One of those questions that always throws me is, “Why do you care about THAT? You don’t need to know that for your job.” As if curiosity and learning aren’t their own reward.
Usually I let it slide with an eye roll. I don’t have time to lecture every random person I meet about the fundamental interconnectedness of all things (I was raised on Douglas Adams books and yes, that warped me). But today I have an answer! And a quick(er) one at that.
For the past couple of months the shape of a book has been hunting me. I know what a city looks like. I know I wanted the Dark Lord Gothic Romance vibe from shows like Love Between Fairy And Devil, Love Like The Galaxy, or Alchemy Of Souls (iykyk). And I was studiously ignoring these things because I have THE PRICE OF THE MOUNTAIN LILY with betas and ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS A GARGOYLE needs one more scene edited before going to my editor for production.
And then I broke.
Not enough sleep. Too much stress. The chaos of life got to me, I lost focus, and so I took a swan dive into this new idea just to let my brain have some stress-free fun. Which… SIGH. The long and short of it is I spent a day inventing a language system to use and also there’s eight books in the series For Reasons and I don’t know why I do this to myself. I don’t even know if I’ll write the series. We’re just going to mark this down as a Mental Health Day and move on.
All of that is irrelevant.
What matters is that my writing process usually involves a playlist. I like to put together a playlist for each project or universe for two reasons. One, it’s a timer. I have no sense of time and will write without moving for hours on end if left along. A playlist that ends breaks my focus and makes me move so I don’t fuse with my writing chair. Two, it’s a cheap hack to get my brain in the right brain space for the book.
I can go open the playlist for a book I wrote in 2016 and I remember everything.
I have no clue if this works for everyone, but it works for me. And while I was working on the playlist I realized some songs don’t fit the mood of the book or the series. Usually I’d say the vibes were off. But now, because I’ve been randomly watching videos about composition and music theory, I know why! I’ve learned how music tells a story and how the use of certain patterns and rhythms creates a mood.
Which means I can listen to things and tell if it fits the story I’m telling on a technical level. Because I learned something random and then applied it to my every day life.
Which is exactly what you’re supposed to do as a writer. Even as a human being, you should be trying to learn everything you can. Because it all matters.
Everything you take in becomes a part of you. The things you hear and read become part of how you speak and think. The things you learn to do physically become things to help you in strange situations, or things you can teach. The life we experience becomes the life we have.
In the end, it all matters.
There is nothing so small in life that it doesn’t impact your future.
Whether it becomes part of your writing process, your business philosophy, or how you manage relationships, it’s all tied up together. You matter. Your choices matter.
The book I’m writing may never be in print, but the choice to stop and write it is changing the course of my life, even if it’s only for a day.
So make good choices. Learn good things. Read good books.
It matters.