Start the New Year by "Finding Your 2014 New Year Levee in Toronto or in the GTA".

My DeHaan Services article explains what a "Levée" is, and lists a number of venues in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) as well as in the City of Toronto, Ontario, where we can hobnob with dignitaries on either New Year's Day 2014 or on Sunday Jan. 5th.

Certainly the annual tradition of holding a "Levée" lends itself to writing an annual article.

So if your blog deals, at least in part, with annual or recurring events, by all means write about them.

This may be my most common writing tip for inventing topics. If your topic comes up on some regular basis, you can plan ahead to research and write about it.

You probably don't want to put yourself on a treadmill; but most of us cannot invent completely new topics for each deadline.

While DeHaan Services specifically covers frugal annual events (among other topics!), you can find seasonal or recurring themes in many other niche markets:

• Gardening;
• Home Maintenance;
• School versus Summer vacations Sports;
• Travel Destinations.

So spend some time thinking about your seasonal topics. Or go back over your blog, and see what recurring themes you've covered.

And thanks for reading about the 2014 New Year's Day Levées in Toronto.

The old adage says that when life hands you lemons, make lemonade.

This past week has been a "lemon" of a week for me. Although several aspects are still not within my control, one thing is.

"My Worst Week of 5K Training for the Resolution Run" explains the problems, and how I'm dealing with a setback in my running program. It's a suitable topic for my DeHaan Fitness blog.

Since that article promised a follow-up story, I added "My End of 2013 Resolution Run after a Bad Training Week". Did I rejoice or weep after the run?

My "5K to Couch in One Bad Training Week" article in DeHaan Services explains and links to the Resolution Run.

It also explains the "5K to Couch" reference!

Today's writing tip is simple, but it's new on this site.

If you encounter an obstacle, and especially if you discover a way to overcome that problem, write about it.

Many readers may face the same difficulty, so you have a ready audience. Some will be inspired by, or learn from, your example. So share your knowledge.

In my case, I know how to handle a glitch in my 5K training program. That's the inspiration for my article.

Don't just make lemonade from life's lemons; open a lemonade stand too!

Regular readers realize that posts named "Preview of..." know that the first purpose is the copyright notice. I hand-crafted the above image, and want to publish it here online before it is shown elsewhere.

Now that "Risks of a School Shooting versus an Airplane Crash" has been published in Decoded Science, this promotional post is complete.

A reader had asked about the risk of being involved in a school shooting as different from an airplane crash. Do the statistics surprise you?

You probably will never need an airplane crash attorney; but what about suing for trauma after a school shooting incident?

Also read "Statistical Risk of Airplane Crash versus School Shooting" in DeHaan Services for a few Canadian examples of school shootings and airline incidents. Do my anecdotal recollections support or contradict the main article's conclusion?

Regular readers also expect a writing tip based on "how I came to write the primary article".

Today I'm sitting comfortably in my church, using their internet connection and electricity. Most of Toronto is recovering from a power outage caused by an ice storm. While my neighbourhood's electricity was restored within a day, my home's wires were severed from the grid by a tree limb.

However, we're fortunate that there was only minimal damage; and blessed because neighbours are helping us cope. If our church were not available, I'm sure that we could have bunked with the folks next door, or across the street.

I'm also hearing about others in similar circumstances, either giving aid or being helped. Meanwhile, the professionals are quietly repairing power lines, while experienced volunteers staff "warming centres" for the coldest or frailest.

So my article is perhaps the smallest Christmas miracle of 2013, and the least significant achievement compared to staying alive, warm and fed.

One little irony in a writer's career comes when a reader asks about a topic currently under investigation. My recent "Preview" article here shows that I had been thinking about vectors and matrices already.

Then a Decoded Science reader asked about practical applications for matrix math. I quickly responded with "Practical Uses of Matrix Mathematics".

As a writer, I'm a bit disappointed, since I'm still working on building a series of online articles to include this narrow topic.

On the other hand, it's gratifying that someone, somewhere, was willing to ask that question.

If you want a pointer on where to start learning more about matrix math, that's covered in my online article in DeHaan Services, "Practical Matrix Mathematics in Canada". The same principles work in other countries, but I like to keep a Canadian perspective for my home blog.

One joy of writing for Decoded Science is the clever "Ask an Expert" section, which invites readers' questions even if the topic had not yet been covered.

Let me encourage you to consider the same approach in your own web sites.

This writing tip actually comes with a warning or disclaimer: if you don't respond quickly with something useful, you may lose readers.

Decoded Science enjoys the advantages of having a strong managing editor and a variety of experts willing to take on challenges. In fact, that's part of the process: the editor will flag a topic for the appropriate writer, who usually jumps at the chance.

You don't need to solicit readers' questions to apply a similar discipline. In fact, you should practice by simply:

1. Read news items or new background material in your field of expertise.
2. Challenge yourself to research and write about the topic, with a specific question and a tight deadline.
3. Review for quality: is it accurate? Is it well written? Did you make your deadline?

Whether or not you ever respond to requests from your readers, this approach should help in your own writing.

Thanks for reading about my quick response to a matrix math question.

This article is still a work in progress... but here's the explanation.

While working on a series of articles about matrix mathematics for Decoded Science, I've been crafting images as illustrations.

Regular readers know that I like to establish copyright for such images by publishing them first, in one of my own blogs.

Unfortunately this Blog of Writing article suffers since it really amounts to a list of images without much text. Do you care that this image of the point (4, 0) is a scalar rather than a vector?

Here we see a vector from (0, 0) to (4, 0).

The only writing tip for this article repeats what I've said before about online copyright of images.

Your best case for online copyright of a picture is that you published that image in a web site that you control. Add a copyright notice in the footer of that site. Or include (c) in the image credit or caption.

Another option is to publish in a site such as Flickr, where you can specify the license rights that suit your needs.

Thanks for reading this preview of my images for a Decoded Science series on matrix mathematics. Again, I apologize that it is incomplete.

I found a handful of venues for singing Christmas carols outdoors in Toronto for Dec. 2013, and shared these secrets in "2013 Outdoor Christmas Caroling in Toronto and Mississauga".

DeHaan Services often publicizes frugal but fun events in Toronto and in neighbouring cities. This article differs from most on the site, however. That leads to today's writing tip.

Usually I illustrate each article in DeHaan Services (or in this blog) with a single image. The 2013 outdoor caroling article has three pictures: the family shown above, and two maps that I crafted.

Possibly I would have thought of making those maps to save on writing directions. (That's what I had done for a similar article last year).

Certainly I've added more images to articles in Decoded Science or for other online magazine sites.

But I recently saw an online magazine that deliberately put one image in every section...that is, after each sub-heading. That site's medium-length articles had quite a few headings, so the images really helped make the article attractive.

The writing tip is to experiment with the number of images you include in your article. Change your pattern, no matter what your pattern had been.

If you had been frugal with your photographs, then try being lavish. If you normally place an image with every paragraph, try leaving most out.

If you need to illustrate every step in a project, then do take pictures and do include them. If you just want one image to catch the reader's eye, but the rest of the article does not need illustrations, then leave them out.

You may need to change your writing style to do this experiment well. Then ask for feedback, and make changes as indicated by your readers.

Thanks for reading about outdoor Christmas caroling in Toronto for 2013.

Both Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and DeHaan Fitness take a new approach to the mayor's goal of losing weight...and how I cover his new attempt in "Toronto Mayor Rob Ford Avoids SMART Goal for Fitness".

I'd covered his 2012 "Cut the Waist" contest against his brother, Councillor Doug Ford, in "Weight Loss Risks for Toronto Mayor Rob Ford" and "Toronto Mayor Rob Ford Ends One Cut the Waist Challenge".

Things are different in Nov. 2013 than they were in January of 2012. So my new online article takes a new approach as well.

I've also publicized this article in "One SMART Goal for Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is Fitness"

People sometimes quote Albert Einstein as saying that "Insanity is trying the same things and expecting a different result".

Just as Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is taking a new approach to his quest to improve his health and fitness by losing weight and exercising, so too did I analyze his attempt in a different way.

This writing tip presents a few practical ways to approach your "same old" topic in new ways, by comparing and contrasting two or more examples.

This was Mayor Ford's second weight loss attempt in public:

• How did his approach differ?
  What is he doing the same as before?
  Are more people involved?
  Did it start the same way? 
  Are there more or fewer props?
  Are there new reasons or motives?
  Are the stakes higher?

Your new article might have different things to compare; explore them.

Just remember that your readers need to invest their emotional energy in these contrasts. Keep them guessing; take a poll; or simply present the differences as options that they can second-guess.

Perhaps the absolute favourite annual event in Toronto is the Santa Claus Parade. Naturally I've highlighted this free family event again, in my "Toronto Santa Claus Parade 2013 and Holly Jolly Fun Run".

But let's not leave the cities of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) out of the festivities. One day later, I wrote "Five 2013 Santa Claus Parades in the GTA" to satisfy those readers.

Soon I also realized that the Holly Jolly Run was only one of a handful of winter running races in Toronto. Some of those are uniquely local; others are franchise events held throughout Canada.

So I wrote "Run Races to Keep Motivated for Winter Running" in my DeHaan Fitness... blog. Hopefully people will find it helpful, even if they don't live within Toronto or the GTA.

You may recall a previous writing tip that advised publicizing two closely-related articles at once, as a time-saving measure.

In this case, I knew from the start that "Santa Claus Parade" needed two articles: one for Toronto and one for the GTA.

You could argue that each city deserves its own article. Yes, true, especially if there are enough potential readers searching for their own "long-tail keywords".

One example of a long-tail keyword is "Santa Claus Parade in Mississauga". The long tail starts with the word "in". The more your article sticks to one topic, the better for its rank for search engines.

On the other hand, there just aren't that many people in each GTA city who need to search online for their local events. In particular, the biggest events will advertise themselves; or people will remember from year to year. So it's not efficient for me to research enough for that many complete articles.

Back to the writing tip. Once you recognize a topic that can span multiple articles, decide on how you will split that material. In this case, "city by city" is obvious. The other day, I discussed a different split for another publication: group some items by popular category; and the rest by date.

The rest of the writing tip is to do the planning and research in one stage. Outline all your drafts before writing one article in full. Then review your plans: do they cover everything once, but nothing twice?

That's one approach for efficient writing while covering a topic thoroughly. Hopefully my 2013 Santa Claus Parade articles were thorough enough for my readers!

The annual autumn Remembrance Day ceremonies will take place in mid-November. I've written two this year for DeHaan Services, as I did twelve months ago.

"Where to Attend a 2013 Remembrance Day Ceremony in Toronto" puts the focus on Toronto, Ontario.

"Commemorate Remembrance Day 2013 in the GTA" publicizes some options in the Greater Toronto Area.

Consider how long a time your article will remain important and attractive to readers.

When I began writing articles for online magazines, they advised that we write about "evergreen" topics. These subjects either have lasting value, such as "Three Reasons to Avoid Vitamin D Deficiency", or else should offer seasonal interest.

Clearly these Remembrance Day articles have seasonal interest. However, those online magazines preferred something along the lines of "The Origins of Remembrance Day". Such information would not change year over year; but it would attract some new readers annually.

In my case, I chose a niche in DeHaan Services that offers "upcoming events" rather than "annual evergreen" articles. So I must write new articles each year, ensuring that the events truly take place.

Today's writing tip is that you must understand the longevity of each article you choose to write. Here are three typical timelines:

1. News articles limit themselves to the present moment. Comparatively few readers will ever go back to research historic events through online publications. You commit yourself to writing constantly...or at least as often as something newsworthy occurs in your chosen field. "Theatre of the Beat to Commemorate War of 1812 in Stouffville" is an example. It was the first time this play would be performed, in response to the first time this GTA city had been noted, by rather slanted history, as having supported that war with strength of arms.
   
2. Annual events must be re-researched and re-written as novel essays. My Remembrance Day articles fall in this category.
   
3. Evergreen articles can last a long time. "How to" topics often possess this type of staying power.

So this writing tip encourages you to understand your goals and strengths. If you hope to write once and earn forever, go "evergreen". If your blog covers sports, be prepared to write after every game.

Or, in my case, I have to mark a calendar with annual Toronto events so as to inform my

The great 20th century mathematician Kurt Gödel also wrote a trifling little proof that God exists.

My recent Decoded Science article, "How Modal Logic Proved Godel was Right, and God Exists", introduces the logic Gödel used and how computers verified the validity of his proof.

I've also publicized this article in my DeHaan Services blog's "From Kurt Godel to God via Modal Logic". It  puts a Canadian spin on the topic. It also recommends a couple of books: one about Gödel's life and work; the other that explains his famous Incompleteness Theorem in a whimsical manner.

My Decoded Science article began as a challenge from my editor: could I write it overnight? The news media had learned about the proof of Gödel's God theorem, and my editor wanted us in the mix.

My first estimate was that it would take all night for me to touch on all the elements of Gödel's proof:

• What did Gödel write?
• How was his proof verified?
• What computer programs were used? What were their niche functions?
  
• What is this "modal logic" that was so important to both his writing and for the verification?

I quickly realized I couldn't cover everything. However, the niche I could fulfill was explaining "modal logic" (once I'd briefly covered Gödel's God theorem).

That only took half a night; much better than estimated, and much more likely that someone would read.

So today's writing tip is to select a niche within one article, when the overall topic is far too large. You're better off covering one thing well, than spreading yourself too thin.

My bonus writing tip is that you will do better writing a series of articles about that topic, with each article filling a specific niche. With regard to Gödel's God theorem, I could still research and write about the computer programs. In fact, each program (such as "Sledgehammer") could be the foundation for a few articles that explain how and why its approach is important and unique for computer-generated theorem verification.

Thanks for reading about Gödel's new niche, the God theorem.