Music for writers - what inspires you

What inspires you when you're writing?

Do you need total silence when you write? Or do you prefer to have some background sound?

I've moved positions from this over the time I've been writing. At one time I used to listen quite happily to speech programmes in the background. Until on checking my writing for a client I found that in one part of it were words that had come from the programme not my head!

Since then I've been more careful about what I choose. And sometimes I do prefer total silence.

If I'm doing research for clients or bulletins I'm editing then I can listen to pretty much anything. I'm making notes so at that stage it doesn't matter if I've noted down anything else.

However if I'm creating new text then 'clean' sounds work best for me. Which means no words, unless it's in a language I don't know. Bach or Mozart for preference not because I think about the Genius Effect, but because the sounds are patterned and precise.

Though I must say I like a blast of Latin or Jazz when I need to generate energy especially tidying up energy!

So - what music do you play?