I’m going to let you in on a little secret

I don’t think I’m very creative.

I know, I know. You’re thinking:

What are you talking about???

But, its the first thing that pops into my head

when someone asks me

to come up with an idea.

I can’t think of any.

I have lots of friends who can spit-ball ideas.

Their imaginations run wild.

One even sees them as pictures in her mind.

My brain doesn’t work that way.

My ideas need time.

They come to me when I’m weeding, or scrubbing or folding socks.

Good ideas appear when I am driving the car

or walking the dog,

Once in a while a new idea comes

when I am working on something else, entirely.

Rarely does one show up on demand.

I envy folks who can do that.

There’s a guy in Philly

who sets up a table and chair

each night

on the edge of the park

and he can write you a poem

on any topic

while you’re standing there.

He bangs away

on an old-fashioned, manual typewriter.

And a few minutes later:

Poof! He pulls out a poem.

And I have to say

they’re pretty good.

I find it fascinating.

This on-demand making of something.

It’s like a magic trick.

I can’t do that.

Even these stories I write take time.

Sometimes they start out as just one line.

A few words strung together like t-shirts on a line.

I look for the connection between them and me.

But it takes time. A little digging. A bit of considering.

And then, I think: how does this connect to what I am working on…right now.

Because it does, somehow.

So my ideas come slowly, but my work comes quickly.

Which brings me to the one question I get asked all the time:

How long does it take to make one of these?

I don’t really know how to answer that question.

Once I have the idea (which we now know takes a long time)

I am in a mad dash to make it realized before I lose the vein of the idea.

Living in fear that inspiration is fleeting.

And the idea and the excitement may disappear before I’m finished.

I can create a Fish Car in one day,

But I don’t want an audience.