Music to Write By

Like most writers, I listen to music when I write. But not just any music. I find that I’m the most productive when I listen to the tunes on my MP3 players. I’ve had my SanDisk for over 5 years and while my children had outgrown theirs and went for bigger and better players, I’ve kept shuffling music in and out of my 1 GB player.

I kept it up until this past Christmas when I asked my husband for a newer model. 8 GB on my new SanDisk Clip. Yipee. Some songs were easy to move over as I’d just downloaded a bunch of Christmas songs like Boney M’s Mary’s Boy Child, Dean Martin’s and Martin McBride’s Baby It’s Cold outside, Vince Vance and the Valiant’s All I want for Christmas and the every quirky I wanna Hippopotamus for Christmas. There are lots more including the classics by Elvis and Johnny Mathis. And while I do listen to Christmas music from May to January, I did download others–like Adam Lambert, Miranda Lambert, Rascall Flatts, Lady Gaga, Daughtry, and Glee’s version of Forget You. Each song appealed to me not just because of the beat but because of the lyrics.

I love song lyrics. They’re say so much with so little it sparks something in my brain and unleashes the flow of words and makes writing easier.

Choosing the newer songs was easy–going through my collection of old CD’s to pick the songs that appeal to me was hard.

Until I realized I had 8 GBs.

So I spent my vacation ripping CDs to my computer than syncing them to my MP3 player. Old gems I’ve rediscovered to go with my current Urban Fantasy story are:

Desperate but not Serious by Adam Ant

Teach Your Children Well by Crosby, Stills and Nash

Love of the Common People by Paul Young

Selling the Drama by Live

Have you Ever Seen the Rain by Credence Clearwater Revival

Objection (Tango) by Shakira

Found out about you by the Gin Blossoms

Silent Running by Mike and the Mechanics

and

Full of Grace by Sarah MacLaughlin