It’s no secret to my husband that I cannot sit down and seriously write if there are absolutely any distractions present, be they the TV practically on mute in the next room, the dogs quietly bathing themselves under my desk, feeling the ever slightest urge to urinate, a north to northwest breeze blowing in through the windows, etc etc.
So you might be able to guess that I belong to the No Music During Writing camp. Don’t get me wrong—music definitely inspires me (there’s nothing like blaring a great song in the car to bring back fond teenage memories—Last Friday Night by Katy Perry and Tonight Tonight by Hot Chelle Rae inspired some of the party scenes in The Witch Hunter’s Bible) but when I actually sit down to write, I require near utter silence. And I have to say, I’m a lucky girl to have such a supportive husband (and such a solid-sleeping kid!), because utter silence is totally not a reasonable request!
So how about you? Do you listen to music when you write, or are you a Noise Nazi like me?
When writing at home, I do listen to music sometimes to block out the "noise". At the library (my favorite place to write) silence is golden :)
ReplyDeleteThe library seems like it would be a great place to write!
ReplyDeleteSometimes I do. But it has to be instrumental soundtrack stuff. Anything with lyrics distracts me. But it's probably not as bad of a distraction as Twitter is, though. ;-)
ReplyDeleteDon't get me started on twitter, Steph! (or facebook, or the bookends llc blog, or miss snark's blog, or my blog, or thesuperficial.com or perezhilton....)
ReplyDeleteI also need to write in complete silence. I'm very easily distracted. Maybe that's genetic? Lol.
ReplyDeleteThe worst is when I feel a north to northwest breeze while I'm on twitter. I just know I'm not going to be able to work properly then.
ReplyDeleteOmg, lol Brandy, too funny!
ReplyDeleteLOL, it's not so much the music that distracts me while I write, it's my singing along and bouncing up and down in my chair to the beat...
ReplyDeleteI do paint that way, though.
I can't deal with anything with lyrcis. I prefer absolute quiet, but I'm quite adept at screening noise out - out of necessity! Not sure Mr S thinks this is a good thing though since I'm quite capable of screening him out for hours at a time and not hearing a word he's said : D
ReplyDeleteI did actually yell for quiet in my living room last night because I was trying to write a query and though I can do novels with noise, queries must have quiet : D
Haha, too funny Cyndi!
ReplyDeleteRuth--can't wait to read your query today! Just need to wait for a small chunk of free time to materialize :D
I'm like you, Michelle. Silence is paramount. I can only write when everyone is out of the house. I save critiquing and beta reading for the noisy times. I do love to listen to music at work, though. I turn on my ipod and crank up the volume. I get all my best ideas during these moments.
ReplyDeleteI do the same thing, Amaleen! ( re: critiquing and beta reading)
ReplyDelete