Photo by Mink Mingle on Unsplash

I’ve been revamping my MuseCraft™Â website, getting ready to offer some new classes and coaching options. And I really got hung up on the “about” page. I’ve been trying to write it for over a week, and I had little phrases and half thoughts and not much else to show. So yesterday I took my notes and my laptop to my writing group to work on it some more, and I was not doing any better than I had been on my own. And then a new CD came on. The Beatles. I didn’t notice it until halfway through the CD and most of the way through actual, coherent and cohesive copy, but my focus just dialed in as soon as that music came on.

I usually write with the TV on. Reruns of things I like or movies I love, things I’m really familiar with–never anything new that I want to watch. Something about the TV playing usually helps me write (except in the case of that “about” page, but everyone knows those things are special and troublesome). Usually, music distracts me, because if a song I like comes on my attention is immediately drawn to the song and away from my writing, and instrumental music doesn’t offer enough of a distraction to my internal editor to let the writing flow.

Maybe because the Beatles songs are so familiar they get my editor singing along (internally–I promise I didn’t inflict my singing on anyone!) so the writing can progress unimpeded. Whatever it was, I’m planning to get that album and add it to my playlists for when I need a little more focus.

I hope everyone else is making progress and having some breakthroughs, too!