Music while you write?

The monthly round of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group, founded by the amazing Alex J. Cavanaugh, has been and gone. My blog feed is inundated this time of month by fellow bloggers sharing their insecurities, so I’m going to peek out cautiously from under my rock and whisper...
right now, I’m not feeling at all insecure.

In fact, things are going unusually well.

There. I’ve probably jinxed it now :)

Back in January I mentioned I’m dusting off my notes for The Ashes of Home, a sequel to Ghosts of Innocence. After some severe revamping of the overall plot and structure I’ve been writing steadily for about two weeks and keeping to schedule. I know there will be rough patches ahead, but right now, as long as I can picture a scene clearly in my mind, the words are flowing.

The really strange thing, though, is that I’ve been listening to music while I write. I’ve never done that before. Never been able to. Putting on music usually disrupts my thought processes as far as words go. Painting is different, I like music while I paint, but writing? It’s always been a no-go zone.

Until now.

What’s changed?

I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been wearing headphones to blot out sounds from elsewhere in the house. Ali says that listening to music through headphones engages the mind differently from hearing it played in the room. Maybe there’s something in that. All I know is that I hunt something down on YouTube, from Taylor Swift to The Stranglers to Tangerine Dream, put on the headphones, and away I go.

As long as it works, who cares?

How about you? Does music help or hinder your creative flow?