Episode 10:What do you do when your brain does not come up with any ideas? with Lisa Yee

*Please note that these episodes were all all recorded pre-pandemic!

Welcome to Episode 10! What do you do when your brain does not come up with any ideas? Please join us with author Lisa Yee.

TRANSCRIPT:

Grace Lin: Hello, I'm Grace Lin, children's book author and illustrator of many books, including the middle grade novel Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, and the picture book A Big Mooncake For Little Star. Today I am here with Lisa Yee, the author of Millicent Min, Girl Genius and Wonder Woman at Superhero High. Hi Lisa.

Lisa: Hi Grace.

Grace Lin: Okay. Are you ready for today's question?

Lisa: Okay.

Grace Lin: Today's question is from a girl named Christine. She asks.

Christine: What do you do when your brain can't come up with ideas and what do you think I should do when that happens to me?

Grace Lin: What do you do when your brain can't come up with any ideas and what do you recommend I do when that happens to me?

Lisa: Oh Christine, that is a great question. I guess the first thing I do is eat some chocolate because that always helps me. And actually, you know, it was scientifically proven that there's something in chocolate that makes you more creative. So I recommend everybody do that, or the snack of their choice. But it can get really frustrating when that happens. So when it happens to me, sometimes I'll pick up some of my favorite books and I'll read parts of them to get inspired, or I'll walk around and I'll take a little break. And I find that when I don't overthink things, that's sometimes when the best ideas come up.

Grace Lin: Yeah, I agree. I think sometimes you just need to take a break or go for a walk. And one of the things that I like to do to kind of safeguard myself from not having ideas is that I keep like a journal or a sketchbook with me all the time. And so whenever I get an idea, even if it's good or bad or whatever, wherever I am, I always write it down in this book. And so when I get to the point where I'm trying to write a story and I'm like, "I don't know what to write about", all you have to do is open up this idea book and I see all these old ideas that I have and that usually sparks something too for me.

Lisa: Grace, I do the same thing. I have these little notebooks that I carry around. I have one next to my bed, I have one in my purse. I have one in every room of the house and I write down words or ideas in them.

Grace Lin: Yeah. And it's amazing that when I just feel like I don't know what to do and I just open up one of these old notebooks and I'd be like, "Oh my gosh, that actually is a really good idea. I should do this book about a chicken." Things like that. What books have you done that have been sparked by one of these idea books?

Lisa: Well, actually my very first book, Millicent Min, Girl Genius, I had written down on a piece of paper, two words, child psychologists. And I thought wouldn't it be funny to write a book about a young girl who was a psychiatrist or psychologist and it ended up being Millicent Min, Girl Genius. Now she's not a psychologist in the book, but that was the thing that triggered the whole book.

Grace Lin: I had something like that for A Big Mooncake For Little Star. When my daughter ate up all the moon cakes and I wrote in my book, "Girl eats moon." And then I meant to say mooncake, but I had just scribbled cake so messily that when I read it, it said, "Girl eats moon", and that kind of made the whole thing blossom.

Lisa: That makes a lot of sense.

Grace Lin: All right, well thanks so much for answering the question Lisa, and I hope you liked that answer, Christine.

Lisa: Thank you. Bye bye.

Grace Lin: Bye. Perfect. Wasn't that great? If you would like to learn more about today's author, please go to our website: kidsaskauthors.com for more information. Special thanks to the High Five Books and Art Always bookstore and Ms Carlton's second grade class at Jackson Street School for their help with our kid questions and reviews. Grownups remember, if you know a kid that has a question, a book review, a short story, a poem, or even a joke they would like to share on this podcast, please submit it to kidsaskauthors.com. And if you would like to reach me, you can sign up for my authors newsletter by clicking on the little link icon at the top of the kidsaskauthors.com page, or follow me on Twitter and Instagram where I use the handle @PacyLin. Also, if you enjoy this podcast, please spread the word, tell your friends and colleagues to listen. And of course, please leave a review on iTunes. That really helps me know that you like what we're doing so we can keep doing it. And now we'll close this episode with a kid book review.

Today’s book review comes from Jakob!

The book I would like to talk about is Dogman by Dav Pilkey. This book is about a cop with a dog’s head because an accident with a bomb that a bad guy put somewhere.  The cop and the dog get a special surgery and now he’s a cop with a dog’s head and he is called Dogman and he is a hero. I liked this book because it is really, really funny.

More about Today’s Author:

Lisa Yee’s debut novel, Millicent Min, Girl Genius, won the prestigious Sid Fleischman Humor Award. Her other novels for young people, with nearly two million copies in print, include Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time, So Totally Emily Ebers, Absolutely Maybe, and two books about a fourth grader, Bobby vs. Girls (Accidentally) and Bobby the Brave (Sometimes). Lisa is also the author of American Girl’s Kanani books and Good Luck, Ivy. Her novel Warp Speed is about a Star Trek geek who gets beat up every day at school.    Lisa is a former Thurber House Children’s writer-in-residence whose books have been chosen as an NPR Best Summer Read, a Sports Illustrated Kids Hot Summer Read, and a USA Today Critics’ Top Pick.    Visit Lisa at lisayee.com.

Grace Lin, a NY Times bestselling author/ illustrator, won the Newbery Honor for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and her picture book, A Big Mooncake for Little Star, was awarded the Caldecott Honor. Grace is an occasional commentator for New England Public Radio , a video essayist for PBS NewsHour (here & here), and the speaker of the popular TEDx talk, The Windows and Mirrors of Your Child’s Bookshelf. She is the co-host of the podcast Book Friends Forever, a kidlit podcast about friendship and publishing (geared for adults). Find her facebook,  instagram , twitter ( @pacylin) or sign up for her author newsletter HERE.

Thanks to the High Five Books & Art Always Bookstore and Ms. Carleton’s 2nd grade class at Jackson Street School for their help with our kid questions and reviews.