Or when you’re bored with what you have to do. Or if you ever get some free time.

1. Read the books in your TBR pile. (If you’re not a bookaholic, you might not know that TBR means To Be Read.)
2. Go somewhere fun to people-watch—a park, the mall (do people still go to malls?), a coffee shop, a bench downtown.
3. Take a day trip to that nearby tourist trap you’ve never been to, or a museum, or a zoo, or a botanical garden, or a cathedral.
4. Go on a hike, or on a walk around a neighborhood you’ve never been to. (Use your best judgment—in some towns, an unknown neighborhood is not a safe place to stroll.)
5. See if you can find 20 things to photograph in your home, your backyard, or your apartment complex. Choose your artsiest photo, get it printed out as an 8 x 10, frame it and hang it on your wall (or give it as a gift).
6. Doodle.
7. If you’re a writer, daydream and/or brainstorm ideas. (If you’re a blogger, make up a list of prompts and send them to me! Or post it on your blog, and give us a link in the comments.)
8. If you have CDs or records, look through them for ones you haven’t heard in a long time, and listen to them.
9. Dig out your old clarinet, or accordion, or whatever instrument is under your bed gathering dust, and play it.
10. Remember that needlepoint kit/ model car kit/ macramé project/ fancy recipe you were going to make? Work on that.
11. Write a snail mail letter to a person you know who would appreciate it. (Hint: choose an older person, someone who thinks Facebook is newfangled.)