Music is Power and Love

My sister recently made the acute discovery (or maybe it was more like the cute discovery) that pretty much every song you hear on the radio is about romantic love. Um, yeah. But it got me thinking. Books have all kinds of different genres, as do movies. And music, yes, has different types as well: rock, R&B, jazz, etc. And yet, most songs are about love in some respect. Interesting. And then something else occured to me. I'll admit it: most of the books I read would be classified as Romance. I love to read about love. But I have read many books that aren't in the genre. And it seems to me that there is always some underlying thread, some element of LOVE in every story. It's not always romantic love, but it often is, even in action, spy, suspense, sci-fi, whatever. The question is: why?

Because. It's what makes the world go round, that's why. We all crave it; we are all motivated by it. And so to have a story that has no mention of love would be a bit unrealistic and for the majority of us, would be difficult to connect to. Yes, of course I know there are exceptions. Can't think of any at the moment...

I write romantic stories. Some are Contemporary, some are Fantasy, some are Paranormal. All are Romance. I always assumed I needed peace and absolute quiet in order to write most effectively. Well, I recently made a wonderful discovery. Listening to music while writing made words pour out of me faster than they ever have. All those songs about love have always inspired me, giving me ideas about what to write about. But I decided to just write while plugged into my ipod, to see what would happen. It was like magic. I totally recommend it.

Do any of you do this? If so, what music do you listen to while writing? What inspires you most?