The other
day I mentioned that in a survey of how to break creative writing blocks,
listening to music came up high on the list. In Psychology Today, Amy Fries
wrote about the power of music to feed and steer your imagination. She writes,
“I know a
number of writers who listen to music while they write, but they're very
particular about what they select. For example, one friend prefers classical;
another, the familiar echoes of classic rock, the kind of music that's so
ingrained in your psyche you just slip right into it. In both cases, the music
helps them enter their creative
worlds. Once they're completely in the flow of writing, the music is relegated
to the background and they don't even notice it anymore. In that way, music
functions as a gentle ramp that helps glide them into their zone.”
Fries is the author of a book called “Daydreams at Work: Wake Up Your Creative Power.” She says, “[in the book] I talk about the case of a pro football player who listened to hard-driving rock before a game not just for the typical energy jolt it produced but because the music prompted him to fantasize about being a bad-ass rock star and that gave him the confidence, courage, and crazy arrogance required to stomp the opposition. Likewise, Lance Armstrong frequently tweets about the music he's listening to pre-race to help him get psyched up and after the race to help him calm down.”
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