When my husband works from home we share an office.

He has a long commute and whenever he can work at home, he does. This presents an interesting problem for me since I like it when he is around, but his work involves phone calls (on speaker) and generally creates a lot of noise. It’s hard for me to focus on the words in my head and several times I have caught myself typing what I am hearing from his phone. That would be great if it was my job to transcribe his meetings, but I am in the midst of re-writing Book 1. Not so great.

Recently, instead of taking my laptop in search of other areas to work I have been employing my headphones and some awesome Spotify playlists that I’d like to recommend!

If you’re not familiar with Spotify, it’s basically a service that allows you to listen to music via their web player or app on your computer or cell phone. There are ads through the app unless you subscribe ($10/month). I only use the web player, and I’m fine with the occasional ad, so I don’t subscribe. (Update: We subscribe now through Spotify Family and pay $15 for unlimited ad-free listening for all 5 of us! These aren’t affiliate links – I just love Spotify and thought I would share.) You can create your own playlists, but I really haven’t done that, instead choosing to use some that have already been created by other users.

Here are my top-three for writing (I have others for cleaning, getting ready, etc.):

Cinematic Chill-Out – My current favorite. It’s all movie and video game soundtracks. Just beautiful, wordless music. I listen to this when I need to focus and write or really focus on editing. No words to influence.

Peaceful Piano – All quiet, relaxing piano music. For when I still need instrumental but want a change of pace from cinema themes.

Epic Classical – It’s the most metal classical playlist. Love it for writing intense scenes.

If you want to try out other playlists be sure to check out the Spotify Genres. I regularly use Mood, Focus, Jazz, and Classical. It’s a fun way to find new-to-you music and keep your ears occupied while you focus on other things!