Recently a fellow writer asked for me to share my writing playlist, which for those “in the know” is the music soundtrack or score that we writers listen to while writing. It’s the music that sets the tone, or evokes a mood, that we can use to help write a scene. Not to be confused with a playlist we might assign to a novel or story once it’s complete. Or a playlist we might assign to a particular character to showcase that character’s tastes.

I’m pretty particular about the music I listen to while I’m actually putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, mostly because I get distracted by heavy beats and lyrics. I need music that can run in the background of my subconscious, otherwise I’ll spend too much time listening to the music, and not writing.

So with that in mind, my writing playlist includes but is not limited to:

George Winston, Enya, Sade, Yoko Kanno, Loreena McKennit, Secret Garden, Aaberg-Friesen-Silverman, John Barry’s Out of Africa soundtrack, Elisa, R. Carlos Nakai, Ludovico Elnaudi, and Brian Crain.

This is a completely different set of artists than who I listen to while I’m grading; a post left for another day.

Happy writing.

Photograph © Alptraum