I'm glad the quote on my blog attracted your attention. As for me, a "happy hour" before writing just won't work for me. I'm apt to end up doing more sleeping than writing. As for David, I have a theory that, since he did a lot of his copywriting in the days of the three martini lunch, the agency people and clients who thought his copy was brilliant may have been in worse shape than he was. Just a theory.

wgb/aka walter 42

I don't believe in writing+drinking combination! That's immoral!

I've voted no. I can not combine it because I need concentration to write. I may drink a bit of scotch to relax after writing, for me it is impossible to be relaxed and concentrated at the same time.  But anyway, RaiNY, don't be such a moralist. It is immoral to drink and drive and not to write and drink. Drinking had its impact on the literature we can't ignore.

"A friend of mine was teaching a survey course in American literature one summer session at the University of Houston. In the class were several older students, schoolteachers mostly. A teacher came up to him after class one day and said, "Listen, I just want to know why every single author on our reading list was an alcoholic!" The professor ran his eye down the list. Edgar Allen Poe. Stephen Crane. Theodore Roethke. Herman Melville. Delmore Schwartz. Scott Fitzgerald. William Faulkner. The school-teacher was right. Every writer on his list was an alcoholic."

"If he had not become such a drunk, would Truman Capote have finished Answered Prayers? If she had not turned to alcohol in such a destructive way, would Jean Stafford have finished the novel she worked on for 20 years? Would Caroline Gordon have finished her long novel about explorer Meriwether Lewis?"

You can read more about it here http://www.unhooked.com/sep/writers.htm

Completely agree


I think that the reason why so many writers used to drink a lot is not because of some special relation between being drunk and creating genius masterpieces, but rather because  talented people frequently have troubles in  social and private life. Their perception is different, they are not used to compromising if they have certain life principles, IMHO.

Great topic! LOL

I personally think that drinking, if not much, may stimulate writing. You are more relaxed and may give way to your imagination
Not that I practice such stuff frequently
I firmly believe that any addiction is not worth possible brilliant results in creative field.

A bit of whiskey won't bring hangover to me. I like to drink aged single malted whiskey and for me that's the best source of inspiration. Of course I drink responsibly

well, I've just visited it - everything is OK.
may be it was closed for reconstruction or  some problem with server occured

How much is too much for you?
In Germany people drink a lot of beer. But I prefer wine

With so much of my recent work centering on beer due to the UNOB website, it's actually quite an interesting subject for me.

In fact, I can't drink a beer anymore unless I am somehow able to capture my thoughts about it for the site! This often means I sit down with a new beer, open a Word doc and begin tasting and making notes.

If I'm nowhere near my PC, I carry a notebook around, just in case an impromptu beer review breaks out. My digi camera also has a video option, which I can shoot a review onto, or use it like a dictaphone and record verbal reviews.

As for "real" creative writing, I prefer a good supply of strong black tea to alcohol. I know Stephen King has published short stories that he wrote while drunk. They're pretty weird, which is saying something by his standards!