Sometimes I have a hard time thinking of a topic for my next blog post, so I spend a lot of time googling “blogging ideas.” I was reading this list of prompts when #360 struck my fancy: “Write a list of 10 things that can be done to stave off boredom.” Now, mind you, I can’t remember the last time I was bored. You’re bored when you have nothing to engage you. I’m too busy to be bored. So I fantasized about what I would do if I had free time.*




- Read the books in your TBR pile. (If you’re not a bookaholic, you might not know that TBR means To Be Read.)
- Go somewhere fun to people-watch—a park, the mall (do people still go to malls?), a coffee shop, a bench downtown.
- Take a day trip to that nearby tourist trap you’ve never been to, or a museum, or a zoo, or a botanical garden, or a cathedral.
- Go on a hike, or on a walk around a neighborhood you’ve never been to. (Use your best judgment—in some towns, an unknown neighborhood is not a safe place to stroll.)
- See if you can find 20 things to photograph in your home, your backyard, or your apartment complex. Choose your artsiest photo, get it printed out as an 8 x 10, frame it and hang it on your wall (or give it as a gift).
- Doodle.
- If you’re a writer, daydream and/or brainstorm ideas. (If you’re a blogger, make up a list of prompts and send them to me! Help! Or post it on your blog, and give us a link in the comments.)
- If you have CDs or records, look through them for ones you haven’t heard in a long time, and listen to them.
- Dig out your old clarinet, or accordion, or whatever instrument is under your bed gathering dust, and play it.
- Remember that needlepoint kit/ model car kit/ macramé project/ fancy recipe you were going to make? Work on that.
- Write a snail mail letter to a person you know who would appreciate it. (Hint: choose an older person, someone who thinks Facebook is newfangled.)
*You can also do any of these things when you’re bored.