Why Courtney Love?

Some people cannot listen to music when they write. Some people can only write when they listen to music. Some simply need music without lyrics. Some people—well. I need music. Sometimes. But most often I need to decide what my characters would listen to. The problem is—I’m often ten years behind the times. Right now, all I want to listen to is this.



I am loving this album. I listen to it at the gym. I listen to it when I’m writing. I put it on while I’m making coffee. It’s so fierce. Noelle would love this album. If she had ever even heard of Hole. So what is it, I keep thinking, that brings me back to Courtney Love and her yelling and torn slips and girl-rocking. Is it because I’m writing about 16 and I was 16 when I first listened to this album… or is it because I want to yell and scream a little bit. I am thinking I’m going to make a playlist that goes through phases of the writing. But for now, I’ll start here—after the first draft, gearing up for real revisions. I should warn you—there is no method or pattern to my playlists. It’s just what I need to listen to. Or what they need to listen to. I mean the characters.

Monday morning February 25th PERMANENT INK playlist

Hole; Celebrity Skin in its entirety
Wilco; Reservations
The National; Apartment Story
Mirah; Don’t Die in Me
Bob Dylan; I don’t believe you (she acts like we have never met)