What Puts You in the Mood?

The writing mood that is... get your head out of the gutter!

Of course, we all know that sometimes we have to write even when we're not in the mood. Otherwise, we would never get those WIPs finished! Kind of like romance, it's not always sunshine and rosebuds for our writing projects. And we just have to push through and do it anways.

But just for a moment pretend that it's one of those glorious times when your mind is overflowing with great ideas and you can barely type fast enough to keep up with the awesomeness pouring out of your artistic soul. How did you get to that place? What put you in the mood to create some awesome works of literature?

For me, typically it's when I've come up with a new idea or scene and it's been ruminating in my head for the whole day (or more), so that when I finally get to sit down and write it flows easily. Countless was actually the result of eight years of mulling, but no time to write with my son being so young, and working and taking classes. So when I finally graduated, I threw all the time I had been spending on classes into the book and the first draft was done pretty quickly.

If I want to get myself in the mood, I'll sometimes play some Vivaldi or drink a glass of wine. I write better when it's quiet (except for the classical music) and I'm not interrupted. I've heard of people that train themselves to get in the groove by always lighting a scented candle or listening to a certain song or sitting in a certain place.

How about you? What puts you in the mood?