Randy and I were driving down to Naples this weekend to spend the day with sister Lisa, brother Denny (from Wisconsin) and their spouses, Jim and Marlene.
As we often do, one of us said something that triggered a reminder of a bit of a song from our past. In this case, I began to sing it….Oh those lazy, crazy, hazy days of summer! Those days of soda and pretzels and beer!
Randy looked at me in surprise and commented that he didn’t realize I knew so many of the words of that song. Of course, my intensely curious self immediately pulled up the song on YouTube and played it through the magic of Bluetooth on the car radio.
We rarely listen to music in the car but after that he asked me to find an oldies station. As I scanned through the FM band, one of the songs that popped up was Cleanin’ Out My Closet by Eminem. Full disclosure, I have never listened to an Eminem song and have no idea what the song or the artist is about (though I can imagine based on the little I’ve heard about him). So when I saw this, I thought it was just a song, literally, about cleaning out a closet. I started to laugh. I could imagine a songwriter somewhere, suffering from songwriter’s block, looking around the room and thinking, “Eureka! I’ll write a radio worthy song about cleaning out my closet!” As I well know, inspiration can come from anywhere.
This week Randy and I also had a conversation about how hard it’s getting to think of topics and story ideas for our blogs. And coincidentally (???), I’m reading a novel about a writer who is fresh out of new ideas for her prolific writing career without recycling the same personalities and situations. It’s been on my mind, this problem of coming up with fascinating and relevant content. It must be a universal concern for anyone who creates things that need to be interesting and stimulating and unique every time.
I work well under deadline. It’s amusing to think back on how the seeds of some of the ideas for blog posts are planted. Sometimes all it takes is a grunt in response to hearing something that doesn’t quite fit the time or situation. It’s hard to explain, but when it happens, that seed (of an idea) just explodes in the soil of the mind. As a needy creative person, you learn to recognize it when it happens. If you’re a needy creative person of a certain age, as I am, you learn quickly to make a few written notes about the idea before you lose (forget) it.
I wonder what seeds sprouted songs like In A Gadda Da Vida, You’re the Reason Our Kids Are So Ugly, The Power of Orange Knickers, Nothing’s Gonna Change My Clothes, or The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala.
All of us sometimes, in some way or another, need to come up with fresh, new ideas. Inventors solve common, vexing problems in new ways. Businesses often must innovate or die. Teachers have to keep their students interested and excited about learning. Songwriters take the same 12 notes and rearrange them in endless ways to create an infinite array of music. Writers use the measly 26 letters of the English alphabet to communicate, condemn, or entertain. Moms have to figure out what to do for dinner every single night of their kids lives.
Sometimes it’s helpful (and fun) to pay attention to how others, especially kids, look at things. Ideas for new perspectives on common occurrences often pop up. We had a 4-year-old cousin who once took her dog sniff walking. My dad had crazy names for things. For instance, he called needle-nosed pliers snooty-nose pliers. Randy still hasn’t broken me of that habit. One time I asked Randy why they just didn’t put big parachutes on airplanes and pop them in case of emergency. Turns out someone actually did that on some smaller planes after I thought of it. I never got credit for it though.
If you regularly do something that requires a constant influx of ideas, it’s helpful to learn to cultivate an atmosphere in your life in which ideas sprout all the time. For us, that means paying attention to not only what happens, but why it happens, how it happens, where and when it happens, and see if we can shift the paradigm on regular stuff to an angle that might interest the audience.
Years ago, Randy and I started a company called Laurand Ventures because Randy came up with some great ideas. He actually marketed and made money on some of them. Laurand Venture’s motto was “Always Thinking.” That’s us. No matter what, we’ll find a way to generate new ideas when we need them. With a little luck, they’ll be good enough to keep your interest.
P.S. Thank goodness I didn’t know anything about the song, Cleanin’ Out My Closet. I watched part of it on YouTube. Ick.
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