How I Choose What to Write Next

I write a lot. Six books, regular articles, posts across more than fifteen channels. People sometimes ask me how I choose what to write next, and I think they expect a system — a content calendar, a research process, a formula. The truth is simpler, and it took me a while to trust it: I write from the questions people actually ask me.

The students in Digi Skill Pro Academy ask real questions. Not theoretical ones — practical ones, from people starting from zero. How do I begin with no money? What skill should I learn first? How do I know if I am on the right track? Those questions are not content prompts. They are a map. When the same question arrives from ten different people, that is not a coincidence. It is a topic.

The same happens with readers of Buzz Capitol. Running an independent news and media site means I hear from people who are trying to make sense of what they read. Their questions tell me what is unclear, what people actually care about, and where a thoughtful piece of writing might help. I pay attention to that, because a question that comes from a real person is worth more than a topic I invented in a brainstorm.

There is a discipline in this that took me time to learn. Early on, I would start five ideas at once. I would open a draft, write a paragraph, get excited about a different angle, and start another. The result was a folder full of half-finished pieces and a growing feeling that I was falling behind my own ambitions. The fix was not complicated, but it was not easy either: finish one idea before starting the next. One article at a time. One book at a time. A finished piece that exists is worth more than five perfect ideas that do not.

I also learned to let the work decide the topic. When I was writing about the academy, the questions about free education kept coming, and that became a piece about how a free academy actually works. When I was deep in running Buzz Capitol, the questions about trust in news kept coming, and that became a piece about credibility. The writing follows the work. I do not sit down and ask, "What should I write about?" I ask, "What am I working on, and what are people asking me about it?" The answer to the second question is usually the answer to the first.

There is a temptation, especially for a writer with a large audience, to chase the topic that will perform best. I understand that temptation. But I have found that the pieces that last — the ones people return to, the ones students tell me helped them — are the ones that came from a real question, not a trend. A trend fades in a week. A genuine question stays relevant for as long as people are starting from zero, which is always.

I keep a list of topics. Not a complicated system — just the questions and ideas that keep showing up, written down so they are not lost. When I finish one piece, I look at the list and ask which one feels most alive right now. Usually, one of them does. If none of them does, I go back to the work and wait. Forcing a topic is how you end up with an article that reads like it was written by someone who did not care.

The other rule I follow is honesty about what I do not know. If I cannot write about a topic from my own experience — from running Buzz Capitol, teaching in the academy, building a service business, or writing the books — I do not write about it. There are many interesting topics in the world. My job is to write the ones I can stand behind, in my own words, from what I have actually done.

So how do I choose what to write next? I listen to the questions. I finish what I start. I let the work lead. And I write the piece I can sign my name to — because that is the only kind of piece worth publishing.

Sami Ullah is the founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Buzz Capitol, an independent digital news and media site, and the chairman of Digi Skill Pro Academy, which offers free online earning classes. He is the author of six books.