Soundtrack Of Our Lives

I have to have music on when I'm writing. But what does the music you listen to say about what you're writing? And how does it influence your writing? I don't know, but I sure do like to ponder.

Galley Cat created writers' playlists on spotify. And Stephanie Meyer's playlists are famous. Since I'm about to start reading the Magician King, here's a link to Lev Grossman's playlist for the book.

So, what are you listening to while writing today? And why?

I'm an almost ridiculously optimistic person (on the inside - outside is 100% snark), but I find myself listening to David Sylvian's Secrets of the Beehive and Joy Division radio on Pandora. It absolutely does not influence my writing, at least that I can see. But it does serve as an 'engine' that propels my writing.

Over at Waibel's World there was an interesting post about writing and music. Instead of the Ouija board, we use shuffle to determine your musical proclivities. Here's what you do:

Put your itunes (or other digital music listening device) on shuffle and honestly write down the songs that pop up in order. Then match them to the descriptives below.
It's sort of like one of those foldy-things you'd get in elementary school (cootie catcher). And it's never right. But I'm liking this playlist a lot. Might keep it.

Opening Credits:  Sovay - Andrew Bird

Waking Up: Struck by the Sadness of Love - dimbodius

First Day of School: Oh Yeah - Ash

Falling in Love: I Gave You All - Mumford & Sons

Fight Song: Steady As She Goes - The Raconteurs

Prom: Tourniquet - Drugstore

Life: Like Eating Glass - Bloc Party

Mental Breakdown: I Wonder Who We Are - The Clientele

Driving: Oxford Comma - Vampire Weekend

Flashback: Stop! I've Had Enough - Levy

Getting Back Together: Say Something New - The Concretes

Wedding: See You In The Next One - The Verve

Birth of Child: The Only Living Boy in New York - Simon & Garfunkel

Final Battle: Push - The Cure

Death Scene:  Sarah - Bat For Lashes

End Credits:  Believe- Trans Siberian Orchestra

J is for Joke

And for Joy Division

For a long time I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. This is a common refrain, I know. But as I've mentioned before, I'm fair to decent at a few different things, so I've tried being an artist, tried being a filmmaker, tried being a corporate goddess, all with varying, but decent success. So when I was an artist making an installation piece that revolved around the written word and when I was concentrating on writing copy for Victoria Secret and awards shows, I was always trying to get back to writing.

Today, I've been thinking of a film script I wrote in early 2000. I'd just come back from living in the UK and was looking for my creative 'place'. I took a class at the New School on film. I've actually made short films and videos in art school, but I wanted to concentrate on what (I thought at the time) I wanted to concentrate on: Film. So I wrote a script called Joke. It's not very good, and like most of the things I was doing creatively, it really wanted to be something else. I think it wants to be a book. So when I'm done with the five or so books I'm already invested in (one trilogy, one a two book set), I'll dust off Joke and see what happens.

What abandoned projects do you have in your back catalogue that want to see the light of day again?