Lads, I’ve been writing! A book of stories! All on my own!
I promise to share more on that another time, once I’ve had enough alone time with it—because I’m nothing if not selfish. However, when I started this journey earlier this year, with funding sorted* and ideas bubbling, I faced a little technical dilemma: what does a Real Life Writer listen to while she’s writing?
*This is the part where I shout out The Arts Council for supporting my project with a literary bursary, for which I’m immensely grateful!
When I'm illustrating, podcasts, albums, or reality TV all do the job fine, since my hands can work without my ears getting in the way. But writing’s a different story, cause words leak from my fingertips when I type, and I can’t have Gemma Collins or Limmy making cameos mid-story (despite how much more interesting they’d make things).
Enter the one true solution, without settling for an “autumn cosy café wine bar but its raining outside and the barista is heavily breathing into his scarf” vid. The Sims back-catalogues baby! Pure unadulterated build-mode soundtracks composed by the legends Jerry Martin, Marc Russo, and DEVO's Mark Mothersbaugh (yes, really). I've curated a lil two-hour playlist which generally gets me through a focused block of writing and research.
The Sims base game tunes nail the uncanny vibe perfectly, with Vacation adding some light calypso, Makin’ Magic bringing dark French cabaret (essential for magic realism), and Hot Date? Well, that’s pure sexy jazz perfection. Absolutely no notes.
Unfortunately, Livin' It Up isn’t on Spotify, but I’ve included the best from the remaining expansions. Well, I tried. Some are less fit for purpose than others. I only added one song from the dramatic Superstar. Unleashed is just not really my jam (too much hoedown). And then there's House Party. Absolute chaos. I mean, great for a raging gaffer in-game, but the Simlish rap verses out of context are more distracting than a MAFS cheating scandal. It’s impossible not to lose your train of thought imagining the voice actors trying to record songs like 'Spring Break' ‘Wewah’ and 'The Group' without breaking their holes laughing. Actually, worth a listen for the lols if you have a minute.
Dag dag,
Kathi