Every day

Jazz musicians have a word for it, "woodsheddin'," as in going out to the woodshed and playing for a few hours. Writers just say "put your butt in the chair," sit down in front of the blank page and fill it.

If you are a creative, no matter what particular talent you possess, you have to exercise that talent every day. The artist has to draw or paint or play or write, working that creative motor in much the same way as an athlete works his or her body.

If you find that you are unable to work on an ongoing project, work on something else. Just because you're coming up dry on one of your endeavors doesn't mean that the rest are blocked. Don't mope about the short story you can't finish. Instead, punch up the biographical blurb that your agent or editor has been asking for. If you're a keyboard player and just can't seem to power up the synthesizer, take out that old six-string we all have and learn a couple of new chords. Make up and hum a tune to go with those chords.

Get out to the woodshed, and hack away for awhile. The Muse only rewards those who she hears working.