I do not write in silence

I've heard people bandy about the merits of whether or not they can write while listening to music. Some do, some don't. As you might be able to guess from the title of this post, I do.

I listen to music because I would be distracted without it. White noise of some sort is essential to my working process, and I'd rather be listening to music than the news or the rumble of my air conditioner. Sometimes I'll build a soundtrack for whatever project I'm working on, to help get me in the mood, but just as often I'll set my genre lists to Shuffle and let Windows Media Player play what it wills. Building a soundtrack is a lot of time, especially with the silly amount of mp3's I have, and I can get lost in the soundtrack process. So my standard lists tend to be my "go-to" lists for when I want to actually be productive.

My music tastes are ecclecitc and go in cycles. One week I'll be listening to the Alternative stuff I grew up on (mostly Grunge, Post-Grunge, Nu-Metal, and other rock), then the next I'll crank the Techno and Electronica, and then I'll put on Nine Inch Nails for two weeks straight, only to dip into the Classic Rock of Pink Floyd and Alice Cooper and Aerosmith. Or I might decide to hunt down a game soundtrack like the Silent Hill series, or listen to rock-turned-lullabye music from Rockabye Baby. It gets very eclectic sometimes, moving from Carmina Burana to Lady GaGa.

The point is, music seeps into my mind and helps me filter out other distractions that could derail me. That's why I tend to prefer instrumentals when I'm writing, and I hardly ever listen to the lyrics of songs...I'm more interested in how the lyrics sound as they complement the music itself. I'm pretty sure that this is because of my fondness for Alternative music, which is not known for song clarity. (I could tell you about the time that I embarrassed myself singing "Lola" during Karaoke, but that's another story entirely).

This is why I used song titles for the chapters of the third night (both parts). This was the soundtrack I was deliberately cultivating for Gaven's drug trip experience.

I can't think of anything else to say on this subject, so I'll just leave you with a song.