I'll never forget the former sailor who told me that he only wrote at night, with a whiskey in hand and his stereo rocking the house down.  Certain songs inspired him, and he reckoned you could hear them in the cadence of his writing.  For him, music was essential to set a mood and unleash his imagination.

Then there was the young writer who sought silence and an absence of distraction for her work.  She hated interruptions, and any sound at all jolted her attention away from her task.  For her to do her best work, she needed to focus utterly on the words on the screen.  She discovered that wearing headphones helped muffle the sound of a noisy environment.

If you haven't yet experimented with the effect sound has on your writing, you should.

Having music playing in the background can help evoke certain emotions, focus your mind, or distract you entirely.  Because the way we react to sound is personal, you won't know whether background music can help you or hurt you until you try.

The next time you sit down to write, try one of these five suggestions.

1. Listen to the Radio

For me, listening to the radio works best when I can tune it out for long periods of time.  Then, when I need a break, I just bring my attention back to the radio and listen to a song or the news.  Taking a break gives my mind space to wander, and it's often in those brief pauses that I think of important ideas I'd have otherwise been too busy to think about.

2. Listen to a Specially-Created Playlist

Just as gym wonks have energetic playlists created to carry them through a workout, so you can create a playlist that will carry you through a writing session.  You can create playlists for different kinds of writing: maybe one playlist makes you feel nostalgic, another evokes an exotic landscape, and another is fast-paced for action scenes.  If you tend to work for a certain amount of time - say, an hour - you can create a playlist to take you through the entire hour, so that you don't have to keep looking at the clock.

3. Listen to Instrumental Music

For me, the human voice is a huge distraction.  If anyone is talking in the background, I can't help eavesdropping on their conversation.  I couldn't imagine being one of those people who leave the television on for background sound - there's no way I could tune it out!

If the human voice distracts you, try listening to instrumental music.  Try classical, New Age, spiritual, meditation music, or even sounds of nature.  There are a number of websites offering free downloads of relaxing music, nature sounds, meditation tracks, and more, so just Google the kind of track you're looking for.

4. Listen to Pure Sound

When I'm having a hard time focusing, ANYTHING distracts me.  Any background noise at all draws my attention, and my mind looks for any excuse to escape the project at hand.  That's when I use a BrainWave Generator.

I've been using this simple shareware program for ages as a way to help me focus.  The program generates binaural beat frequencies that entrain your brain frequency to a desired state.

I have no idea what that means: all I know is that the program generates tones that supposedly stimulate creativity, make you feel more alert, or cure a headache, depending on which setting you choose.

Does it work?  Seems to.  When you're feeling tired, headachy, or uninspired, you need all the help you can get.

There are a number of brainwave entrainment products on the market, such as Holosync, Super Mind Evolution System, Neuro-Programmer 3, and so on.  Do your own research and try a free trial if you can.  I don't blame you if you're skeptical of sales pitches offering you the moon, but don't confuse the marketing with the product.  It may actually work for you.

5. Wear Ear Plugs or Noise-Canceling Headphones

In the evening, I don't like to disappear to my office, but I find it difficult to focus on writing when I'm sitting on the couch with my family.  In these cases, ear plugs can be a blessing.  They don't drown out sound entirely, but they muffle it just enough that I can keep my attention focused on my work.  Noise-canceling headphones do the same trick, and you don't have to actually listen to anything while wearing them.  Ear plugs or headphones can also help you focus when you're in a noisy environment, like an office or a cafe.