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I don't listen to music when I write. I need silence so I can hear the sound of the words.

I have music on when I write. I don't like the isolation otherwise and find the silence deadening.

I rarely listen to music while writing. I wish I could, but it distracts me.

I need complete silence when I write.

I don't listen to anything when I'm writing. I need total quiet, which is astounding, given that I spent years working for a newspaper and having to write features surrounded by ringing phones and people shouting.

For that reason you can't write with music playing, and anyone who says he can is either writing badly, or not listening to the music, or lying. You need to hear what you're writing, and for that you need silence.

Music is the silence between the notes.