Want to write an article for a local publication, an online site or a niche publication in a field of interest to you? Here are some prompts to get you going:

1. Write a tourist type tour of your town for those who live there.
2. Write an idiosyncratic tour of your town for tourists who don’t usually think to visit or for those who would like to try something different.
3. Write an article offering help on a particular subject you have experience with — staining wood, babysitting, helping the elderly, helping caregivers, parenting when your children have been insulted by others.
4. Write an article about how a piece of equipment is near and dear to your heart because you used it to solve a problem over time.
5. Write an article about a local attraction comparing how it is seen through the eyes of the locals to how it is seen by tourists.
6. Write an article about ten unusual steps one can take to solve a particular problem.
7. Write an article about something common like windows, doors, red wagons, or hoses, for instance. Tell why you have selected this item, why you are interested in it. Explain how it’s developed, howit is used, kinds of laws regarding it and anything else you think will interest the reader. 
8. Write an article on something to be avoided by specific people: golfers, runners, mothers, fathers, grandparents, teachers, gardeners, sales clerks, insurance brokers.
9. Write an article about how to do something successfully — invest, raise chickens, grow tomatoes, write a novel, keep kitty litter from smelling.
10. Write an article that shares a piece of folklore from a place you know well.
11. Write an article about people not usually associated with an activity who are doing it: senior citizens who form a traveling band of actors, teachers writing stand-up comedy and doing an assembly at school, teachers from a particular school becoming students at a vocational school to learn a trade, dog lovers opening a recreational spot for birds.
12. Write an article about cutting edge technology in a field not usually associated with technoloy — what’s new in fly fishing gear, what’s new in tennis or ski equipment, what’s new in gardening technology, what’s new in walking equipment, what’s new in equipment that can help you save your soul?
13. Write about the life cycle of an animal or insect and how humans benefit from it — make the vocabulary easy and write it for a young audience.
14. Write about the history of something you care about — a particular model car, a TV show, a political movement, a fashion concept, a custom.
15. Ask a “how” question and go about answering it: How is weather connected to health? How are slugs connected to the health of the forest? How do people who lie sleep at night? How does saying “no” help a toddler grow psychologically and emotionally?
16. Write an article about how one prepares for a certain career or avocation, what is expected, what training is required, what the ladder to success entails, how one realizes they have succeeded.
17. Write a “living with” article: living with a disease, a learning disability, a difficult partner, a troubled child, a rescued dog, for instance. Describe the situation and show ways to approach obstacles and problems. End with a scene that shows pleasure at success of some kind.
18. Write a tribute article about someone close to you or your community.
19. Write a biography of someone who matters to you and you think others would like to know more about. Tell how you came across this person and how and why he or she matters to you.
20. Write a review of a book readers of a particular magazine would find significant and helpful.