Day 5: Color My World in the Process

Color soothes, energizes and sabotages our writing process when we are unaware of the effects it has on our ability to concentrate and create.

For me, words speak in colors, rhythms and actions. So the science behind how colors affect our moods, creativity and confidence is relevant to the writing process.

For example, a 2009 study describing the emotional pull of red and blue (at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090205142143.htm) found that:

"Red boosted performance on detail-oriented tasks such as memory retrieval and proofreading by as much as 31 percent compared to blue. Conversely, for creative tasks such as brainstorming, blue environmental cues prompted participants to produce twice as many creative outputs as when under the red color condition."

Personally, I surround myself with reds and greens when I write. Pink, purple and yellow don't inspire me in surroundings. (They may remind me too much of the early classrooms.)