The mind is a most wonderful thing. One could devote years and years to
its study. Indeed, many people already have, and even yet, we know very
little about it. But out of all of the maze of study and experiment, we
have discovered that the mind responds best under certain definite
circumstances.
It is particularly interesting to note the little foibles of composers
and writers. Some authors only write at night. Some only when standing
at their desks. Some do their best work when out in the open.
Haydn always wanted to have on his finger the ring which Frederick the
Great gave him, when he started out to write a composition.
Rossini liked to write in bed. So did our dearly beloved humorist, Mark
Twain. And so it goes. Funny in one way, and yet, not funny at all.
These people are merely favoring the peculiarities of their own minds.
It is hard, especially hard for some people, to take the mind off from
one subject and put it on another. Unless one is easily able to
concentrate on the task at hand, the mind is bound to wander back to the
thing we were thinking of previously.