Saturday, February 04, 2006

Writers and Music

Writers love to talk about the music they listen to while they write.

But when I write, whether I like it or not, there are only two kinds of music: Music that is annoyingly distracting (anything with lyrics or anything with a fast tempo) and music to which I am oblivious.

When I am writing, the music-listening part of my brain completely switches off. I don't hear a note of it. I only become aware of it when it ends (the playlist runs out, for example) and the silence hits. So I'm just as happy writing in silence as with any kind of music, and much happier without any particularly distracting music.

This does not seem to be the case with most folks, however. I am curious about this. Thoughts? Personal feelings about it? Is my brain simply broken? :-)

(The only thing I've listened to, the last few months, when I've written, has been either "Master & Commander" soundtrack or the LOTR soundtracks... and I feel guilty when I start them, because I know I won't be hearing them at all...)

2 comments:

BobbyNash said...

I either have the radio on or a Cd playing, but I do sort oftune it out. It's mainly there as background noise once I get into writing.

Bobby

Van Allen Plexico said...

We had an interesting conversation about just this topic at Windy City. I was the only one, I think, who said I preferred no music or sound whatsoever. Most seem to like some kind of music, mostly instrumentals... But, yeah, I tune it out, too, if it's on. It takes all of my brain to write!