The benefits of writing in the wilderness

Grab your sleeping bag and tent. Research suggests writing outdoors helps the ink flow. Plus, a journalist’s defense of Gen Y, and an author’s life gets the movie treatment.

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There are joys and advantages in getting away from the cluttered, noise-filled indoors to do your writing, disadvantages in being a Gen Y wordsmith, and questionable quality to movies whose subject works in a medium that relies entirely on text.

Articles this week looked at all three.

Writing outside: It’s common for writers to have a writing space where most of their work gets done. Usually it’s an office, a bedroom, or a kitchen. It’s almost always inside. But what if you are only reaching a portion of your abilities by surrounding yourself with a roof and electricity. Author Carol Kaufman writes in this piece for The New York Times about the wealth of research that says our minds work better when they’re surrounded by fresh air and nature; and that screens, lights and noises from gadgets can limit our creative capacity. She writes:

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