Setting the Mood

I’ve always been a Little Mermaid fan. In fact, growing up, our bathroom had Little Mermaid décor hanging on the walls.  One of my favorite parts of the movie is the song “Kiss the Girl.”

Recently, I’ve realized how Sebastian creates the mood, starting with the environment, and THEN the words come.

Picture taken by me!

I’m the same way.  I have to be in the right environment so that the words can come when I write.  Especially at home.  There’s too many distractions that I’ve had to learn to ignore.  And to do that, I’ve conditioned myself to want to write in a certain environment.

It’s like Pavlov’s dog.  He was fed every time a bell was run, and after time, he salivated when he heard the bell – even when there wasn’t any food.  I did the same thing to myself.  A specific environment can make me want/need to write, even when I’m not in the mood.  

I start with the music.  I’m not saying that I listen to the same music every time.  My tastes have differed over the years, and right now over the past few weeks, I’ve been listening to the Josh Groban channel on Pandora.  I love the creative feeling that that kind of classical music creates.  There are also the days when I need a different kind of emotion, especially when writing fight scenes.  Music can set that mood for me.

Years ago, when I was in school, I had a hard time concentrating on my studying.  I found an article online that talked about the importance of smells.  I went to the dollar store and I bought the cheap liquid potpourri.  I used vanilla when I studied and black cherry when I wrote.  And after time, I was just like pavlov’s dog.  I smell black cherry and I have the burning urge to write.  My creative juices start flowing and I can’t turn them off.

And now, I have the creative space to write!  I bought a desk years ago, but now, I have an office.  Complete with a bookshelf, liquid potpourri and music.  I’m pretty excited to use it now.  I just need a day off of work to be able to use it fully.

My new writing space

How do you set the mood?  What do you do to get the creative juices flowing?