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Valentine's Day, Presidents Day Can Give You Ideas for Blogs


When you are looking for ideas for stories, blogs, poems or press releases, you should consider holidays, such as Valentine's Day or Presidents Day. You can find ways to use them in your writing or business marketing. 

You might be surprised to know that I write romance novels but hate Valentine's Day. This might seem odd. I write about love, but I don't like the day dedicated to love. The reason I don't like Valentine's Day stems from being alone in high school and college. In high school, one of the fundraisers was to sell heart-shaped lollipops with messages on them. It was hard to watch many of my friends get messages and I didn't. In college, everyone on my floor was given something for Valentine's Day except me. 

To me, Valentine's Day is set aside to make those without a significant other feel bad about himself or herself. Even after I met my future husband, I asked him not to give me anything on Valentine's Day. To this day, he will give me a card that we get free in the mail. I am fine with that. He shows he loves me on other days of the year as it should be.

Here are some tips to include Valentine's Day or Presidents Day in your writing, regardless of the type of author you are.


  1. Have Something Happen – In The 1776 Musket, a bombing takes place on Valentine's Day. Although it seems like I did it because I don't like the day, that wasn't my motivation. I needed a date that involved a lot of people who go out on dates. My novel was set in winter, so Valentine's Day made sense. Now, I see that my unconscious mind might have been an influential piece in this case. For you, if you are a science-fiction author or a fantasy author, you could have a spaceship land on Earth on Valentine's Day or a wizard needs the day of love for an experiment or spell. You could have the goddess of love interfere with couples on Valentine's Day. If you write romance, a special date might happen on Valentine's Day. If you write mystery, a murder could take place.

  2. Tell a Story – If you write nonfiction, you might have a special story that involved Presidents Day that would make your point. Use the holiday to tell that story to your readers and fan base. Even if the event happened before or after Presidents Day, you still might be able to use the holiday to drive your point home. The reader doesn't know the exact date of your story. Make it believable and drive your point home.

  3. Compare – Use behaviors to compare to events in your blogs or nonfiction books. You also might be able to use holidays to compare to other things in fiction. It would depend on the plot and how you are using the holidays to compare. For example, I have read best-selling authors who have compared their fictional couples' holidays from previous love interests to their current one. If you are writing a book for inspiration, you could compare holidays to other special days of the year to give the right point that would inspire others.

  4. Use It Differently – Everyone thinks of hearts, candy, flowers and cards as symbols of Valentine's Day, but how much more of an impact would you create if you used a different symbol in your writing? For example, I wrote on Christian Marketing Experts blog that Jesus is the true symbol of love on Valentine's Day. If you write blogs for home improvement, you could discuss how changing paint color to one you love would be a good Valentine's Day gift for your spouse. If you write about dentistry, you could discuss how candy from Valentine's Day would harm your teeth. If you write about health and nutrition, you could talk about Valentine's Day and staying true to your diet.


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