Still looking for ideas for writing?  In the last posting, I talked about using your life (and others!) as a 

Segways (from http://www.serfaus-fiss-ladis.at/en/)

source.  But if that isn’t working for you, head to your daily paper or to the magazine rack at your nearest bookstore.  They will be full of headlines, tales of woe, and interesting juxtapositions that may jumpstart your creativity.

You may be saying to yourself that while some headlines may be a bit interesting, unless you are reading the National Enquirer, can there really be anything above the usual murder, rapes, and political squabbling?  At least the Enquirer has stories about aliens possessing some famous actor’s body or ones about how a woman in Dubuque is half human, half mermaid.  Oh, dear reader, take a gander at what I found on one day, Sept. 27, 2010, in several newspapers, when I checked to see if I could find some fascinating stories to present to one of my classes:

Midnight jet skiers break down in delta
By Will Kane
OAKLEY — Spending a balmy night on the water is all fun and games until your engine stops
working, two jet skiers found out early today.

Bronx grade-school teacher admits she’s ex-hooker – and flaunts it
New York Post
A Bronx grade-school teacher isn’t shy about telling the world that she’s a former stripper
and prostitute who advertised on Craigslist.

Missing man’s kin mark year
By Chris Carroll
By now, Brian Anthony Wehrle’s Atlanta-based family would have celebrated his 40th birthday.                 Instead, relatives continue to wonder where he is and whether he’s alive. In December 2009, they             identified his car, which was abandoned after he disappeared from a relative’s house on Sept. 23,              2009, leaving behind money, his cell phone and his medication.

And my favorite – in terms of pure irony:

Segway chief dies in Segway accident
By Julia Werdigier LONDON
James W. Heselden, the owner of the company that makes the Segway, died Sunday morning when he drove one of the two-wheeled scooters off a cliff close to his home in West Yorkshire, England.

Each of these headlines can trigger a variety of possible scenarios to write about. If you are in creative low-gear, rev it up by taking a few minutes to look through some of today’s newspapers or magazines – it’s so easy to do today with the Internet.  I guarantee you won’t want for ideas.