Music for the Writer’s Soul

Every couple of months, one of my writer friends posts a question on Facebook: “What is your writing soundtrack? What tunes get you writing?”

The topic of music is often popular on writing boards, but it’s particular to the writer. My favorite type of music (British rock) might be the type of music that distracts someone else. Your writing soundtrack is whatever music helps you write.

I have songs that inspire writing, and songs that inspire editing. I have different music for different genres. If I’m writing epic fantasy, I want to listen to the Lord of the Rings soundtrack, but if I’m writing fantasy pirates, I listen to Pirates of the Caribbean, instead.

Today is the day, my friends. Today, I’m going completely digital. I borrowed Lemur’s CD Drive and I’m uploading all of my CDs to iTunes and Amazon Prime. I also broke down and purchased Prime’s 250,000 song import limit. (250 songs? My Queen library has over 250 songs.)

Once finished, I will have Queen’s entire collection, The Who’s and Led Zeppelin’s greatest hits, and the only Metallica album worth having. Not to mention the rest of my eclectic arsenal to keep me writing long after my muse has left the building.

Music is the voice of my writing soul. I trust the universe to send me the right song (shuffle–best invention ever) to write difficult scenes. If something’s not going well, I hit the forward button for the next song and wait to be inspired.

What is your writing soundtrack?