Skip to main content

NaNoWriMo & Music

I can not listen to music with words while writing. I love music and can't help but sing along. I sing along even though I can not sing. I seriously can not sing. I had a dog once that also let me know I couldn't sing. When my oldest was a newborn I would sing to my daughter and my dog would howl.  Yes, howl.  I would like to think she was singing along too but I am pretty sure she didn't like me singing.

Music is a good way for me to block out the world and focus on writing but it takes a special mix for me. Pandora is my go too music radio. My writing station was found by recommendation, Classical for Studying radio. I gave it a try and fell in love. It isn't all classical Mozart, Bach, or Beethoven. It has a modern twist. My favorite is the Dallas String Quartet. They play top 20 music but all strings no words. This is tricky when I know the words to the song though.

I have learned a lot about my classical music likes. I love cello solos, string quartets and piano solos. Canon in D is playing as I type, it is just a magical song.  True magic, not the fantasy magic in books.

Listening to music is also a kind of a totem for writing. It is a sign to my family that if my earphones are on and I am at my computer interruption is only welcome if necessary. I try hard to not write when the family is around.  I try to do midmorning during the week or late night after everyone is in bed. When word counts are low and a day missed writing has happened, earplugs and classical wordless music help drown out that movie playing on the TV.

Find you writing music before November.  Try and write while listening to music.  I find my normal go to station is to fun for me to focus on the 50,000 word goal.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

"Normal"

Psalms 62:8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge . This past year has been something else to say the least. From October to October, okay not quite a year but WOWSER! Didn't see that freight train coming. I have to reflect. I have been reading my blog entries going back to October of last year. Part of me can believe it has been a year since all this started and part of me feel like it was forever ago. Daily I have to turn my cares over to the Lord, carry my cross and trust with a faith that can move mountains. Recap~ October 2008 ~ The company Mark is contracting for is a pool company and is really feeling the effects of the economy and crisis and has to cut back. Mark was not the first to go but his time is up the first week of October. November 2008 ~ hint of a job in Raleigh NC. The person hiring has to wait until January to see if they get a contract or not. Very surprised at the lack of jobs in the Tampa area...

2 AM Musings

I have been wide awake since before 2 AM. Wide eyed and well, not so bushy tailed. This is the second day in a row. Why?  No really, why? This is the second day in a row my brain refuses to turn off for longer than a few hours. It's like half my brain wants to party and the logical side knows this is not a good thing.    As a mom of three on the first day of a new school year I am sitting in the family room in the dark thinking of all the things I can't do right now. I am also lamenting summer. Today summer break officially ends. At least I am up in time to get the kids to school.   I am not excited for today. It has a few milestones that we can not put off. I will not drive to the elementary school for the first time in eight years. I will be dropping my youngest off at middle school and my oldest at the high school. Also the middle child decided to go back to school so I will not be homeschooling this year.   In a few hours my kids will wake up and ...

NaNoWriMo & Peeps

peeps pēps/ noun  informal people (often used to refer to a person's friends or associates). "thanks for the feedback, peeps!" If you choose to do NaNoWriMo you have got to explain to the ones you love and cherish what you are doing in November. The more warnings the better. I told my husband a year before I started NaNoWriMo that I wanted to   do a month writing challange and explained the details. I didn’t talk about it all year but once October came around I started to talk more about NaNoWriMo. I talked about it so much my second year that my kids wanted to do NaNoWriMo too.   It was fun to do some writing prep with my kids.   My oldest has already set a goal for this year.  If you have kids you should check out the  Young Writers Program .  They can set word goals. I like encouraging my kids to write with me. It might even help me justify writing on Saturday and Sunday when I have a kid or two a...