Best Writing Music of 2016

What’s your favorite writing music from 2016?

Over at Spotify, I rounded up my annual list of the best music that helped me write this year. That’s 21 hours of inspiring instrumental music for your writing pleasure…

During my days as the editor of GalleyCat, I created a collection of other Spotify playlists from some of my favorite writers. I’ve linked to them below…

Haruki Murakami Spotify Playlist
My playlist the Japanese novelist included songs mentioned in Murakami’s novels South of the Border, West of the Sun, Norwegian Wood, and 1Q84.

Ann Patchett Spotify Playlist
In 2001, novelist Patchett published Bel Canto, a gorgeous and suspenseful introduction to the world of opera music. If you have a Spotify account, enjoy this playlist collecting 30 songs mentioned in the novel–two hours of writing music.

James Ellroy Spotify Playlist
This crime novelist has a portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven mounted above his bed. Inspired by the crime novelist’s love of the great composer, we’ve created a three-hour Spotify playlist collecting James Ellroy’s favorite Beethoven music.

Geoff Dyer Spotify Playlist
Geoff Dyer‘s brilliant But Beautiful explored jazz history with novelistic flourishes, giving readers an invaluable jazz education in the process. Check out our new But Beautiful playlist on Spotify and listen to more than four hours of classic jazz albums handpicked by Dyer.

Thomas Pynchon Spotify Playlist
Chill out all day with this list collecting 31 groovy songs from Pynchon’s Inherent Vice.

Henry Miller Spotify Playlist
Nobody has ever written about classical music like Miller. If you have a Spotify account, enjoy this two-hour mix we made with inspiring writing music from Miller’s most famous books: Tropic of Cancer, Plexus, Nexus and Black Spring.