There are so many ways for young writers to come up with ideas to write about it’s hard to choose a favorite. One of my favorites is the “Neighborhood Map”.  In this kind of prewriting activity the writer imagines himself above a place he once lived or a place that is important to him. Not only is the view sketched but annotations are added. It is important for the writers to be placed in small groups at some point to give them time to talk to each other about their drawings. This will give rise to many more ideas that they had not originally sketched on their paper. It is good for them to take notes of these ideas as they talk and add them to a master list of ideas in their writer’s notebook. So, on those days when topics are hard to find they can go back to their list and be reminded of possible topics. Here is an example: