What’s your playlist?

As an author, it’s a question I get a lot.  I always feel so lame because I don’t listen to music when I write.  I also feel like maybe I’m missing out.  A piece of music can inspire you, put you in the right mood, recreate the feeling of a character, set the scene and evoke a unique place…  And I have none of that because I have no playlist.  But then this morning, I realized I had something just as good.

Shoes.

Yep, shoes are my own version of a playlist.

It hit me as I got ready to head to Starbucks this morning.  I’m working on a final second draft of my WIP, which is titled BAD ASS.  (Yes, this is a horrible working title that will never fly for a tween book but it’s just so perfect I’m using it now.)

Anyway, back to the shoes.  So I go in my closet.  Do I slip on my Converse?  Slide on my comfy Merrills?  Wear my sneakers with the inserts so my feet won’t ache at the end of the day?  Nope, instead I bypass my go-to shoes and reach for the combat boots.

Combat boots?  Yep.  They were exactly the right shoes for me today.  Because Emily has combat boots.  Emily is the main character in BAD ASS and the boots are pretty important to her.  They help her get into the right mindset, I guess you could say.

Which was when I realized they also are helping me get into the right mindset.

I have a playlist of shoes.

Ellie Taylor, from OyMG, would wear these for a speech tournament. They’re not fancy shoes but they get the job done.  They say: confident, strong, balanced.

On the other hand, Tatum Austin, from Audition & Subtraction, isn’t one to stand out–certainly not if she’s standing on her own.  She wears Converse.  Cute.  Comfy. Really impossible not to like.

So, I guess I do have a playlist after all.  One that works for me.  (And can you ever have too many pairs of shoes?)

How about you?  Anybody else have an unconventional way to get connected to your characters or stories?