Music is a wonderful thing. I thrive on it. I’ve got playlists for different moods, seasons, days of the week. I use music to help me clean, calm me down, or pump me up. Recently I’ve fallen in love with lo-fi and ambient music for reading and, of course, writing.

This, of course, is our topic for today. What do you listen to when you write?

I can’t write in silence. It’s too loud. Neither can I write with any music that has lyrics. I’ve learned I can’t even listen to instrumental versions of songs that I know normally have lyrics, because I’ll just fit them in myself and get distracted by that.

I was not born knowing this information about myself. Nobody is. This is one of many reasons it’s important to understand ourselves as creatives and as people in general.

Understanding how you react to music, or just sounds, can help you be more productive, sleep better, and overall be happier throughout your day. So it’s worth taking some time to learn this about yourself.

To do this, I suggest three exercises.

Listen to music and journal how you feel

Yes, my answer to everything is journaling. But this is a fun exercise you can do just about anywhere. I’m not suggesting a long freewriting session, though some songs might inspire that. I’m saying to jot down a few words or sentences that come to mind.

You can also do this the opposite way. Write a list of songs that make you feel excited. Or that make you feel brave, nostalgic, or safe.

Freewrite while listening to different music

This is another fun one. Listen to some music and free write while you’re doing it. Then, see what you’ve written. Does lo-fi help you write romance? Does rock music bring out battle scenes? How does the soundtrack from Wicked work for you?

Try to free-write without judgment, and see what comes. You’ll probably find that some genres work better with some writing than others.

Try listening to something brand new

This is a great exercise if you’re feeling stuck with your writing. Find a genre or music style you’ve never listened to, and try to write with it. Or some other sort of background sound. Ambient noise videos abound on YouTube. You can listen to the sounds of a coffee shop, a library, or even a train station. I love fireplace videos. Recently I’ve been listening to videos of vintage music played in another room. Here’s a link if you don’t know what I’m talking about.

So that’s it for today. I hope these exercises help you learn a little about yourself and what kind of music makes your creative brain happiest. And for those of you participating in Nanowrimo next week, I wish you the best of luck. I’ll be right there with you.

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