What's your take on where creativity comes from?

I remember when I was a child and I had to write thank you letters to my relatives who gave me presents, I never knew what to say. Now, my son is supposed to keep a journal for school, and he is constantly asking us what he can write about. Now that he’s away at summer camp, he’s supposed to write at least one letter a week. It seems like he can never come up with an idea. Maybe the reason is the same for both of us: we weren’t interested in what we were doing.

Nowadays, there are all kinds of things I am curious about. I have little problem coming up with things I’d like to know. I wonder if this is because I have more context now, and can relate things to other things more easily, or if there are other reasons.

People are constantly running into problems. Some people get stumped by them, and just sit there waiting to be rescued. Other people will try one approach after another until they find something that works well enough. Where do ideas come from? Why do some people seem unable to generate ideas? Can anyone be creative, or is it a talent held by few?