I'm not the most imaginative or creative person, but I've learned some things by trying. One is that the beginning of a great home run is the same kind of spark you've experienced many times.

For example, I was on a walk at night, just in the neighborhood, and I went by a driveway up a tiny hill through trees with two garage doors and brass lanterns on them. I can't tell you what it was about them, but I got this intense feeling. It was just... you know, this is a painting, and something's going on in it, and I've never had quite this feeling/image before. It's a unique moment with a unique emotion, unique potentials suggested, somehow. We're always feeling this when we're intrigued by something, whatever it is, however small.

That's the beginning of something. Microsoft. The Space Shuttle. Black Panther. The Star Spangled Banner. Whatever it is.

You might be waiting for a sufficiently great idea, but the thing is, that's all backwards. The little sparks are everywhere. You follow the spark. You pull on the thread. You let the flame travel down the long fuse, watch the fireworks, catch them, rebuild something with their light and heat.

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(Oh, I mentioned the driveway. I imagined a dad who lived in that house, and I started writing some dialogue. Three hours later, the impulse had become a sketched out story with two pretty well-developed characters and two peripheral ones. If I weren't so... whatever... ADHD... I'd finish that story and share it.

The point is, the quality of the story is extraneous: that initial spark is the same intrigue that creates everything. It doesn't have to be utterly extraordinary. Jesus will not tell you about being God, as it were - if you'll forgive stretching the comparison too far. It's up to you to recognize the humble shepherd's son as more. Then your imagination begins to complete the picture, which is finally slotted into place by the audience, by their own imaginations.

But the next time you or a friend says, "Wouldn't that be a great name for a band?" please realize that you could probably do that. There is nothing exceptional about inspiring moments that become something, except your willingness to listen and then make the efforts.)