Finding Writing Inspiration in National Month Observances

It can often be challenging coming up with new topics for your blog or newsletter. This is one reason that creating a publishing calendar can be so useful as it enables you to plan ahead and avoid any last minute, late-night stress trying to meet a deadline.

Most bloggers will write a post and then publish it immediately. This process works, but you are likely missing out on some opportunities if this is how you run your blog.

One of these opportunities is hidden in our National Month celebrations.

U.S. law provides for the declaration of selected public observances by the President of the United States as designated by Congress or by the discretion of the President. Here’s a list of the current observances:

January	Mentoring Month Stalking Awareness Month Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month
February	American Heart Month February: Black History Month
March	American Red Cross Month Women’s History Month Irish-American Heritage Month
April	Cancer Control Month National Donate Life Month Prevent Child Abuse Month National Sexual Assault Awareness Month National Financial Literacy Month
May	Older Americans Month Jewish American Heritage Month Asian Pacific American Heritage MonthMental Health Awareness Month National Physical Fitness and Sports Month National Foster Care Month
June	Gay and Lesbian Pride Month Caribbean-American Heritage Month Great Outdoors Month National Oceans Month Black Music Month
September	National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month National Ovarian and Prostate Cancer Awareness Month National Wilderness Month National Preparedness Month National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month September 15–October 15: National Hispanic Heritage Month
October	Italian American Heritage and Culture Month National Breast Cancer Awareness Month National Domestic Violence Awareness Month National Arts & Humanities Month National Disability Employment Awareness Month National Cyber-security Awareness Month National Energy Awareness Month
November	Military Family Month National Hospice Month National Adoption Month National Family Caregivers Month National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month National Diabetes Month National American Indian Heritage Month
December	National Impaired Driving Prevention Month National Critical Infrastructure Protection Month

Some of these special observances are well-known and some are not, as a result not every American is aware of every one of these special designations. But don’t let that stop you from using them for inspiration for your writing.

How to use National Months as Inspiration:

Take a look at the list and see if any of these special observances are particularly relevant to your niche, your readership, your industry, or even just something you are personally passionate about.
Brainstorm 2-5 topics that you could write about that pertain to the National Month observance.
Put those 2-5 ideas on your publishing calendar to be published during the correct month.
Write the articles now (and schedule them for publication later) or put them on your writing schedule to be written at a later date.
Plan now how you will promote your timely blog posts. Social media is a great promotion medium for timely items.

For me, I’ll be writing a series on National Cyber-security Month for September. I can think of lots of things to write about that would tie into this subject: keeping kids safe online, protecting your website from attack, safe browsing, controlling spam, ……