GENERATING IDEAS by Jane Kelley

I created the character of Clint McCool over 10 years ago. Jessika von Inneregner's illustration from my book The Escapades of Clint McCool shows him pushing one of the buttons on his famous cap. Zing, zang, zoom! He'll think of something that will get him into trouble. Then he'll think of something else that will save the day. 

The buttons on my character's cap were pretend. Little did I know that today we'd all have easy access to an actual idea generator button. 

I know many creative people. I'm especially in awe of kids' imaginations. Whenever I do a school visit, I meet many who are eager to share the story that they are writing. Or to give me some ideas for what I should write next. 

But I worry that we're losing our ability to create. Now that we have access to those amazing devices that instantly produce polished work, will we want to make things that don't seem perfect? Will we dig around in a weed patch of mistakes until we finally come up with something worth nurturing? 

Our preoccupation with productivity comes at a cost. Kids need time to play. Adults need time to play. We all need to the space to do that. Maybe we do need to push an imaginary Idea Generator button to give us permission to have our own ideas. 

Sure many of those ideas will seem silly or simplistic or derivative––or whatever your favorite word is for belittling your efforts. That's why one of my writing tricks is to write down 10 solutions to whatever problem is bedeviling me. Ten. No matter how much I like the first one. Or hate it. I give myself space to come up with something. I always do. Mainly because I use my imagination to believe that I will.

Like most living things, imagination can be encouraged to grow. 

With food. Absorb books, music, art, ideas, nature.

With water. To move those ideas to where they're needed.

With space. Embrace silence. 

With purpose. Reach toward the sun.

I promise you something will grow. It really is okay if it looks like a weed. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, a weed is a plant whose uses haven't been discovered––YET.

JANE KELLEY is the author of the series, The Escapades of Clint McCool, illustrated by Jessika von Inneregner.