Speaking of Soundtracks

I made a soundtrack to my Scottish Lit. paper. A rather different approach from any other papers I've written before, but certainly fun. Also, too, a keen illustration of the ways different types of media can play off each other.

I wrote a paper about songs, where I wrote about themes I saw in those songs. Then I made a CD to go along with the paper, which had songs I talked about in the paper as well as other songs that went with the themes I found in the paper when I wrote about other songs. So, the music created the paper, which then created the music. Cool, huh? It was all very meta.

This month I challenge you to use music in your writing. Specifically, a new type of music. Now is the time to expand your musical experience.

Here's how it'll work:
Let's say you always listen to classical music when you write, try listening to rock instead.
Let's say you never listen to music when you write - give it a shot.
Let's say you can't listen to music when you write (too distracting) then sit down for a bit before you write and listen to a couple of songs. Try closing your eyes, even and trying to visualize a scene along with the music.

The basic idea is that you're trying to draw some kind of inspiration from the music you listen to, and that you're listening to a different type of music in order to break out of your usual influence.

Now, there are a variety of free online radio websites which will let you experience whatever you're brave enough to explore without the commitment of buying a CD. Personally, I'm in love with Pandora, but use whichever one works for you - if nothing else a quick online search for "free online radio" will pull up plenty of options for you. Alternately, now's the time to ask friends for mixed CDs and/or to borrow something.