I recently overheard my oldest son singing the song, Pure Imagination, from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. He didn’t know much of the lyrics so we went to that glorious resource for research, YouTube, and found this clip of the original Willy Wonka, Gene Wilder, singing Pure Imagination in the movie. How great is that song?
Come with me
and you’ll see
a world of pure imagination…
One of the great things about being a writer is you can’t lose that connection with worlds of imagination, and they are usually worlds we create. But even if those worlds are largely our own creation, we draw inspiration from the world around us.
I went to the really spectacular Perot Museum this weekend with my husband and three boys as part of a really cool event my husband’s company hosted for employees. We had the whole museum to ourselves from 7pm-11pm Saturday night. No crowds, no lines, no rush. Can I just tell you what a great way to experience this very hands on museum that was? It was especially so for my little boys, who I had initially told to be polite and not touch things. Funny thing is that this museum of science has much that is very hands on, so then it became, “Okay, you can touch everything!”
I saw this great quote on one of the walls of the museum:
I loved this quote because I think it captures beautifully the way we are called to see things. Maybe what we see isn’t pretty, but harsh as the quote mentions, but still, all we need to stir us from the everyday is out there. All around, there is so much to spark our imagination and our creative selves.
If we allow ourselves to look.
To see.
To hear.
And to imagine.
What speaks to you to spark your imagination? Where do you go to let your imagination run free? Drop me a line in the comments – I’d love to hear.
DYSBWriting 