(no subject)

[erastes]

Happy Birthday shoeless_girl!  I don't hear much from you recently, but I hope you had a good day.

Just been to see the "Oxford Murders" film. FAR too brainy for me, all about logic and mathematics (sort of a thinking person's Da Vinci code) but highly enjoyable even if I didn't have the first bloody clue what Hurt and Wood were rambling on about. Beautifully photographed and dreadfully wonderfully English (if a wee bit over the top as in being able to run into a book shop and pick up the book you need instantly  - and planes taking off one minute after someone clearing the gate...) with great cameos by the fabulous Anna Massey and Owen from Torchwood.

It's Friday, and I have wine. How is it that when I say to Lili "DON'T stuff, you'll be sick" she takes no notice of me at all?  And was I right? Of course right. Gah. If there's much more noxious than cat spew I don't know what it is.Now she's all curled up feeling sorry for herself.

Writing? Bah. This week I've done nothing. I feel bone weary and that's no excuse I know. Professionalism means to be able to push yourself to write even when you really don't want to. Or that's how I view it anyway. Tomorrow, I shall not connect to the net, and I shall not put the TV on - just the radio and see if that helps. I used to work purely upstairs where there is only a radio. Perhaps that's the answer.  I tend to have the TV on for noise value, but it is a distraction - what about you lot? What do you do? Music? Silence? What?

Comments

[moondancerdrake.livejournal.com]

And sometimes you need to decompress too, no harm in that.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

That's a very good word. That's exactly how I felt, actually. Squashed!

Thanks, hun!

[mylodon.livejournal.com]

I like something in the background when writing. Sport is good, or music I know inside out. But I can't listen to drama as I get distracted.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Sport!? How do you manage that?

Yes, I tend to have programmes on that I like (even though I kid myself that I only have it on for the noise) like drama or quizzes e.g NCIS or Q.I. and then I end up not writing, and also missing the drift of the programme too!

[mylodon.livejournal.com]

How do I manage to write to sport or listen to it?

I write to it because it's comforting and pleasant and always a great source of character names. And the access is online, usually, normally rugby if I can find any.

[svilleficrecs.livejournal.com]

I tend to have an ever mutating set of playlist for various projects. Often, I 'll start w/ a couple heavy play favorites from other lists, play around w/ shuffle and/or stuff I've rated highly and songs start clinging to it. Often, the lists will get split, so there will be a subset of, say, 10 mellow songs from the 20 or 30 for the project in general.

Song choice tends to have more to do with the feel of the songs rather than lyrical significance, but sometimes the lines will be too great not to try to work in. Once the lists have gotten some size, I'll sometimes dick with order, or go random depending on mood.

The thing that I find helpful about the background noise soundtracks is that
a) they help put in the right mood/mindset and
b) they act kind of like a sense memory trigger. Sort of scent bringing back a memory. Once I've listened to the these ten or twenty songs, like, a hundred times on repeat while writing or editing said project, the songs help trigger me back into that fictional world.
c) particularly when the songs have (some) lyrical overlap (whether it's a chorus or one good line or even the right inflection of a certain phrase) they can help to jog me along. I tend to have it down kind of low, so that I have to concentrate to hear the lyrics, but when I'm sitting there on an individual moment of "And then what happened?" and I'm dicking around searching for that, I'm getting a constant flow of concepts/words/emotions that might knock something loose. A song that I previously liked for X makes me think of Y, then I'm off and scribbling.
d) I like CNN/other non-narrative TV in the background for entering of edits (I do all my edits on hard copies, have to take the time to enter the changes, it's a bit time laborious but my brain works so much better w/ paper that it saves time in the long run, even if I have to kill a lot of trees w/ all the drafts I do)


I've also got a more neutral album playlist (I particularly like Thom Yorke's The Eraser, Vector Lovers, and/or Amy Winehouse's Back to Black)

But the biggest reason I have for the playlists is the triggery aspect. I want to get back into the mindset of this couple or that story. It's a gut level emotional shortcut that I use shamelessly.

ETA: As for recharging/decompressing, discipline etc is all very important (like with working out) but sometimes your brain/fingers/muse/emotional center need a day off. My attitude is, if you're going to take a day off, go ahead and take it completely off. It's often easier to give your strict instructions not to look at X for a whole day and make sure you get a full rest rather than nagging yourself the whole time about what you should be doing. If you commit to playing hooky wholeheartedly it sometimes get it out of your system a lot faster than angsting about playing hooky for three days and never fully enjoying it or getting anything done. But YMMV, of course. ;)

[erastes.livejournal.com]

That's a very good idea, actually. When I was writing Standish I listened to a lot of music of the era. I'll have to dig that soundtracky stuff out again!

Thanks - that's interesting!

[zamaxfield.livejournal.com]

I work when it's quiet best, although I use music for mood, I can't keep it on all the time or I end up writing whatever the music tells me, light romantic comedy in a minor key. I keep writing when I can't work on my project, either editing something old so that I keep my hand in, or working on something new. I'm trying out writing fan fiction when I stall out, because that's something I can start and stop at random, and I don't feel I have to finish it or never call myself a writer again, if that makes any sense. I don't watch television ever, anymore, except DVDs and YouTube. If I watched television I would never write.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I will have to be brave and turn that TV off!

Thanks!

[madrigalist.livejournal.com]

I need silence. That means no husband, no dog, no crying baby...

I don't get that very often. If I have music on it is usually classical or some of my German tunes. I find I need one day a week with baby in daycare where I can really put in an 8 hour work day. Otherwise it is a paragraph or two at night.

The net--is VERY BAD. E-mail BAD. I so have to stop that.

I am learning to back away from the keyboard too. That is so hard.

Mav

[erastes.livejournal.com]

That's interesting - how do you manage without the keyboard? Are you dictating?

[madrigalist.livejournal.com]

No. By backing away I meant taking a break from writing totally. Be it an afternoon, day, what have you. I could never dictate. That seems hard.

[haydenthorne.livejournal.com]

Silence, isolation, and books. Sometimes I use music, but it has to be very quiet - ideally piano solos turned down, volume-wise.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I will have to try this silence thing!!

[marquesate.livejournal.com]

Silence, absolute silence. That's why I love the night so much. Darkness and silence.

However, another thing that helps my writing are deadlines - OTHER deadlines. so .. I have a lecture due? No problem, I write to avoid that. Or ... I have to prepare a meeting? easy peasy, I edit.

Ahem. Don't listen to me, 'tis not healthy. ;-)

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Nod nod - I rarely miss a deadline - and never when someone is actually expecting the work, but it's not a stress-free way of writing - leaving it to the last minute.

I'll have to try silence!

[leni-jess.livejournal.com]

Something quiet (music; the human voice, even uplifted in song, distracts me unbearably), but once I'm concentrating on writing - doing it - I don't hear a thing. So sometimes I just shortcut and have silence.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I'm terrible. Just so easily distracted!

[lyras.livejournal.com]

If there's much more noxious than cat spew I don't know what it is.

*raises hand* Being woken in the middle of the night by the sound of the cat spewing by the bed?

As for writing, I find that music helps me tune out, but it has to be stuff I like but don't love. Just something to shut out other distractions.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, and they love to do it in the middle of the night, don't they!!

*grrr*

[shoeless-girl.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much :) I'm around and about, but unfortunately RL is being a bitch at the moment. I did have a lovely birthday though - very low key.

I can't write unless I have silence, which is strange because at all other times I generally have music going constantly.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

It's good to hear from you. Sorry about RL - ditto with that!

*hug*

[crawling-angel.livejournal.com]

The laptop is my downfall as I can veg on the sofa with the TV on and become totally distracted by the shite that appears on the screen. If I work upstairs there's only Mediaplayer for company...that's if I can control myself and stay off the net, lol.

But..I finished Second Chances yesterday and e-mailed it off for viewing. Today I hope to finish Say it with Flowers. There must only be another 500-600 words to go. Surely I can manage that? *yawn*

Puss sends anti-puke vibes to Lili.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Well done on your completed work!