Cancel Noise With Headphones

One of my most useful writing tools is my pair of noise-cancelling Headphones. My sister-in-law gave them to me for helping her move, and I admit, I might not have dropped $150-$300 on a set when earbuds seem to suffice.

But let me tell you a story about my headphones. See, last summer, this strange straight-line thunderstorm called a derecho hit Washington, D.C. like a freight train. I'm fortunate to live in an area where power lines are buried, but a lot of people lost power for weeks. Basically, it consisted of hurricane-force winds, rain, hail, thunder and lightning.

I had absolutely no idea it was even going on.

The storm hit on June 29, the day before Camp NaNoWriMo ended, and as usual, I was frantically typing away, trying to get my 50,000 words in.  So I had on my noise-cancelling 'phones, and it wasn't until I stopped to take a break that I looked out my window.

The weather was so crazy that I kid you not, I turned back to my computer to be certain I hadn't missed a tornado warning.

So, take my word for it—these suckers WORK. And they let you write in just about any environment. For me, that's more than worth the price, and when/if mine ever die, I'll be shelling out for another pair right away.

This month I'm participating in the A-Z blog challenge. My theme is "writer hacks," or 26 shortcuts you can do as a writer to get the most out of writing and the journey toward and through publication. Find out more about it at a-to-zchallenge.com, and hop around to read the other cool blogs that are part of the challenge!