A version of this post ran on September 8th on One Week in Love. Hi all, Julia here. I've talked before about the importance of music and writing, but today I'm going to touch on the songs that I listened to while writing, editing, and generally wringing my hands over "Seduction in the Snow" in the upcoming One Week in Wyoming anthology.
When I start writing a book, I create a playlist with the working title and begin throwing songs on it. Since I write historical as well as contemporary it can be tough finding lyrics that match the scenarios I think I might write (although let me tell you, if I had better French of any Italian there's a whole world of crazy opera arias that would fit historical romances pretty well). That's why I go for a mood that feels like the book I'm writing.
Now, if I'd written this post back in March when I worked on the first draft of "Seduction in the Snow", I would have said that I put that playlist on and started working away. That's what it was like until mid-July when I read an article that said most people are less productive when listening to music with lyrics (even in languages that they don't understand). That flipped a switch in my writer brain, and now I suddenly can't write to anything that's not instrumental. Instead I put my playlists on about a half hour before I think I might sit down to write to get me back in the right frame of mind for the story.
Okay, playlist time. For "Seduction in the Snow" I wanted a few angsty songs, some confused, "Wait, are we a couple or not?" lyrics, and a whole lot of sexy girl-power blues rock. If I'm being totally honest, I would admit that I just listened to Pistol Annies' "I Feel a Sin Comin' On" on repeat. The problem is that just one song makes for both very poor playlists and blog posts. Here's a more expansive look at what was on my Spotify list.
[spotify id="spotify:user:juliabottles:playlist:1BDXB0MTLjqH7QhLIwYz2l" width="300" height="380" /]
If you would like to read "Seduction in the Snow" for yourself, you can buy One Week in Wyoming for $0.99 wherever ebooks are sold.