One of the more frequent questions I get asked, after having written 40 books and hundreds of other forms of written communication, is— How do you do it? They ask me about schedules, how much I sleep, how many research assistants I have (n.b. I have never had any really), and so on. My answer is severalfold, but here I want to concentrate on two things that at least in my case help. Since I have previously spoken to the issue of developing a good writing style, by stressing the necessity of reading good English literature, I will not retred that territory here (see my Is There a Doctor in the House?).
No two writers are alike, but in my case you are dealing with a left-handed largely right-brained person who has done music all his life. Music, as the musicologists will tell you, reaches parts of the self, particularly the affective side of the self, that mere words do not reach. And in terms of stimulus, music stimulates parts of the brain which are closely related to the regions which control imagination and writing, especially creative writing, but in fact all sorts of writing. Therefore, in my case, having on familiar music (not new music which can distract your concentration) at a low level, especially soothing familiar music (whatever that looks like for you) is a good stimulus to creative reading and writing.