Keith here.
A college friend of mine wrote two critically acclaimed mysteries. Then he had a kid and so stopped smoking. It turns out that the smoking was an integral part of his creative process. He's 
published no novels since.
I myself write at a local café. My brain's gears are lubricated by pot after pot of green tea. In fact, when I try to write without sipping, my brain is like a car engine without oil. I crunch to a halt, just as my college friend did when he forswore smoking.
published no novels since.I myself write at a local café. My brain's gears are lubricated by pot after pot of green tea. In fact, when I try to write without sipping, my brain is like a car engine without oil. I crunch to a halt, just as my college friend did when he forswore smoking.
So, I confess. I am a tea addict. As sure as some people need nicotine, cocaine, or alcohol to function or to make it through the day, I need caffeine. Every word I write is drug-enhanced. William Burroughs (using the pen name William Lee) wrote Junky addled by morphine, and I finished my manuscript of Two Graves floating on green tea.What does this matter? Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, starts this evening. So? Well, you see, from sundown tonight till three stars appear in the sky Saturday night, I'm supposed to refrain from eating and drinking. (Sex, too, by the way.) That way I can devote all my attention to a review of my transgressions over the past year and how I intend to improve myself over the next one. (Let me tell you, twenty-five hours is not enough for that double task. And by the way, I ask your pardon, dear reader, if I offended you in the past year.)
Some time Saturday morning, I'll feel that a belt is being tightened around my forehead. Kinda the tea DT's. Well, I've decided to cheat. Today I bought a bottle of Excedrin which is a combination of aspirin, acetaminophen, and caffeine. When the headache starts, I'm going to pop a few. That way I can focus on my wanderings from the path of righteousness and the route back to it, rather than the little gremlins jackhammering inside my head. First caffeine and now Excedrin. Seems almost like the Valley of the Dolls, doesn't it?
Here's what I would like to know. What habits, drug-related or not, help you get your writing done?
14 comments:
I understand that most critics think Steven King did his best writing early on in his career when he was addicted to cocaine.
I'm a massive tea drinker, but I limit myself to the weekends, so mid week I have those same headaches you speak of. Still, I get my best writing done on the weekends, so there you go.
Can't drink coffee or tea--something to do with hot drinks, I think--so I always have a glass of Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi next to the keyboard. Don't know that it helps or hurts the writing, though.
Is there such a thing as a time-of-day addict? I can only do "real writing" early in the morning. If I don't get up at five and get cracking on my book, the day is lost, creatively! Fortunately I've only "missed" a handful of writing days this years, so no withdrawal yet!
I'm sure a lot of folks think I write my Odelia Grey novels with a box of Thin Mints or carton Cherry Garcia at the ready. Not so. I can't eat or drink (except for water) when I write. But I stress eat if I'm not writing or if I worried about stuff in the book or meeting a deadline.
But my "addiction" is a tidy house. If my apartment is in disarray, I can’t focus on my writing. It doesn’t have to be sparkling clean, but it has to be presentable. On weekends, I’ve settled into a nice little routine of writing for 1-1/2 - 2 hours then tackling a chore; writing; chore. That way both get done. But, of course, if I’m in the ZONE, I don’t stop my writing to clean. During the week, it doesn’t bother me as much. Go figure!
BTW, big congratulations to Kathryn Lilley on the recent release of Dying to be Thin!
Hello. My name is Mark. And I've been addicted to Double Chocolate Milano cookies for 10 years...
http://www.pepperidgefarm.com/ProductDetail.aspx?catID=725#
I have to tip the keyboard and bang the crumbs out periodically....
I feel your pain, Mark. I'm addicted to those, as well. In fact, Double Chocolate Milanos are banned from my shopping list. And the market has instructions to search for and confiscate all contraband if they suspect any smuggling.
Sue Ann~
Have you tried their Geneva cookies?
http://www.pepperidgefarm.com/Produ
ctDetail.aspx?catID=729
They are what you might call a "gateway drug" for the Milanos....
Mark -
I'm allergic to pecans (and walnuts).
You actually have website links to these products at your fingertips! Then, I guess it's no different than me having my favorite food places on speed dial. :)
Okay, we're planning for a fast and our friends are discussing COOKIES?
I now have one more reason to atone--the bad thoughts I'm thinking about Mark and Sue Ann. How do you say, "ARRGGGGHHH" in Hebrew?
Well, Shana Tova, Keith. And may you have an easy fast. Did you know that an inordinate number of Jews were born over the High Holy Days? The fasting, it seems, kicked their mothers into labor. My husband's birthday is Sunday. Another HHD baby!
Uh, they are all on my screensaver...
Ah, yes. We are a neurotic bunch, are we not? Coffee, tea, cookies, soft drinks, cigarettes, vacuum cleaners, we all have our writing catalysts.
Joanna, of course, the health of the fetus and mom take priority over any fasting requirements. But I'm not pregnant myself right now (or ill) so there's no out. Have an easy fast.
Congrats to you, Kathryn. You're starting the new year (of 5768) right.
And may you all be inscribed for healthy, prosperous and sweet year.
I also confess my addiction to tea - black pekoe, green or English Breakfast. I cannot start my day without three big mugs at least and keep a coffee pot in my office for the sole purpose of boiling hot water to fuel this addiction throughout the day. Not a bad thing to be addicted to if one believes the health news.
Though this isn't a requirement to write, good chocolate is also necessary to keep me happy. If I'm happy, I write better. It just so happens that the US Lindt Chocolate factory is ten minutes from my house. That makes me very happy.
Thank you Sue Ann and Keith and all, for your good wishes! I forgot to mention that in addition to the requirement of writing at the crack of dawn, I must imbibe a minimum of 3 cups of cafe au lait, and some type of major carbohydrate!
What habits help you get your writing done?
Hmmmm. The precursor to writing has a lot of steps.
I awake without an alarm usually around 6 a.m. I have to go to the bathroom first, brush teeth, pop a diet coke, pop my pills (I am getting older), feed the inside birds and fish, feed the outside birds and fish, pick whatever veggies are fresh in the garden (and it must be done first thing in the morning). Right now that is tomatoes, okra, cukes, bush beans, various peppers, and any flowers ready to bloom for my wife. Then, I put up a post for my blog, if I haven't done it during one of my four nightly trips to the can, and clear out the email. There's usually about twenty overnight items--mostly junk. Then, I eat breakfast in front of CNN and do the dishes after I start a load of wash. Somewhere around 10 a.m., if my cockateil permits it, I start to write. Somedays it is good; somedays my cockateil, relatives, friends, emails, bills, storms, neighbors, wild animals, or other strange events prevent me.
It's good for a novel a year. At some point I know the routine will change, especially when I get published. I'll deal with it then. Probably with a few more cokes in the morning and making my wife pick her own darn flowers.
-rick
http://muse-needed.blogspot.com/
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