Over the last few years, especially as apps like Spotify have become more common, making playlists for all sorts of things has become more and more popular. Fans make playlists based on their favorite books, fanfics, ships, etc. Some authors have taken to releasing an official book playlist for each of their new release publications. And so on and so on.

As my best friends are aware, I have been making playlists for DECADES. Since way back-when, when they were still called MIXTAPES. I remember with great fondness, the labor of love that was: listening to the radio waiting for bated breath for your favorite songs to play, ready to press record the second those first few notes hit, and doing this over and over again until the cassette tape was full. And then, years later, the joy of burnable cds and the first version of itunes, allowing you to make endless combinations of music to suite every mood.

I make playlists for everything: specific themes, stories I am writing, stories I am reading, characters I love, for road-trips and for test-taking, etc. I mostly keep mine on “private,” though I have started curating a few of the official playlists for the book subscription box Fox & Wit, for whom I work.

The playlists I make for Fox & Wit are usually around 10-14 songs long, however, I usually start with MANY more songs than that and then cut down to the best songs that most fit the feel/tone/themes of the book.

But I thought it might be fun to share just a few of the playlists I’ve done for myself as well. So here we go:

First, this started as the official book playlist for Just Watch Me by Jeff Lindsay, curated for Fox & Wit, but I discovered I didn’t actually like the book that much, so this rapidly became more generally what I call “The Greatest Heist Playlist Ever.”

Next we have a playlist called “You Go Too Fast For Me” which is, of course, a playlist I made for Good Omens, and one of my favorite ships: Crowley and Aziraphale.

Then we have one of my more idiosyncratic playlists. I have an obsession for songs about trains. I have been adding to this playlist slowly for YEARS. I don’t have every single song ever written that mentions trains – there are dozens, possibly hundreds, of blues songs ALONE that mention trains – I mainly just keep the ones I like best. I call it “Runaway Train” (because of course I did).

I also have this playlist, “Icarus and Daedalus,” the title of which is probably self-explanatory. I am likewise obsessed with songs (and poems and art) about the myth of Icarus and Daedelus. Like the train playlist, I have been adding to this one slowly for years as well. I’m still tinkering with it a lot lately.

Then I have this playlist called “Songs to Conquer By” which I made specifically to help power me through studying for my PhD Comprehensive Exams – I made it through mostly unscathed.

On top of all that, I have playlists I make for the stories I am writing personally. Currently, I am working on a fanfiction for Camp Nanowrimo, so I made a playlist for that one: It’s called “Holes In Your Coffin” (which is the name of the fic) and it is for The Dresden Files (more the short-lived tv show than the book series) and for my Harry/Bob ship.

In addition, I have a playlist for the only novel I have written a FULL draft of, called “Midnight’s Knife.”

And finally, I have a playlist for my half-started novel “They Shall Have Fire.”

So there are just a few of my playlists, all available on Spotify. I have others on Spotify that I will probably keep to myself. And I have even more in older formats, like on burned CDs.

If you like to make playlists and feel like sharing, I would love to see/hear them! I am also always looking for new music. I am a VORACIOUS music omnivore, so please send me any recommendations you have!