Blog Theme Planning

#205

PMI (plus, minus, interesting) is a brainstorming, decision-making and critical thinking tool developed by Dr. Edward de Bono. I used this mechanism to evaluate what I should write about in my blog:

Theme	Description	Plus (P)	Minus (M)	Interesting (I)
Sequential	Take up notes from Evernote one by one and write about whatever topic is mentioned in it	- No need to think of a new topic each time - No need for research if I have captured enough info	- Additional research and review required in case of partially captured items - May lead to forced writing of an uninteresting topic	- Good test to see if I can enable myself to write about anything at any time and do a decent job at it
Happy topics	Write about pleasant ideas, kind thoughts	- Improved mood/feeling after writing positive posts	- May lead to forced writing at times - Posts may end up being too cheesy, mushy	- How many diary entries and morning pages can be digitised in this manner? - Can I ensure better consistency by keeping length of such posts short as they’re easy to write about and may not have a logical conclusion?
30-day challenges	Fixed number of either random or alphabetical posts based on a topic/theme	- Good opportunity to harness power of constraints - Will be able to achieve higher number of posts in shorter duration to keep up with the goal	- May be tough to keep up, especially if A-Z - Forced writing/force fit at times - Lots of thinking and planning, even more for A-Z	- How can I make this fun for me and my readers?
Book reviews	Short posts on reviews of books I’ve read	- Can start by justifying Goodreads rating of already-read books, thus building one more social media apps connection	- Time consuming to carefully draft a positively worded review for each book	- Can I turn this into an opportunity to start sharing blog screenshots as quotes on Insta and Twitter, thus reviving both?

Verdict:

After doing this, I finally went ahead with an option I didn’t even include in this list!

I went ahead with a mood-based option, wherein I open my laptop and go: “What do I feel like writing about today?” By implementing the Hemingway bridge method, I make it easier on myself to do this exercise after publishing that day’s post itself so I can immediately start writing the next day instead of spending time thinking, planning, and drafting an outline.

Have you tried PMI? If so, where has it helped you?