The other day, my mother asked me how exactly I come up with ideas for all these pieces I write, both here every day and elsewhere. It’s a lot. And it’s quite a mix of ideas, even though there are a few common topics and themes.

It’s not the first someone’s asked me this. I don’t have a great elevator-pitch answer, and in fact I sometimes kind of ask it myself.

A key to doing the kind of writing I do is getting out. Rarely do I sit down and think, “Okay, I need an idea for an article.” Often, my ideas come to me while I’m not working, per se, except in the sense that as a writer, I’m always working. In a sense.

Back when I had a magazine job, I remember thinking about how many hours I wasted sitting at a desk, doing work that wasn’t tied collaboratively to most other people there, not able to get out and untether myself from the grind and access my creativity. That’s what’s so great about being self-employed as a writer. I write the stuff now that I dreamed of writing while being chained to a desk and a computer...