Some writers find it stimulating to work in the hubub of a coffee shop, others find it distracting. If you’re one of the former but you need to work at home, there’s a website that can help: http://coffitivity.com/
It plays ambient coffee shop sounds and you can combine that with music if you like.
The site links to research on the effects of ambient noise on creativity. For instance, a study published in the Journal of Consumer Research reports: “Results from five experiments demonstrate that a moderate (70 dB) versus low (50 dB) level of ambient noise enhances performance on creative tasks and increases the buying likelihood of innovative products. A high level of noise (85 dB), on the other hand, hurts creativity.”
(If you want to be more creative, get a copy of my book, Creativity Now, published by Pearson and available from Amazon or your other favorite book seller.)
