I do have specific songs or playlists which go with certain stories. Not every story but I add songs to playlists when I feel they match the verse.

I also have a few “go to” artists or albums if I need to get fired up and concentrate. For example September by Earth, Wind and Fire is something I sometimes stick on repeat for word wars. Eye of the Tiger is another but that is so cliche. There’s the entire Danger Days album by My Chemical Romance. My writing music used to be anything by Apocalyptica but that doesn’t seem to be true anymore. Maybe I procrastinated too much while listening that it lost it’s effectiveness at being the “seriously you need to focus now” music.

Now you will probably laugh but for the last few days my “knuckle down and for merlin’s sake focus!” song has been Karma Chameleon by the Culture Club. I had iTunes on shuffle and it came on and it’s what I’ve been using for word sprints since. It just sort of fades into the background but has an upbeat tone which is working for me right now.