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I seem to be under the impression that I'm writing a novel, but all I seem to do most days is sit around drinking booze

 
 
Alex's Grandma
14:39 / 27.02.04
So has, er, well has anyone else had a similar experience ?
 
 
FinderWolf
16:42 / 27.02.04
Ernest Hemingway did.
 
 
Topper
18:29 / 27.02.04
Try writing a couple hours before sunrise, or a couple hours before you go to work. You might be less likely to drink then. If you're stalled on the novel, put it down and try journaling every day. The important thing is to write every day and eventually the process will take over.

.
 
 
Alex's Grandma
20:46 / 27.02.04
Topper

Well I think that's right. I suppose for a while I've been attempting to destroy the conscious mind, so the ego-less self, the subconscious, whatever, y'know the Roadrunner self, not the poor old coyote, would shine right on through, like the sun through the curtains on a dusty old bedsit. I'm not exactly saying that it hasn't worked out
 
 
agvvv
22:19 / 27.02.04
I have the same problem.. I seem to have the impression that I`m writing comics, and sometimes what I like to call novels novels, but all I`m really doing is smoking weed. But I`m convinced thats the mark of a true genius, on the other hand though, I`m high as a pie..
 
 
Alex's Grandma
04:09 / 28.02.04
But you ARE, man, you are a genius. It's just that sometimes it's hard. You have to make choices. For example, should I pass out now ? Or perhaps a bit later ? Or just not go to bed at all, hence to spend the next day wandering Camden like a photocopy of whoever it was I was meant to be in the first place ?
 
 
agvvv
11:09 / 28.02.04
Yeah..thats it..Were both geniuses, misunderstood really.. We should team up and take over the ideosphere!
 
 
Sax
17:37 / 29.02.04
After you've had a beer and a joint, obviously.
 
 
agvvv
17:48 / 29.02.04
Obviously.. we could really need a sax though, care to join us?
 
 
lekvar
02:49 / 04.03.04
To put a spin on Topper's first comment, try writing at work. Yes, I know that that would be interfering with valuable internet time, but try it for a day or two.

I've been doing my writing at work and I've never been more productive.
 
 
autran
08:48 / 08.03.04
Hemingway drank because he didn't have Will & Grace on DVD.
 
 
Jack Fear
13:49 / 08.03.04
Hemingway drank because he was an alcoholic. Endy fookin story.
 
 
agvvv
14:01 / 08.03.04
I don`t have Will & Grace on DVD..should I be drinking? I have Dilbert though..
 
 
Jack Fear
14:49 / 08.03.04
Dilbert would be enough to drive me to drink.
 
 
agvvv
14:56 / 08.03.04
Well I guess I should be drinking then. Up for a beer anyone, I have Dilbert?
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
11:01 / 09.03.04
I used to be convinced I was writing a novel but in fact drank a lot and worked in a supermarket. Now I'm convinced I'm writing a novel, but am in fact writing extremely trite short stories for online genre markets. I'm drinking a bit less now, but am enjoying sl-i-i-ightly more weed.

This novel, though, man, this novel's going to be great.
 
 
agvvv
12:10 / 09.03.04
"I used to be convinced I was writing a novel but in fact drank a lot and worked in a supermarket."

thats me

"but am enjoying sl-i-i-ightly more weed."

me again..should I be concerned in any way?
 
 
Sax
12:20 / 09.03.04
I seem to be under the impression that I sit around boozing and smoking weed, but in actual fact all I'm doing is writing at least a thousand words a night, after nine hours' work, some interaction with the baby and meaningful engagement with the life-partner.

You know what, though? There's a novel emerging.
 
 
agvvv
12:22 / 09.03.04
How do you do that? Can you teach compu-comp, even though I am slightly magnificent?
 
 
autran
12:22 / 09.03.04
I experience Dilbert at least thirty-seven and a half hours a week. No wonder there's no novel.
 
 
agvvv
06:47 / 11.03.04
I experience something similar only 10 hours a week. There really should be a novel
 
 
Whisky Priestess
14:47 / 13.03.04
Booze novels:

Under the Volcano (you have to drink just to get through it)
Hangover Square

Read them while drinking alone! It's practically research!
 
 
Alex's Grandma
17:20 / 13.03.04
And then there's Charles Bukowski. Possibly, arguably, I'm not drinking ENOUGH.
 
 
---
12:52 / 31.03.04
I'm still at the beginning of something i'm writing but if you search around for ideas while drinking booze that seems to help.
 
 
Liger Null
00:29 / 01.04.04
I used to be convinced I was writing a novel but in fact drank a lot and worked in a supermarket

Wierd, I work in a supermarket. I'm also trying to write a script. Do all struggling
trying-to-be-writers work in supermarkets? Perhaps we should start our own union.

I'm not much of a drinker, and I don't get stoned as much as I would like to. Yet distractions abound. Has anyone out there beat their demons long enough to write something worthwhile? How did you do it?
 
 
Alex's Grandma
04:14 / 01.04.04
I don't know about worthwhile, but I nearly got a book published a couple of years ago, there's still a badly stained letter from a literary agent lying round in my room which ends " You are a talented writer with a great future ahead of you. " Still makes me laugh, that.

Anyway, working plus writing, for whatever it's worth - No pubs or telly during the week, get home, shut the door and get on with it really, there's no other way. As long as you've spent your time on the job in a constructive fashion, ie just thinking a lot about what you're going to write later, perhaps taking some notes, and if you're not too knackered to put in maybe three or four hours once you're back in your room, you should be ok.

I suppose it also helps if you announce to everyone you know that you are, goddamnit, a bloody artist and so on -The sheer raw fear of looking a fool if you don't get it finished, your novel, your film, will get you through the slow times, creativity-wise, as well as anything else. You know, the more you've insisted you're going to damn well do something, the less of an option not doing it becomes.

Oh yeah, and try and resist the urge to edit your stuff too much - if you're not careful, this as a process can go on too long, and that's when they get you, the demons, for sure.

Anyway, good luck !
 
 
William Sack
06:53 / 01.04.04
Not booze and creativity, but almost - I used to share a flat with someone who 'worked in tv' who was really doing a hell of a lot of coke. He used to scribble down his 'ideas' for programmes on any bit of paper that came to hand. I read a few of them and they made Alan Partridge's 'Monkey Tennis' pitches look quite sane. I must try 'Under the Volcano' again, this time sober.
 
 
Nelson Evergreen
09:47 / 01.04.04
I don't know if this applies to the writing process, but illustrating's an absolute gas when you spend 30% or so of your time working under the influence. I tend to beaver away sober 'til I'm starting to flag - a good few hours, usually - then break open a bottle of wine and carry on. Within minutes you've got a whole new perspective on what you're doing, and the added recklessness can unearth some interesting titbits.
 
  
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