According to Abba in Dancing Queen, anybody could be that guy. But not any song hits the right note. You guessed it, I'm a writer that prefers music when I'm writing. Normally I have a predesignated soundtrack that I listen to the entire time I'm working on a book, but this last book was a bit different.

I had my songs prechosen to work to, but when I started writing, they just didn't work. So, I went back to my iTunes library and found some that worked for me. The next day that music would be more of a distraction so I would have to shift to a completely different mood. It was bizarre, I bounced around between stuff like Coldplay to mood CDs you would listen to during a massage or facial to Godsmack and Disturbed.

There were a few songs that stayed completely true to the story that were on that first playlist, songs that I'd planned to be sort of like Kami's theme songs. Turns out that while I had the song right, in a few cases I had the character wrong. And through it all, Abba continued to pop in with Dancing Queen. Funny thing about that song, when it doesn't match the rest of your play list and you've been sitting and writing for 2.5 hours, it's a great signal to get up and move around. Dancing around like a loon every time that song came on kept me writing until shortly after 5:00 this morning, which allowed me to finish up the story I was working on.

So, here's my playlist. Which songs do you think were for the hero and which were for the heroine?

~ Dirty Little Secret by The All-American Rejects
~ I Bruise Easily by Natasha Bedingfield
~ I'm a Believer by The Monkees
~ Somewhere I Belong by Linkin Park (not sure of his spelling)
~ Hanging By A Moment by Lifehouse
~ If I Fall by Tara MacLean

Comments (2)

On November 3, 2009 at 10:36 AM , Anonymous said...

Music is what pulls the story out of me. But the songs vary from day to day or book to book. Some days I can't listen to music - I need quiet - other days I listen to it all day. Love to know other writers who are also so into music.

 
On November 4, 2009 at 3:10 PM , Anonymous said...

ooh, I just love Dancing Queen... I remember when I turned seventeen, and I used it as that year's theme song, lol.
ha, I can just picture you dancing around in the middle of the night to that song.
Hmm, not sure which songs go to who... but I'm going to guess that I Bruise Easily and Somewhere I Belong... ooh, and If I Fall are for the heroine? Am I close?
I love listening to music when I can while I write... it can be very inspiring.