I like to listen to music when I write. And unlike some writers who theme their music to the mood of their scene or book, I have no problem listening to wildly inappropriate songs. Even when writing the naughty scenes.
One of my critique partners puts her CD player on random and says it's a little awkward when "The Bear Necessities" from Jungle Book starts blaring while she's writing sex. My response: um, why?
For me it's all about background noise. I can happily listen to the same song or CD over and over (and over and over) again. In fact, I find it better when I am on repeat for the background sound. That way nothing is pulling me out of the zone. And, yes, even if that means I'm listening to bears and apes singing about Man Cubs. The bad part about it is, I end up memorizing songs that I had no intention of ever getting that friendly with. When I start humming and singing random bits of lyrics in the grocery store lines, you have to understand it can get a little awkward. Especially when it's Nine Inch Nails "Closer" and the only part I remember is "You let me violate you, you let me desecrate you, I want to f*ck you like an animal, I want to feel you from the inside, my whole existence is flawed, you get me closer to God."
Um, yeah. Awk-ward.
I usually stumble across new songs while randomly clicking links on YouTube. This is either a way to find good music I've never heard before...or a recipe in disaster. It's a toss up and has gone both ways for me. (I won't talk about the time I stumbled across Japanese lesbian cartoons...and they say romance novels have unrealistic body expectations. Riiiight.)
One of my jaunts around YouTube helped me fall in love with the music of Missy Higgins, an Australia singer. I decided to include her video in my post today.
