Creative Writing

Those grant proposals you've been writing while you pen your memoirs may be doing more than paying the rent. According to a new study, they're also giving your creativity a workout. "People think more creatively when they work on someone else's behalf, as opposed to for themselves," reports the Wall Street Journal. Apply those findings to writing, and ghostwriting may just be some of the most creative writing in town.

"Conventional wisdom is that the best creative work is done for an audience of one, but the authors theorized that people think in a more abstract, wide-ranging way when they work for other people—opening new creative paths," says the WSJ. "They may also be drawing inspiration from the pleasure of providing a good for someone else."

While the study is hardly surprising--anyone who's felt a creative rush from working within client-set limits can attest to the mental merits of "working on assignment"--it's validating news. What do you think? Does writing on behalf of someone else free you up to think in ways you normally wouldn't?