Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to
share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of
appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer
assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG
is the brainchild of our ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh.
Thank you to this month’s co-hosts, Melissa Maygrove, Cathrina Constantine, Kate Larkinsdale, and Rebecca Douglass. For links to all
contributors, click here.
Optional April question: If you have a playlist (or could
put one together) that either gets you in the groove to write or fits with one
of your books, what is it? What type of music or what songs?
I’m not in the habit of playing music when writing, but once, ages ago, when my subject matter had Irish connections, I turned to a Celtic playlist while drafting. Inspired by the result. I wrote a Middle Passages post about that magical experience here. Other than adding a few commas, I’m not sure I could write it better today.
That said (or read), after that expressive time, I went back
to writing in silence. For me, concentration requires quiet, but as I
discovered recently, apparently silence during cooking isn’t as important. I
had some interior house painting done a few months back. At the end of the day,
one of the painters mentioned my voice.
Huh?
It turns out the painters, father and son, perform in a band
and had been listening to me singing away in the kitchen while they worked in the
living room. I wasn’t aware I’d opened my mouth. I guess that goes to show that
while I prefer to write in quiet, music is a part of me.
Anyway, back to today’s topic. Intrigued by that post I wrote so many years ago, and in the spirit of IWSG participation, I turned on some tunes while drafting what you’re reading right now. You never know. Maybe I’d grasp a shadow of that long ago Celtic muse. Instead, the first song blasted me back to a party in a linoleum-floored college dorm room where a group of us belted out the chorus. Back to the present. This time I was aware and it was probably good there was no one in my house, because I employed my high school chorus instructor’s lessons to sing from my diaphragm. That is to say, loudly.
So much for writing.
Next thing I knew, I’d spent long minutes replaying the
details of that particular college evening [insert youthful drama here], thinking
how back then, every joy lit our insides like skyrockets, every hurt plunged us into arctic oceans. We had yet to experience the depth of the ways in which
life would have its way with us. I wanted to reach back to that naïve girl singing
her heart out, and say, “You think today is a big deal? Brace yourself, honey. You
ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”
Let’s just say the music-generated nostalgia didn’t help me
get this blog post written.
Or did it?
What kind of music do you listen to when you write? What songs catapult
you back to the past?
18 comments:
I'm like you in liking to write in silence. Funny story about singing while cooking when the painters were there. I like to sing to songs when I'm alone too.
Music can really bring back so many memories. I think you might have a story there with that one from college. Great story about the painters too!
Music can definitely bring back memories. I write in silence or to brown noise, but I walk (briskly outside) and clean house to upbeat 70s billboard hits. LOL Gets me moving!
Most people it hinders. It helps me though.
I totally think the music-generated nostalgia helped you write this post. :)
Music is one of the things that jogs memories for me too. That and specific scents.
Hi Liza! Wow...this is timely. I just finished a playlist for my new novel, Black River. The publisher encouraged it but i was hesitant. Turns out it was fun! I love music and finding the right tunes to fit the mood of the story was easy. I would do it again. I think it's easier to convey a story's vibe that way than through a synopsis or a two sentence summary. BTW, I gotta tell you, I just came across an old interview Ethan Vaughan did on his blog, Searching For the Story. Do you remember that? You had commented on the post. this was in 2012, we'd probably just met. And the novel was only in rough draft form. I had to share this with you. Hope I didn't take up too much space.
Funny how music can send us down nostalgic rabbit holes. And I like the post that came out of it. Funny story about the painters - sounds like you could have a side gig as a singer in a band!
I like to write in silence.
Indeed, how true what you write about my younger years, how difficult some things seemed to me too!!
It's a mixture for me and depends on my concentration needs, if I play music. It doesn't take a backseat. I'm always conscious of what is playing, the lyrics, etc. I absolutely do not like a television or other noise. Music is the choice and I'm very classic rock or pop oriented. Your post is fun and that's cool that you can sing on key. The worker bees would have left screaming if I tried to sing.
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