Becky Ballenger
Becky Ballenger asked S.M. Lumetta:

My question is a two parter: We know that you use music to inspire you to write, but what type of music do you listen to while writing? What music do you listen to while reading?

S.M. Lumetta How did I not see this question, sooner?? I'm so sorry! But let me answer you now :)

I typically don't listen to music when I'm reading. If the book is good enough, I won't hear anything anyway. ;)

As for when I write, I have a few playlists. One is general, emotion-evoking (for me, anyway). It includes a lot of my favorites, just music I enjoy: Radiohead (always, because I love), Florence & the Machine, etc. But you never know. I throw all sorts of things in there. There could be Beastie Boys, Lizzo, Johnny Cash (honestly it's generally the only country music you'd find on my playlists), Childish Gambino...

That said, I have a few playlists for specific stories. Bodhi Beach books have a lot of surf and beachy rock like Dick Dale ("Misirlou"), The Bangles ("Bitchen Summer"), Weezer ("Hash Pipe"), Overseer ("Horndog"), Beach Boys... but also some songs specific to the plots/characters.

One of the books I'm writing right now is angstier, darker (not dark romance, but not romcom), so there's a lot more of my emo, haunting, and even industrial stuff. There's a handful of Billie Eilish, Dead Weather, Nick Cave, Band of Horses, the aforementioned Johnny Cash (his cover of NIN's "Hurt"), and yes, Radiohead (in this case, "True Love Waits").

This may be a lot more of an answer than you were looking for. ;P Sorry again for the delay!

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