(Trick question) So, can you recall your last good idea?

“I have an idea.”

Those enticing, hopeful words get my attention every time.

I’m thinking, “Yes, yes, tell me!” Because I love ideas or great thoughts. They speak of possibilities. Inventions. A different way to do things or look at life.

Or just fun things to do this weekend. You get my drift. Right?

Now I ask, what do you do with your ideas? The kind of ideas that could change how things are done or how you think.

Do you share them or hide them? And don’t tell me you have no ideas.

Often ideas get bumped off the track you were on because they jump into your busy brain uninvited. Fleeting thoughts don’t easily fit into our daily duties.

And days are full of challenges that generate ideas. Such as how to rearrange the garage so you can get more stuff in there ... like cars.

We need such ideas to navigate basic problem-solving. But I am more fascinated by inventive ideas, deeper thoughts or those sudden realizations that surprise us – like an epiphany.

All the years I worked as a newsman my pockets were stuffed with little notes for story ideas or ways to make a newspaper better. I wrote them down so I wouldn’t forget.

I still do that with writing ideas but convert those bits of paper into memos stored on my computer.

It’s fun and maybe important to find a way to share ideas or thoughts. Writing them down is a good start. It’s even better if you find a way to give them voice.

I’m lucky. I can share thoughts and ideas through this column.

A few years ago I started a memo simply titled: “Ideas, thoughts, observations.” I note the date and write out the thought that I want to save.

Let me share one I wrote this week:

“I have a book designed to be read a bit each day. Each chapter is a date on the calendar. A business calling card was tucked inside that I use as a bookmark. The card belongs to a fellow journalist I worked with many years ago. He has passed. Each time I open this book I think of him because of that card.

“Today it struck me that I should do this with other books. I have business cards from over the years that belong to people who were important to me as friends and coworkers. The cards are portals to memories of them. Feels good for a moment. A pleasant surprise. Gentle reminders of why people are important.”

Nope, I won’t need a patent on that idea. But it adds a little something to my world that I like. Felt good to share it.

And that, my friends, is another way to give your ideas voice. Share with those who will listen. Tell me. I’d like to hear your ideas, thoughts and observations.

That’s how communication turns into connection.

And if you need a nudge, start with this ... “I have an idea.”

• Lonny Cain, retired managing editor of The Times in Ottawa, also was a reporter for The Herald-News in Joliet in the 1970s. His PaperWork email is lonnyjcain@gmail.com. Or mail The Times, 110 W. Jefferson St., Ottawa, IL 61350.