For Day #3 of NanoWriMo I bring you a lesson in creativity from “Imagine: How Creativity Works” by Jonah Lehrer. We’ve all experienced that classic writer’s block situation. That inability to come up with the next idea. Lehrer explains that a relaxed state of mind is important so that we can direct our “attention inward, toward that stream of remote associations emanating from the right hemisphere” of the brain. What’s one way to trigger that relaxed, alpha wave, state of mind? Take a hot shower (technically the book says a “warm” shower but that just doesn’t seem right to me).
I admit it, I often come up with new story or research ideas while I’m in the shower. In fact, I’ve been known to keep children’s shower crayons handy so I can jot a note down on the shower wall to remember later.
The extra hour (from Daylight Savings) and a hot shower seemed to have done the trick today. I am back on schedule and have passed 5300 words on my NanoWriMo project.