Music to Listen to While Writing

Writer’s Block

            Sometimes it can be so hard to just sit down and start writing. Suddenly all the ideas you have fly out the window and all the motivation you had evaporates away. Your chair is uncomfortable. The dishes suddenly need washing and every youtube video becomes worth your time. Even if you love writing and it makes your soul feel fulfilled, like me, it can be difficult to remind your mind of that when it comes time to actually sit down and write.

A Musical Solution

However, one thing that has helped me find motivation and focus on actually writing is finding the right music to write to. Growing up, I was always told that listening to music distracted me from whatever I was doing, even if I didn’t think it distracted me, and in fact helped me stay focused and drown out the background noise. Often I would try to sneak listening to music while doing math homework or writing really boring book reports. However, my mom would catch me and tell me to stop listening to music. I tried explaining that it helped me focus, that it blocked out distractions, and actually motivated me to continue working.  But for the longest time, she wouldn’t listen to that. Eventually after repeated clashes, I managed to get my mom agree that I could listen to music, but there were some conditions. I could finally listen to music, but it had to be instrumental music while writing, though lyric music was allowed while doing math. What it took to convince my mom that I could listen to lyric music while doing math, I needed to think about numbers while doing math instead of words and therefore the lyrics didn’t conflict with the subject matter.

Parental Obstacles

All of these clashes with my mom, gave me the impression that I was the only weird human in the world who wanted to listen to music while writing.  I first realized I wasn’t alone in writing to music, when reading fan fiction. At the beginning or end of some fan fics, the authors would list what songs they were listening to while writing the chapter, or what songs they though evoked the emotions the characters were feeling or what a certain character’s theme song would be. I was ecstatic! I wasn’t the only one who imagined different songs fit different movie, tv show, or my own characters. That still didn’t convince my mom that I could listen to lyric music while writing though.

College

When I went off to college, I could write how I wanted. Often if I was having a particularly difficult time writing a paper, I would turn on music and blast it really loud in my headphones. Eventually I found out that I could write while listening to lyric music, as long as it was the same song, eternally on repeat. Over time, I’ve gained the ability to tune out the words in the music I’m listening to, but for the most part I listen to instrumental music while writing.

My Taste

What do I listen to while writing? Well my mom’s influence still lives on for the most part. So generally I listen to lyricless music. From dubstep like, the Glitch Mob, and techno, like Crunkalicious by Pantyraid*, to classical music, like Handel, and modern classical music, like Two Steps From Hell, I listen to it all. However, like I mentioned earlier, I can listen to songs with lyrics while writing as long as it is the same song on repeat. My favorite to do this with is Hero by the Pegboard Nerds. I don’t care what you have to write. I don’t care if you would rather jump off of a helicopter without a parachute than write a single word, if you are listening to Hero by the Pegboard Nerds, then you will be motivated to write thousands upon thousands of words.

New Developments

Yesterday I tried for the third time to get into kpop, because my thought process is that if it is in a language I don’t know, then I can write while listening to it and it won’t confuse me. Maybe I’ll update you after a couple of weeks about how that is going.

What About You?

What do you listen to while writing? Can you listen to lyric music while writing? What were your teachers’ and parents’/ guardians’ opinions of listening to music while completing homework or writing?

Notes:

*Dang I hate everything about that song title and the artist's name, but the song is amazing.

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Image Credit: Me J