This morning, I came across Nobel laureate Thomas Mann’s superb crystallization of the writing process. “A writer,” said Mann, “is a person for whom writing is more difficult than for other people.”

I find this definition liberating. If you, like me, have abandoned innumerable projects, left potential masterworks smoldering in the wreckage of what might have been, or regretfully assumed you’re not creative because of how insanely hard the process can be…well, perhaps now’s the time to try again, in the knowledge that your finding the experience so grindingly horrible means you might be the real deal after all.

There are, of course, "easy" days, when songs seemingly fall from the heavens or whatever bullshit guys like Scott Stapp say. But it’s infinitely more realistic, and therefore productive, appreciating that conceiving of and finishing a good song, record, novel - whatever, really - is ragingly and absurdly difficult, and you’re therefore a fucking superhuman deserving of multiple ice cream sundaes.

Today, let’s cut ourselves some slack and appreciate that, if it were easy, any ol’ douche’d be cranking out “Let It Be.” Thanks for fighting the good fight. I’m off to grab some ice cream.