Want a snack or light meal that won't take long to make? Mini english muffin pizzas are fun to make, and you can be creative by adding to the recipe whatever you want. The mini pizzas I made today (shown left) are made with vegan ingredients (marinara sauce, soy cheese, prepackaged vegan chicken, red and green bell peppers, and onions). However, you can garnish your pizzas whichever way you would like. Just preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and bake the pizzas for 10 minutes. I sauteed some veggies with paprika seasoning so my pizzas took a little longer to prepare, but this quick and easy meal can be made to suit any taste.
Any leftover veggies or meat used to prepare the pizzas can be saved and reused with flour tortillas, rice, salsa, and guacamole to make fast fajitas.

One of the ways that students are able to both enhance and showcase their creative writing skills is by taking creative writing classes at Lebanon Valley College. In fact, Creative Writing has been added as a major and minor concentration within the English department. On campus, a creative writing club called The Draft regularly holds meetings to discuss ways to improve submitted student fiction and poetry in a workshop setting.  Junior Mike Cripps serves as the President of the club and is a Creative Writing major.

Cripps has a special interest in poetry, and he submits some of the poems he writes to online literary journals for publication. As common to all writers, Cripps receives some rejection letters. However, after recently submitting a poem titled “Song to Walt Whitman,” Cripps received word of acceptance. 

“When I found out that I was getting published, I was ecstatic,” Cripps said. “It’s been an amazing experience, and I couldn’t be happier.”

The poem’s first draft was formed during a creative writing class last spring at Lebanon Valley College, and has endured many changes and multiple drafts since. 

“It’s a poem about writing a poem,” Cripps explains. “It’s about comparisons between Annville and my hometown, and between my family and my inspirations for writing.” 

Note: If interested in submitting any creative writing to an online journal, I recommend exploring the website called Poets & Writers. In addition to a plethora of literary magazines and journals to browse, there are also writing contests and helpful tools for creative writers. 

Whether writing creative fiction or a professional research paper, we all stumble across writer's block. Whenever this occurs, it is always good to know that you will not suffer from writer's block forever. In fact, there are some ways that we may overcome this trouble, and some tips may work better than others. 

Some methods that I have to gain back inspiration:
1. Listen to certain songs that may motivate or inspire in some way. Many people like listening to music as they write, and I think that angry songs, sad songs, love songs, or upbeat songs affect our minds in different ways. Try it to see if it can affect the mood of your writing. 

2. Don't get discouraged. If having a moment where you feel as if you cannot write, instead think of all the things that you can do really well. If writing fiction, incorporate some of the things that interest you most in your narrative and see if it will spark creativity and lend you will have more motivation to write. 

3. Make sure that you are well-rested and well-fed before taking up a writing assignment. Thinking too much about sleep or food, or even all of the other assignments that you should be completing that day, makes writer's block even worse. Also, you can always take a break from the computer to eat or hang out with friends and see if your mind is refreshed by the time you sit down at the computer once again. 

4. If writing fiction, find inspiration from your favorite fiction! The more you read, the better you write. Well-written fiction can boost your creativity and enthusiasm for writing, which in turn can stomp out writer's block.

Recently I attended a "mock interview," where I was asked a set of questions preparing me for a real interview I have scheduled on Thursday. One of the questions that was asked of me was, "What do you do when you get bored?" I sat there for a few seconds dumbfounded, and I can honestly say that do not ever "feel bored." What does it mean to be bored anyway? Is it watching an entire season of a television show in one day because you have nothing else to do? 

Granted, I watched almost the entire first season of American Horror Story in one day, but it captured my interest so much that I could not continue on with the day until I knew what happened to Character X. And then began the thoughts, "I'll just watch one more episode," "maybe one more," "maybe I'll just watch this episode while I eat my sandwich for lunch," and so it goes. However, I must say that this day that I am describing happened during finals week. I was not simply watching a television show because I was bored. Rather, it was one of the busiest weeks of my life! Yet I unfortunately found an addiction to a show at the same time. The stress of fitting everything into 24 hour days actually kept me focused and kept in mind what I needed to accomplish. Back to my main point, don't we all have things that we need to accomplish at all times of day? No matter as mundane as throwing laundry in the dryer or cleaning dishes, we all have tasks that stray us from boredom.

I guess it comes down to our work ethic. If our work ethic is strong, we can accomplish much, and not feel the weight of boredom dragging us to the couch. However, as we procrastinate, we might wander into boredom's territory, only to feel our pending tasks surging us with stress. Yes, we all come to points where we simply just do not feel like doing anything. But with that being said, we control our own routines, and we should not let boredom be the captain of our ship. Taking initiative to setting goals of what we want to accomplish each day is a great start. Even if these things do not get accomplished, we know what we are working towards. And of course, if coursework or domestic work is done for the day, a way that any of us can avoid boredom is by staying creative. 

Start thinking of creative ways to be creative! Keep a writing journal or a notebook for drawings. Start a personal blog. Take up sewing or DIY fashion. Practice singing or practice an instrument. Get together with a friend for arts and crafts. Although this particular idea seems a little archaic in today's technological age, it can be a lot of fun. Boredom can be depressing, so avoid it! Practice your craft and learn new crafts.