5. Trance Music & Coca Cola
Last week, I wrote about the philosophy, discipline and methodology behind my writing process. Today, I’d like to talk a bit more humorously on the subject.
We all have times where we need to knuckle down and complete those focus-driven tasks, but what is it that pushes us out of the procrastination phase into actual… action?
While I won’t say my productivity is wholly reliant on these two things, I often joke that I wouldn’t have a novel at all if it wasn’t for trance music and coca cola. I’ll start by talking about the weirder of the two: trance. It’s not just any kind of trance, mind, but a very specific sub-genre of end-of-millennium Electronic Dance; a wave of thumping tunes that you can’t hear without picturing the glowbands and dark dancefloors of late-nineties raves. Ah, there I go again with the Anemoia, being nostalgic for things I never actually experienced. (Anemoia – The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows).
Some key examples of this music are the unconquerable “Silence” – Tiesto Remix, “Love Stimulation – Love-Club-Mix” (Humate & Paul Van Dyk), “Dark and Long – Dark Train” (of Trainspotting fame) by Underworld, “Insomnia” (Faithless) and “Children – Dream Version” (Robert Miles). I have a playlist of 150-odd songs that fall roughly within this genre, but there are ten or so that I listen to almost every single time I sit down to write.
Strange as it is, there is something about the eternal, rhythmic baselines, soothing-yet-energising synths, and ethereal, minimalist vocals of this genre that organises my neural highways just right. I have a stream-tracking app on my phone which tells me in the last few months, I’ve had at least 65 writing sessions, as that is how many times I’ve played “Love Stimulation” (always the first song I put on) in that time. Given it is one of several dozen remixes of a ‘90s trance song, I think this puts me somewhere in the top 1% of listeners to that specific track. So Humate, you’re welcome for the 15 cents of streaming revenue on your twenty -five-year-old song, I guess. Creatively, I owe you so much more.
And now an ode to my vices, common though they may be. To caffeine, you beautiful little synaptic enhancer, and to sugar, you wonderful reward-driving stimulant, where would I be without you both? While I am no fan of your questionable environmental practices, big Cola, your divine road tar has helped me string together so many challenging passages and get so many weighty chapters off the ground. I do limit myself to one can per day, but I still fear that an early grave beckons should I find no alternative to your sweet inspiration!
So there you have it. A bit of peace and quiet, some thirty-year old synth-pulse, and a can of dark-brown elixir, distilled with ice in a ridged glass (on special occasions, perhaps paired with a slice of lemon). If that isn’t the recipe for success, what is? Jokes aside, if I had to translate these ramblings into something akin to suggestive advice, it would be this: Whatever works for you is worthwhile, and the more you practice effective habits in a simple creative ‘space’, the more the conditioning will kick in, and you’ll begin to find productivity even when you are distracted, displaced and tired. We all love to speak of how creativity is inherently rewarding, but sometimes, real rewards work just as well too.
I hope you have enjoyed today’s piece, a light-hearted look at what fuels the madness. My productivity this week was happily increased, and, while I have another completed (yet-to-be-edited) chapter on top of this, the manuscript is travelling as follows:
Words: 66,387
Chapters: 21
Pages: 267
Words last week: 5500 (+2000 target word count)
~~~(THIS POST WAS NOT SPONSORED BY BIG TRANCE, BIG COLA OR ANY KNOWN AFFILIATES.)~~~
With love,
JSH
