And I don’t mean making a bong out of a Barbie doll, although that would be impressive. What I’m saying is that creating can be an incredible, endorphin filled rush. Today marks the end of National Novel Writing Month, a program that encourages people to write as much as they can in a thirty day period. The sentiment is nice, but unless you are independently wealthy or retired, you probably don’t have much time to be creative. Full time jobs, house work, and social obligations all get in the way, so slow and steady is the only realistic way to create these days. If you didn’t meet the 50k word goal this month, don’t sweat it. No professional author writes an entire book in just a month. Well, a couple do, but nobody likes them. The rest of us desperately scribble down lines in those rare and increasingly less common quiet moments in life.

Or maybe you found that writing isn’t your cup of tea. That’s fine, but why not try something different next month? You could paint, sculpt, freestyle rap, get hardcore about crafts, or clumsily pluck an instrument of your choice. The philosophy behind Novel Writing Month is to try without worrying about the quality of what you are producing. I support this idea. Few of us will ever make a living being creative (myself included) so creating for the sheer joy of it should be the only goal. Others appreciating what you’ve made is just a bonus. Trust me when I say that completing something you’ve made all by your lonesome is leagues more gratifying than playing zombie in front of the television night after night. In the spirit of trying something new, the image accompanying this article is the one and only painting I’ve ever painted. It’s not very good, but it’s mine, and I had a great time sipping wine and pretending to be a snotty, world famous artist while creating it.