other people's works. Anyone can do that, and by way, it is illegal to "borrow" another person's work.

It is perfectly fine, however, to read an article and get an idea or two for your own. What I like to do is read an article or book and jot down a few ideas. I then let it lie for a few days, come back to it and write my own, completely original article.

For example, I read an article about raising children, and for some reason thought about how to protect plants from small kids. What a great idea for a story. So I wrote it down, and one day I'll write an article about it. So that's secret. Just wander around looking at things. It doesn't matter where and it doesn't matter what you look at. Your mind will start working, and before long an idea will percolate to surface. This may be followed by another and another.

A short disclaimer. If you are not used to this kind of creative process, please understand that it can be pretty frightening. Especially to some of students produced by our modern education system, who have been conditioned to not have original thoughts anymore. Don't worry, that strange feeling you get when you visit a museum or a library is just your brain cells waking up from long hibernation that began when you entered Kindergarten. It's not dangerous and once you get used to feelings they can be quite intoxicating. Just sit back and enjoy ride.