Following up on a suggestion (I wish I could remember who passed along this hint!), I was scoping out historically significant anniversaries occurring in 2014 as potential topics for my writing.
St. Louis, Missouri – 250 years and counting!
In theory, choosing a topic that’s–well, topical–can be a marketing advantage. Unfortunately, none of the anniversaries I’ve found has inspired me so far, but I thought they would be worth sharing because maybe one of them will inspire you.
10 historically significant anniversaries coming up in 2014:
- The 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I
- The 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth, which will be commemorated in 2014 by the first annual Shakespeare Week in the UK.
- 250th anniversary of St. Louis, MO
- 150th anniversary of the American Civil War
- Speaking of the Civil War, The H. L. Hunley sank the Union warship USS Housatonic in Charleston harbor 150 years ago.
- 50 years since President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Wilderness Act, which established the National Wilderness Preservation System for the use and benefit of the American people.
- 100 years since James Joyce’s first novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, began to be published as a serial
- The 150th anniversary of the birth of Richard Strauss
- 60 years since the first color TVs went on sale in the U.S.
- 10 years since Facebook was launched.
Rebecca Klempner 
Just a thought: it’s as much of a prompt to make a personal list of anniversaries. “5 years of being a dog owner”; “15 years since I moved to/from…” Not to mention–why is it important to celebrate “milestone” anniversaries (5, 10, etc.)? It’s 3.85 years since I quit smoking!
That said: FB is 10 years old?! Wow.
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Isn’t crazy how FB has changed friendships, marketing, and communication is such a short period of time?
I’m sure there’s a story there, I’m just not the person to write it.
I think there also may be a 30th anniversary for the Apple MacIntosh next year. Better check that.
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And it’s taken me 10 years to hop on the Facebook bandwagon. 🙂
Here’s one that’s pretty neat: 100 years ago (as of 13 Feb 1914) The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) was founded in New York City.
I also found a longer list on the Ideas4Writers.co.uk website: http://www.ideas4writers.co.uk/date-a-base.htm
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I saw that Ideas4Writers site, too! You can even buy a book with more anniversaries, I think…at $14.95, it might be worth it. You’d make up the price with just one successful story sale.
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