Altered States
Mar. 2nd, 2014 12:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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write_awayHello Fellow Writers-
Please forgive if this topic has been discussed recently or mods feel free to chasten if this subject is in poor taste or should be age restricted, but - my question is: Has anyone else noticed that a state of inebriation is conducive to better and more prolific fiction writing? Let me explain why I ask.
A couple of years back I experienced a sort of 'golden age' of personal writing. During that time I was drinking. This was not a fall down drunk type of thing but a bottle of champagne - which is roughly 2 large glasses - 2 or 3 times a week. My output was phenomenal and I was pleased with the quality of my efforts as well.
Fast forward to the present which is a time when I am more serious about my health and I no longer drink. Though I still have many ideas I feel are worthwhile and projects left to finish I can't seem to recreate that wonderful zone I'd gotten into when I was writing well and often. I really don't want to re-introduce less healthy habits so I'd appreciate if anyone else who may have experienced this would communicate their solutions.
Thanks so much for any information.
Ki
Please forgive if this topic has been discussed recently or mods feel free to chasten if this subject is in poor taste or should be age restricted, but - my question is: Has anyone else noticed that a state of inebriation is conducive to better and more prolific fiction writing? Let me explain why I ask.
A couple of years back I experienced a sort of 'golden age' of personal writing. During that time I was drinking. This was not a fall down drunk type of thing but a bottle of champagne - which is roughly 2 large glasses - 2 or 3 times a week. My output was phenomenal and I was pleased with the quality of my efforts as well.
Fast forward to the present which is a time when I am more serious about my health and I no longer drink. Though I still have many ideas I feel are worthwhile and projects left to finish I can't seem to recreate that wonderful zone I'd gotten into when I was writing well and often. I really don't want to re-introduce less healthy habits so I'd appreciate if anyone else who may have experienced this would communicate their solutions.
Thanks so much for any information.
Ki
no subject
Date: 2014-03-03 12:42 am (UTC)Nowadays I can't write if I even have half a drink. I just want to lie down and have a nice sleepie instead.
I drank when I had bad health problems. It was my way of literally numbing the pain enough so I could concentrate.
I think the creative alcohol thing is probably a myth. It was for me, anyway. There are so many other ways of altering my mood into that frame. It was more the habit than anything else. The knowledge that once I was drunk I was good for only writing. It was like booking the time for myself off.
A brief spot of gentle yoga and 10 minutes of Arvo Part's Spiegel im Spiegel is what does it for me these days. That's more sustainable.
I have no idea if since I've given up alcohol the quality of my writing has gone down.
Younger people tend to drink more without regard for the state of their bodies. Younger people also tend to have more energy in general. Perhaps this is the real connection of writing to use of alcohol?