When it comes to writing, what works best for you?

I think it's fair to say I'm easily distracted.

There are always a million and one things to do around the house (cleaning, fixing, washing, ironing - anything ending in 'ing') , and my brain always tricks me in to thinking that they need to be done first before I can sit down and write.

Then, when I eventually crack open the netbook, my brain tells me I simply must read my e-mails first, check Facebook second and then look up the query I thought of while at work (yesterday it was all about finding out about the yellow light of death for my PS3) third.  To be honest, this wouldn't be to bad if I only stuck to the first two as it only takes a few mins to read my e-mail and snoop about on Facebook. But the third....I almost always get side tracked by something else I see, so I start out looking up faulty PS3s and end up an hour later looking for cheep holidays to Tunisia.

And that's the thing about the internet; you can look something up as soon as you think of it. This, in turn lead to new thoughts being generated and before you know it you've done a complete 180 from where you began.

That's why I find that the best place to write is on the bus journey to work.  I pop on my MP3 player which acts as a barrier to the outside world, and then fire up the netbook.

I'm not sure if it's because I dislike my job so much, but even if I find the writing hard to start with, I always start to flow with more urgency the closer I get to work.

Also, being on the bus means there are virtually no distractions.  I can either sit there and do nothing apart from listen to MP3s and stare out the window, or I can write.

And that's what works for me.

I think I'll look into why writing whilst listening to music seems to help.  My first thoughts are that (a) it acts as a barrier to the outside world so helps you focus, and (b) music very often elicits emotion. Trance music gives me a feeling of excitement and movement. I sometimes listen to Mozart, too, which also seems to have the same effect.  Anything with lyrics usually distracts me.

I think that music raising emotion in me helps to get said emotion on the page.  I know Stephen King listens to music while he writes (rock I think) as does Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez (the former actually suggested it to the latter), so I know I'm not the only one.

Do you listen to music while you write?