“…a new reader of yours and have been astounded by your output. I found your network page—an old quaint relic I thought—and discovered that this is a workbook of sorts, with various sources linked pertaining to some of your ongoing projects. Then I noticed the music. Do you write to music? If so, how might this help us writers that don’t seem to spew content daily at L. Ron Hubbard levels.”
-Ed
I did not know this until this year, Ed, but I write in a trance. I cannot type and only kick out 16-20 words per minute. I produce a lot by sitting in this chair a lot, never pausing to think, never rewriting anything unless an editor sends it back twice, and by using lighting and sound to adjust my mood. After everybody that called me for a few years apologized for waking my while I had been writing, I finally figured it out.
I have found that keeping a single CD in my little player and playing it over and over again helps with juggling diverse topics in the same time block. It also helps my proofing and editing and formatting of books to listen to the same thing over and over again. Right now I have Stone Temple Pilots Best Of in the CD player. It has been there for two months and I listen to it a few times a day.
I started doing this when training as a boxer in the 1970s, after hearing that Sonny Liston only listened to one song for six hours a day while he trained. I will put the link to that song below this answer.
The Celtic Music and Japanese Traditional I use when I am writing for an extended period on nonfiction pieces. I also play the Japanese music for the High Priestess when she comes by for a visit. Stevie Ray Vaughn, Santana and Eric Clapton are selections I put on that page at the request of the Slave Girl who brings me lunch on occasion.
As far as writing fiction, I stick with one album or CD the entire time. Off the top of my head I wrote the following stories and books to the accompanying music:
Soter’s Way—Audio Slave, I am The Highway
Happily Ever Under—Muddy Waters, best of
Winter—Om, Advaitic Songs
Organa—Japanese Traditional
The Consultant—Pink Floyd, The Division Bell
A Hoodrat Halloween—Tracy Chapman, Crossroads
Easy Chair—Nordic Ambient Music
Poet—John Lee Hooker, Best Of
Out of Time—Icelandic Folk Music
Also, when writing open domain book reviews. I try and play the audio book while I’m writing, if it is available.
Sonny Liston listened to this as he trained, for hours every day.
