It’s Monkey Day.

Today is the one time of the year when humanity comes together and celebrates all things simian. Not just Old World and New World monkeys, but also apes (which many people — including me — informally refer to as monkeys).

Before you go asking me what this has to do with the price of bananas, let me say that this has got me thinking about creativity. If creativity were an animal, I think it would be a monkey. They are playful, inventive, and don’t allow themselves to be constrained by the way things “should” be done.

I think it’s time I unleashed my inner monkey.

You see, monkeys don’t care about rules. They are free-spirited and funny. They will laugh for no reason, scream to be heard, and throw feces if they feel it will help them get their point across.

The way I see it, monkeys have no internal editor.

I need that kind of inhibition in my writing. Too often in my professional career, I find myself constrained by word choice or at war with myself over proper syntax. In my day job, the difference between “can” and “may” is important.

But often it is the kind of nuance that only I (or other uptight writers) worry about. Like ending sentences in prepositions. Or not using complete sentences.

And in my creative writing, I need to stop editing my story before it is written. I need to learn to tell my editor to shut up so I can finish my novel. Something I failed to do during NaNoWriMo last month.

So, for today, in the spirit of Monkey Day, I’m going to give myself permission to be bold, be free, and be the one to make people laugh.

No inner editor for me. It’s Monkey Day.