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(No) Music to Write By When I #AmWriting; #MFRWAuthor Blog Hop

Simply Romance Posted on by

Serenading the Muse

This week’s MFRW Authors’ blog challenge them is Music to Write By.

Bestselling author Lori Wilde, who spoke at my local RWA chapter meeting last week, said she creates a musical playlist for every book she writes. Not only do the tunes inspire her writing, but she also uses the playlists to help promote her books. What a great idea!

But it doesn’t work for me. On the advice of other authors, I’ve tried movie soundtracks, country songs, classical pieces. Vivaldi was okay, for a while. Ultimately, though, my muse got annoyed.

I’m not sure why. Perhaps the rhythm of the music didn’t match the rhythm and cadence of the text I was writing. Or the mood of the music was wrong. In any case, I’ve ditched musical soundtracks and now, I listen to…

Rain

I love rain! We’ve had a glorious El Nino winter in Southern California, with lots of rain (and no flooding at my house). Most of the time, though, it’s dry as a bone where I live.

But there’s an app for that! Rainy Mood, “The Original 30-Minute Thunderstorm Loop” provides all the ambiance I need to keep my muse happy.

What about you? Does music inspire creativity or hinder it? Or is there some other noise that soothes you, like the sound of the wind, or the soft background murmur of a fifties’ era movie playing on the television in the next room?

Please share, and hop along on this blog hop to see what music juices the muses of my fellow MFRW authors.

Images: music, Ofeky via Wikimedia; rainy day scene, Wikimedia

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Comments

(No) Music to Write By When I #AmWriting; #MFRWAuthor Blog Hop — 10 Comments

  2. Thanks for sharing the Rain. I wrote it down because I miss it. Having moved from the east coast USA to Wyoming, I don’t get to hear rainy days the way I used to. I’m going to tune in to this, and who knows, it might get my fingers drumming across the keypad.

    • I didn’t realize Wyoming was dry also. There’s something cozy about being inside and cozy on a rainy day. Enjoy!

  3. There’s an app for everything! LOL Gotta love the age of technology. A few months back I came across a website that was similar, it let you pick the type of white noise you enjoyed and you could play it. From rain, to birds, even static TV there were a lot of options. For me rain makes me sleepy. I think it’s the rhythmic nature of it or something that lulls me to sleep. I get my best sleep on hard stormy nights.

  5. Music pushes my emotional buttons, which demands action (dancing, singing, moving). Writing for me seems to fall more into reflection, exploration, trying to capture the emotions. For that, the noises of live work just fine. Glad to find another writer frustrated that there are no play lists. What I have done once is develop a play list that captured or represented my characters at different parts in their arc or the plot itself. It was kind of fun to put together.

  6. Songs will often trigger story ideas, but like you, I can’t write to music. It’s silence all the way for me.

    • It’s kind of like hearing someone else’s story being read while you’re trying to write your own!

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