Okay… today’s prompt is: 5. Tell us about your July 4th celebration. Don’t forget the pictures! If I write about my “celebration”, you guys are gonna fall asleep… because that’s what I did. The only thing I think you could call celebratory about my evening was grilling up some steaks. Other than that, I went to bed with the sound of explosions going off all around me. I’m so fun.
So, today it looks like I get to talk off the beaten path. Yesterday, I was talking to one of my friends on Chatzy, and she mentioned that it would be nice if I could blog about music… or more specifically, the music I listen to while writing. That means that today’s blog post is brought to you by EDM!
I’ve touched on the topic of music while writing before, but that was geared more toward whether it’s helpful or not while writing (I’m still up in the air about it). Like I mentioned before, I tend not to listen to music while writing… it distracts me and fills my head so much that words start escaping and running away. I DO have a favorite song, though. It’s one that usually gets me pumped up enough TO write. It’s called Five Hours by Deorro. No, it’s not five hours long… it’s really only about 5 minutes. Then again, I probably wouldn’t mind if it WAS… I’ve sat here and listened to it on repeat and plugged out hundreds of words of a novel. This song just seems to kick my butt and get me in the mood to write. There aren’t any words to get in the way, and the pace changes just enough throughout the song that I don’t sit there going, “Wow, this is repetitive.”
When I’m in my off time, I don’t seem to listen to much music, either. I’ll have the radio on when I’m driving back and forth to work (and get extremely annoyed by the commercials), and every once in a while I’ll get the urge to just listen to music on YouTube. Opening up the dusty music folder on my computer, you’ll find random songs by people like Flume, Fifth Harmony, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Major Lazer and DJ Snake, Mike Posner, Milo Bice, Panic! at the Disco, Sia, The Chainsmokers, and Zedd just to name a few. The only reason they’re there, is that I needed to copy some music over to my phone to listen to when I was walking with a client a few years ago.
My tastes are all over the board when it comes to which music I’ll listen to. Every once in a while, I’ll load up a worldwide popular music playlist and just sit there and listen to what people around the world are listening to (great for getting new writing ideas). It’s also a good idea to dig into history at times, if only to kind of scrub the brain from all the new stuff getting thrown at us today (kind of like a brain music reset button) One of the latest songs to come from parts unknown is Despacito by Luis Fonsi (and I do like the original better w/o Justin Bieber). I’m not sure what it is about the song, but it’s addictive and catchy.
Feel like sharing your music tastes? Make a playlist on YouTube (or find one) and send me a link in the comments. I just might enjoy the heck out of it.
Yes, I will make you a playlist! Just not right now, stay tuned though. I was just going to pop into the comment box and suggest ‘Epic Sax Guy’ on repeat (your mention of doing the same with Five Hours made me think of it). Someone played it once at a LAN and it was supposed to be annoying but I kind of really got into the groove of it as I gamed for hours on end.
I said I’d be back! Here we go: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLblTZYbKsywwcRnfZiD039ZzD6NeykH-3
When I first opened your post i saw the picture and thought, “This guy had a crazy 4th!” Then I realized you spent it like I did. As a kid, the 4th used to be so exciting. Now as a boring adult I’m looking at the clock thinking, isn’t it time for the fireworks to be done?
As far as music goes, I’m pretty much all over the board too, drives my wife crazy sometimes. I do a lot of driving for work and find myself listening to talk radio or podcasts…another thing I never thought I would do as a kid.
I don’t have a playlist on youtube, but here is a song my daughter really likes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAUtiqYDhEc
Enjoy!