Write Every Day: Day 16

[the_siobhan]

An early post this time because I have to actually leave the house today. It's very wet and cold so I'm hoping that should reduce the number of plague carriers I have to dodge on the street. (I swear I am going to start carrying a 6-foot pike whenever I have to go anywhere.)

Today's question is about music. I often play background music when I'm working and I've found it makes for a really good mood setter when I'm writing as well. A lot of music has specific memories or feelings associated with it, and when I'm trying to evoke a mood or image in my writing I can help myself create that by using music to evoke the mood. This sometimes results in me playing the same single song over and over again while I struggle with a paragraph but one must suffer for art, right?

Do you play music while you write? Does it help or hinder?


Day 16 Tally:
china_shop, badly_knitted, luzula, sylvanwitch, sanguinity, yasaman, brainwane, firecat, nafs, cornerofmadness, lferion, sakana17, phrenk, silveradept, iberiandoctor, shadaras, ysilme, auroracloud

Day 15:
china_shop, alexseanchai, sylvanwitch, badly_knitted, trobadora, luzula, yasaman, sanguinity, shadaras, brainwane, nafs, sakana17, cornerofmadness, phrenk, lferion, silveradept, firecat iberiandoctor, ysilme, auroracloud

Day 14:
china_shop, ysilme, sylvanwitch, trobadora, badly_knitted, luzula, alexseanchai, shadaras, sanguinity, nafs, brainwane, cornerofmadness, yasaman, lferion, sakana17, phrenk, shopfront,silveradept, firecat, ysilme, auroracloud

Day 13:
china_shop, shopfront, badly_knitted, luzula, shadaras, alexseanchai, sylvanwitch, nafs, cornerofmadness, lferion, yasaman, phrenk, sakana17, silveradept, ysilme, iberiandoctor, trobadora, sanguinity, auroracloud

Day 12:
china_shop, sylvanwitch, shadaras, brainwane, silveradept, alexseanchai, thevetia, yasaman, zulu, sakana17, sanguinity, cornerofmadness, lferion, phrenk, badly_knitted, saki101, ysilme, iberiandoctor, trobadora, luzula, auroracloud

Day 11:
china_shop, firecat, badly_knitted, luzula, sylvanwitch, shadaras, thevetia, sakana17, brainwane, sanguinity, yasaman, cornerofmadness, china_shop, nafs, lferion, saki101, alexseanchai, phrenk, firecat, shopfront, silveradept, zulu, trobadora, ysilme, iberiandoctor, auroracloud

Day 10:
china_shop, badly_knitted, luzula, sylvanwitch, alexseanchai, shadaras, sanguinity, brainwane, nafs, firecat, yasaman, cornerofmadness, sakana17, saki101, lferion, phrenk, auroracloud, iberiandoctor, silveradept, thevetia, trobadora, ysilme

Day 9:
china_shop, shadaras, sylvanwitch, alexseanchai, sanguinity, saki101, nafs, yasaman, cornerofmadness, lferion, sakana17, phrenk, badly_knitted, ysilme, silveradept, solo, carenejeans, auroracloud, iberiandoctor, luzula, brainwane, trobadora

Day 8:
china_shop, sylvanwitch, badly_knitted, luzula, saki101, silveradept, sanguinity, shadaras, thevetia, brainwane, nafs, cornerofmadness, lferion, sakana17, yasaman, phrenk, alexseanchai, firecat, auroracloud, ysilme, solo, carenejeans, iberiandoctor, trobadora

Day 7:
china_shop, shopfront, falkner, badly_knitted, luzula, trobadora, sylvanwitch, shadaras, nafs, brainwane, sanguinity, lferion, yasaman, sakana17, phrenk, carenejeans, cornerofmadness, firecat, saki101, silveradept, auroracloud, ysilme, iberiandoctor

Day 6:
china_shop, ysilme, trobadora, luzula, badly_knitted, sylvanwitch, saki101, sanguinity, shadaras, brainwane, nafs, alexseanchai, cornerofmadness, yasaman, lferion, sakana17, phrenk, shopfront, silveradept, iberiandoctor, firecat, solo, carenejeans, auroracloud

Day 5:
china_shop, badly_knitted, luzula, shadaras, sylvanwitch, nafs, sakana17, sanguinity, cornerofmadness, lferion, brainwane, saki101, phrenk, firecat, ysilme, shopfront, yasaman, carenejeans, houseof9cats, thevetia, robadora, silveradept, auroracloud, trobadora

Day 4:
china_shop, shopfront, luzula, alexseanchai, shadaras, badly_knitted, sylvanwitch, ysilme, sanguinity, saki101, silveradept, nafs, yasaman, thevetia, sakana17, cornerofmadness, lferion, phrenk, solo, iberiandoctor, firecat, brainwane, carenejeans, auroracloud, trobadora

Day 3:
china_shop, alexseanchai, alexcat, sylvanwitch, sakana17, thevetia, nafs, lferion, cornerofmadness, phrenk, solo, badly_knitted, luzula, shadaras, yasaman, brainwane, trobadora, ysilme, sanguinity, silveradept, iberiandoctor, firecat, carenejeans, auroracloud

Day 2:
china_shop, shadaras, falkner, luzula, badly_knitted, alexseanchai, trobadora, saki101, sylvanwitch, brainwane, thevetia, lferion, cornerofmadness, nafs, sakana17, yasaman, solo, phrenk, auroracloud, ysilme, sanguinity, silveradept, alexcat, iberiandoctor, firecat, carenejeans

Day 1:
china_shop, sylvanwitch, luzula, badly_knitted, trobadora, falkner, alexseanchai, silveradept, shadaras, sanguinity, thevetia, nafs, cornerofmadness, lferion, sakana17, alexcat, marvelouscity, saki101, yasaman, solo, auroracloud, phrenk, shopfront, brainwane, dreamwriteremmy, ysilme, , iberiandoctor, firecat, carenejeans

Let me know if I missed your name at any point. And participation is always open, so jump in with a comment any time.

Comments

[badly_knitted]

I need quiet to write, otherwise I can't concentrate. I'm too easily distracted.

Nov 16th - 1130 words, five double drabbles and various bits of editing.

Supposed to be venturing out again tomorrow so I might not get much written. I could use a 6ft pike myself to fend off the idiots who won't keep their distance.

[china_shop]

I'm like badly_knitted. Either quiet or, in circumstances where I need to drown out distractions, instrumentals, preferably Dirty Three (kind of atonal soundscapey stuff).

17th: 132 words in the file and nearly two pages scrawled in my notebook. This story is never going to end, argh.

[luzula]

I'm another one who doesn't write with music, but I don't necessarily need quiet--before the pandemic, I often wrote on the tram.

Wordcount for 16th of November: 500
Total wordcount on poly fic: 39,000

[miss_squiddy]

I need ignorable noise. Quite often I put the TV on quietly to some boring film, or I use 'sleep music' on YouTube...

[sylvanwitch]

I do sometimes listen to music, especially to set the mood, as you say here, but I can listen only to instrumental music or music sung in languages I don't understand (which, thankfully for me in this particular case, is all of them except English ;-). Sometimes, when I'm writing a particular thing, I can listen only to a certain album, and it will get a LOT of play before I'm done. Ever after, I associate that album with a particular work, too. It's a neat association for me.

Today, I added 805 to Chapter 20, which I had thought I'd finished last night. Turns out I was incorrect. ;-)

[sanguinity]

I don't play music to write, because trying to keep the mood of the music synced to the mood of what I'm writing is one HELL of a get-nothing-done distraction. (Re playing things on endless loop: there's a hell of a lot of that in vidding, three seconds at a time. Fortunately, grrlpup is hella skilled at being able to tune it out.)


Nov 16: Made some notes about my next story.

[shadaras]

I listen to music when I write! It's usually a mix of things that I know very well or that sound like things I know very well. I like things that are like... EDM but more orchestral? if that makes sense? That's where my brain's happiest place is.

I also write while listening to letsplays of videogames I don't care about. xD; It's equally effective, and I'm pretty sure it comes from growing up with a sibling who would play videogames in the same room I wrote in.

Today I wrote a couple hundred words and an outline for my heartattack assignment.

[yasaman]

Day 16: 1,039 words on a fresh fic! Hoping to keep this one under 10k, and to wrap it up by the end of the month.

Music and checkin

[brainwane]

November 16th checkin: 508 words, yay!

I often play music while working and writing. It has to be either music with no words, music with words in a language I don't speak, or one of a very few rock albums that I can evidently work to even though they have English lyrics!

I have heard some people say that music helps them get into flow, but gets in the way once they are there. I think that, for me, music helps me get into flow, and then I don't consciously notice it for most of the time while writing or otherwise working.

[firecat]

Day 14: 1275 words
Day 15: 1725 words

Music usually distracts me when I am actually writing, but sometimes I make playlists for particular characters or relationships or moods or other aspects of my fic when I'm more in a thinking/note-taking frame.

Instrumental music helps me concentrate on word tasks other than fiction writing. Music with words doesn't work.

[nafs]

Depends on my mood. I often like some sort of background noise on, even if it's just an ASMR video on youtube playing in the background, but there's a certain group of artists I was listening to back in the day when I made my first serious stab at this thing that I sometimes put on to get me in the writing mood. (JC Chasez and an Australian band called Fruit in particular)

Day 17 16:half a page or three alibi sentences.

[cornerofmadness]

860 words today


I write with a lot of music. Symphonic is always good but I also come up with sound tracks for certain stories

[lferion]

Day 16 - 344 words, a drabble that I can use for the current fan flashworks challenge if the Balloon piece takes too long, and a post about eggnog.

[sakana17]

Day 16: 2145 words.

[satoyan]

Day 16: 4,078 nano words. A friend made 40k her goal for today, so I did too, and we both made it, yay. I didn't get to the pov switch, and might not tomorrow, either... but hopefully soon.

I find checking in here very motivational, thank you each time. <3

[elusis]

1) Carry a pool noodle. Less dangerous to you and less likely to bring charges.

2) I need music but no (recognizable) words. "Rainy-Day Jazz" on Spotify. "Lo-Fi Cafe," same. I'm really enjoying the Budos Band and their whole back catalogue. Kelly Lee Owens' new album is really good. Sometimes Cocteau Twins works.

[tcpip]

Wasn't that image used in a Marantz advertisement in the early 80s?

[greylock]

I play music, all day every day when working (which, is writing). I really can't function without it, and it has always been that way: at home or drowning out the co-workers.

So much so, after work, unless at the computer, I tend to let the ABC/BBC play in the background when doing other house-stuff.

[firecat]

Day 16: 3345 words \o/

[silveradept]

Music is absolutely a thing I use to get into writing and to stay writing. Just by choice, I tend to gravitate to instrumental works, but I can work my way through just about anything that's enjoyable music.

Day 16 saw a couple of assignments get the green status of finished draft, as one new assignment arrived and got a little bit of work done on it. I'm also thinking about what to do for my month-long writing project that happens in December, so I'm giving myself a lot to work with and think about.

[the_siobhan]

Maxell

The guy in the chair was Peter Murphy and he did a remake in the 80s.

[the_siobhan]

Well done on your words and good luck with the idiots. :-)

[the_siobhan]

Well done and good luck on finding the finish line. :-)

[the_siobhan]

Well done on your words!

[the_siobhan]

I do that for working more than for creative writing.

Are you checking in or just commenting?

[the_siobhan]

Yes! Exactly.

Well done on words!

[the_siobhan]

That's fair. I have occasionally changed what I'm working on because some music came on that put me in a mood for something other than my current scene or character. Possibly not the most efficient method.

Well done on your progress!

[the_siobhan]

The video games thing is hilarious.

Well done on your words and outline. :-)

[the_siobhan]

Well done on words!

Re: Music and checkin

[the_siobhan]

Yay! :-)

I can understand the need for no lyrics. I'm usually listening to music I know pretty well so it doesn't' have the same impact.

[the_siobhan]

Well done on all your words!

[the_siobhan]

Lol. Dates are from the Before Times.

Well done on getting those alibi sentences down. :-)

[the_siobhan]

Well done on your words!

[the_siobhan]

Well done on words!

[the_siobhan]

Well done on words!

[the_siobhan]

Nice! Its good to have a writing buddy, and well done on hitting your target.

And I'm very glad to hear this is working for you. :-)

[the_siobhan]

I'm not a big jazz fan, but I'll check out some of the others. Cocteau Twins already has some pretty strong associations for me.

Are you checking in? Writing for papers, blogs and lesson plans totally counts.

[the_siobhan]

Oh yeah, at the office I used to slap on the headphones and play punk music while I ground through the mailbox.

[the_siobhan]

Well done on all your progress!

[tcpip]

I knew I'd seen it before. Sometimes advertisers actually do create something of significance.

[miss_squiddy]

Just commenting - I didn't see the expanded post!

[badly_knitted]

Thanks. We're in lockdown so there are fewer people but just as many idiots. =/

[elusis]

I guess I could be but I'm not. It's not the right kind of accountability for me right now and TBH I'm hoping to take a break from work for a couple of days next week. :)

[the_siobhan]

All good. :-)

[ysilme]

I totally depend on music sometimes, various kinds for various reasons. Might be the need to set a mood, or get into a certain mindspace, might need help to focus or concentrate (I'm listening a lot to baroque concertos as well as Renaissce music for this purpuse, particularly consort music which works absolute wonders for my writing focus), motivate or reward myself or help me concentrate away from distracting sounds in the house. I might listen to the same track or album over and over again for this reason, too...