Websites and how-to books abound to get your writing juices flowing when the old block gets in your way, and in fact several Hubbers have published great ideas to motivate each other through the HubChallenge, both in hubs and on the forums.

I was having a hard time getting started on my 14th of thirty hubs for the challenge when I noticed that I would be publishing Number 14 on the 14th of May, if I could just get over the hump.

The number 14 started just popping up everywhere - 14 new emails, 14 old tickets to close at work, so I decided to follow the inspiration and googled "Quote of the Day" for May 14, 2009.

Google's number one spot went to the Time Quote of Today. I found that Jarvis Cocker, British musician and Pulp front man, in a review of Lily Allen's song "Not Fair" said:

"If she keeps giving her ex-boyfriends such bad press in songs, she might find it hard to get a new one."

Next I had two choices, I could research who the heck Jarvis Cocker and Lily Allen are, or I could just focus on the words in the quote and go from there.

I decided on the latter. If you know what Jarvis is talking about, specifically, good for you! Why don't you write a hub about it? But I'm more interested in the broader meaning for all of us. Jarvis' quote reminded me of a question frequently asked by the recently separated and divorced. How do you know when you are ready to date? I explored my answer (when your failed marriage stops monopolizing your conversations!) and wrote my next hub.

The reserach for that hub suggested other topics for me to explore: where the recently separated/divorced meet people to date; "first" date ideas for the recently separated/divorced; the benefits of dating after divorce.

I know I already admitted I'd never heard of Jarvis Cocker or Lilly Allen, but I decided after getting bored with the post-dating ideas to do a quick google search and see if anything inspired me. Not much luck - I'm more of a country music fan than English pop. But hoping for more ideas, I returned to Time and snagged another quote:

"This is about being a true-blooded American guy and girl."

A.J. LOWENTHAL, deputy sheriff in California's Imperial County was commenting on the Explorers, a Boy Scouts affiliate program that teaches teenagers how to fight terrorism and illegal immigration.

I'm not sure yet what tangent this brain-storming might take. At first glance, I'm reminded of the local Boys and Girls Club. My daughter was a member for ages, and it occurs to me I could show my appreciation for that organization with some HubLove. Next, I have a bit of a frown thinking of "teenagers" learning to "fight" terrorism and illegal immigration, but I'll try to reserve judgement until I do a bit more research. And finally, "true-blooded American guy and girl" inspires nostalgic images for me. That's the kind of prompt I like to use for good old paper on pencil, and as my broken arm tires again from Hub productivity (Yay, Me!), I think I'll close the laptop and grab my journal.

If you are getting stuck in the HubChallenge, try some random internet browsing and see what ideas "pop" for you, but don't forget to give yourself a break from the computer - take a walk, do some housework, talk to a friend. And keep that notebook handy though - there's no telling what you might want to write if you give your mind time to wander.