All Play and No Work

I'll be honest, I slacked off a lot over Christmas. Not as much writing happened as possibly should have done. When I look at my WiPs, they're really starting to pile up.

And I have a story that I've started... and really want to write, but just can't get motivated to write it. Well, I can - but mostly when I absolutely should be doing something else, instead. By the time I'm able to write, rather than chasing my children around the house with the vacuum cleaner, or preparing for feeding time at the zoo, the ideas feel a little stale, and I'm tired and it's a slog rather than a pleasure - or a stolen guilty (but productive) moment.

I try to get around this feeling of writing being a chore by building a a playlist for each story as I work on it. I don't go out looking for songs, I just make a note of the ones that seem to fit if I hear them playing, or if I get them as an ear worm. Then, if I need to get in the mood to write the story, or get back into the mindset of the characters, I just play the songs. Sounds simple, right?

For my current WiP (title-less, and only about 3.5K in since new year), I have a playlist that is slowly shaping up as follows:

Ed Sheeran - Thinking Out Loud

James Morrison - You Give Me Something

Chris Isaac - Wicked Game

Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run

Elvis Presley - I Can't Help Falling in Love with You

Lo Fang - You're the One that I Want

I'm sure I'll add to it as I hear more songs that bring to mind the characters and/or events - especially as the characters develop their personalities and I get further along in my word count. I have notes and bits of snippets written down, too, so those song titles aren't just as a result of a tiny word count. :-)