The imagination imitates. It is the critical spirit that creates.

Imagination gets the credit for creation, but it mostly recombines what it has already seen. Judgement does the real making: choosing, cutting, deciding that this belongs and that does not, holding the result against a standard. Anyone can generate options, and generating them feels like the creative part. The work that gives something its shape is the work of saying no.

If you produce a great deal and finish little, the missing tool is probably criticism rather than inspiration. Take your last piece of work and remove a quarter of it. Notice what strengthens, and let that teach you where your standard actually lives.