Hey all, it's Friday, the day that I finally get to spend all day at my desk writing the stuff I love--fiction. I'm currently in the middle of the rough draft of Book 2 of the Last Bucelarii series, and I'm looking forward to finishing it so I can pick up Book 1 to do the second (hopefully final) draft of the manuscript, send it to editing, and prepare it for publishing. Look for it to hit shelves somewhere sometime soon! Instead of doing a regular blog post, I decided to do something a bit different. Today, I'm going to share some of the music that I listen to as I write. This music helps me to get in the mood for writing, and I find that the ups and downs of the songs match the mood of my writing. It's odd, but it works! This is going to be a multi-part post, and Part 1 takes a look at a few of the songs that help me to get started writing early in the morning. It's a sort of glimpse into the musical mind that is Andy Peloquin. Be afraid. Be very afraid! To begin, we go to the odd place that is Sail by AWOLNATION: The "odd" continues with Lorde's strange hit song, Royals: Time to go a bit upbeat, but without interrupting the somber flow of music. Time for some Imagine Dragons: Who doesn't love Passenger's "Let Her Go"? Somber and melodic, it's Elle Goulding's Active Child: Of course Frozen's Let it Go is on my playlist. I'm not a hard-hearted b******d who doesn't like cartoons! Time to go old school with a bit of Simon and Garfunkel: About this time of the morning, I feel the need to kick it up a notch. Skrillex's Bangarang does the trick nicely! This piece is piercing and melodic, perfect for more serious writing on darker themes. Once again, it's back to upbeat music with Martin Garrix' Animals: I LOVE Lindsey Sterling's music, and the Moon Trance is definitely one of my favorites: Fall Out Boy outdoes the rest of his album in Light Em Up: And the Waltz Goes On--composed by Anthony Hopkins--is one of the best songs to turn up the depression knob a bit: Avicii's Hey Brother is another great song to keep the mood a bit somber and sorrowful: That's the first baker's dozen songs that keep me writing. Check them out to see if they can help you get in the mood. Also, drop a comment if you've got a few songs that keep your fingers hammering out that epic work of fiction!