Movie Music

I can’t write in quiet. I just can’t. I have to have background noise. Music, to be more precise. But words distract me. (My brain tends to focus on the words already written rather than the ones I need to write.) So I need instrumental music. I tried classical music, which I often enjoy, but the mood just wasn’t right. Then I heard other writers talking about movie score music. And I found a match made in heaven. 

I love writing to movie soundtracks. The music is made for story. It evokes emotion. So just as score music is the perfect complement to a story on screen, it also provides the perfect background for creating story on paper. As I looked toward diving into this second first draft of my 2013 book, I decided it was time from some new writing tunes since I’ve written the last three novels with the same playlist. So I thought you might like to see what music is fueling my writing these days:

Downton Abbey

(Not only is it great music, it’s the same time period my stories.)

War Horse

(Ditto above. And of course now I really want to see the movie!)

Up

(One of my favorite movies. One my son’s favorite movie composers.)

So much for the new. Here are some that are still among my favorites:

John Adams

Sense and Sensibility

Little Women

Schindler’s List

Titanic

Emma

Next time you are looking for some fun background music, whether for writing or just for ordinary days, check out some movie scores. Like me, you might find something new that you really enjoy. 

Warning: Worshipping Driver Ahead

I’m a radio girl when I’m tooling around town in my SUV. When I’m on short little trips, in and out of my car, I can deal with the spurts of music that I find on the dial. But when I have to go any length of way on the highway—especially alone, I plug in my adapter and fire up my ipod. Driving and listening to music is good for me. And most of the time it doesn’t cause a problem. Except lately. You see, I’ve discovered the Genius feature.

Oh my.

Now I can play whatever is my favorite worship tune on that particular day and press the Genius button and it will pull all the similar songs on my ipod into a playlist. Now that should be a good thing. But here comes the issue: it gets hard to drive when you’re having a personal revival meeting in your car! Keeping my hands on the wheel becomes a problem. Tears cloud my vision. I’m even tempted to close my eyes! But surely the Lord will put His angels on high alert when that happens. Right?

So I apologize if I cut you off or ride up on your tail or do any of those other annoying things on the highway. I guess maybe I need a little sign on my back window: warning, worshipping driver ahead.