Music For a Night In

My friend Bec came around to my place last night and we cooked dinner, drank beer and listened to a whole pile of music. My family is away at the moment and I spent awhile making compilation CDs to play in their absence. One of these is my own 'Hottest 100' compilation, the entire 18 songs which would have appeared on my voting list had there been room. Last night we also listened to The Shins, Martha Wainwright, the Mountain Goats and the Killers, all of which are great fun to sing along to. It's great having people over when you can choose the music and it really fits the mood of the evening- a bit of over excitement, hedonism, indulgence and fun.

At the moment I'm about to start writing something new. As usual starting off is difficult. I've got a reasonably clear idea of the main characters, the plot and the mood of the piece, but I'm always nervous about starting in case it doesn't work out as I'd expected. I suppose I should be less self conscious and just start. I haven't yet stumbled onto the right music for writing, either. The other day I was in the mood for one kind of music, now that feels wrong. I'm not even sure I'm in the mood for writing at the moment. But after you start you seem to feel more compelled to write anyway. Music's just an excuse really.