Music to Write To #BYBin30

Image by Bruno Glätsch from Pixabay

I often listen to music while I write, and I have heard from many other writers that they do too. I'm not sure what everyone else would say is the reason they listen to music while they write, but I sometimes listen to music while I write to set the mood for what I am writing, if I can find the right type of music to listen to for the mood I am trying to achieve.

Sometimes, listening to music just calms my mind and helps me to focus on my story, but with one caveat: if the music I am listening to is a song and sung in a language I understand, it doesn't help but instead hinders me in my writing. I am the type of person who, when hearing a song in my own language, I mentally start singing along (sometimes not just mentally but out loud as well). I can't shut off the story the song is telling me.

So when I listen to music, the music is either an instrumental piece with no lyrics or the lyrics are sung in a foreign language (one I, currently, have no hope of understanding). This kind of music can set the mood for me or help me focus on my story without interfering in my writing. It actually aids my writing. (The same is true for music I want to go to sleep too; it can't have lyrics that make me want to sing along or listen to the story the lyrics tell.)

I used to not listen to any music when I wrote, back when I only had a radio to listen to, because, if the music had the wrong mood to it, it would interfere with my writing in that I would start writing to fit the mood the music was creating. And there was no way to choose which songs would play from the radio station I was listening to. But now, I can select my music ahead of time and set it to play the songs I want playing while I write.

Do you listen to music while you write or do you find it more of a hindrance when you write? What kind of music are you most likely to listen to while writing, if you listen to it? Let me know in the comments!