I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately about the transportative power of music, primarily because I spent last week participating in S.C. Green’s Experiment. The jist of it was, to deny oneself any sort of media input for a week. No reading, no watching, no listening, no surfing.

It was hard. And I cracked. Oh, when it came to Hulu and the time-wasting gossip blogs I’m trying to wean myself from, I stayed clean. But hitting the gym for some cardio, without music to teleport me into my own private fantasy world?

I did it one day, one miserable day, and it was the worst.  On day two I decided my relatively new interest in cardiovascular activity trumped staying pure to The Experiment (sorry S.C.!).

Music makes my feet move, sure, but more importantly, it provides a pathway for my mind to wander untethered. Images from my story flash into my mind as I run. Boom! I realize a scene that’s been missing. Plot points dance before my eyes, sentences spring whole and fully armed from my sweaty forehead, and suddenly it’s been 40 minutes, or 4 miles, or whatever my goal is that day, and I’m feeling awesome on every level and ready to hit the keyboard.

The takeaway for me is that music can be a powerful writing tool, and not just when I’m, yunno, writing. Some writers like to write to music. Some find it too distracting and can only create in silence. To both camps, I posit this:

Music + physical movement = story ideas.

Try it out. See what you get.