What kind of music do you listen to while you write or engage in any kind of brain-draining activity?  Some people listen to rock, some to classical music, and some prefer no sound at all.  I find music is extremely helpful in my creative process.  My only requirement is that the music not have words.  I find the words in the song get tangled up with the words in my brain making their way to the page.  I was recently reading the blog The Self Taught Cook  where she listed some of her favorite cooking music and I was inspired to list some of my favorite writing music. (I have an entirely different set of songs for cooking-Harry Connick, Micheal Buble, Jane Monheit, Diana Krall)

My favorite musicians for writing are George Winston and Kevin Kern.  These are mostly piano-driven new age pieces and they are beautiful to listen and to use as a creative tool.  Here is a little George Winston

and here is some Kevin Kern.

Sometimes the music helps to clear my brain from all of the day-to-day thoughts and worries that can constantly intrude on my working process. Other times the music orchestrates a scene I’m writing, somewhat like watching a movie with a soundtrack behind the actors words and actions.

My favorite writing song of all time?  “Farewell to Mystic Harbor” performed by David Huntsinger.  Whole chapters have come out of that one!

So what kind of music do you like to use when in the the process of writing?

One more thing:

We have a winner for my Great Escapes Book Tour Prize!  Linda from Missouri received an Amazon gift card and a jar of Texas wildflower honey.  Thank you everybody for entering.