Comments on: Does Alcohol Help Or Hurt Your Writing?

By: Joanna Penn

Joanna Penn — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:39:08 +0000

Hi Ellen,
I don’t have a problem with drinking while writing – I do have a problem with deciding that you can’t do it without drinking as this disempowers you and your creativity. If you show up on the page consistently – with or without alcohol – you will write. It’s something we do whether we feel like it or not. I believe you don’t need it. I hope you can find that sense as well.

By: Ellen

Ellen — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:13:01 +0000

I know that it’s “correct” to say that drinking is bad and doesn’t help your writing, but I can’t even get anything on the page right now if I don’t have a glass of wine first. I don’t write very much while drinking, and I agree with the “edit while sober” sentiment… but frankly, being inebriated lets me believe that somebody might someday actually read what I write, or that what I am writing might be worthwhile. Without that belief, it won’t even get on the page. I’m not looking for extra creativity or mystical visions – just the ability to put words down on the page in some semblance of order, that I used to be able to do before doubts crept in.

And there’s no one who can help with this, outside of myself. Your average garden-variety therapist doesn’t understand. Your non-writing friends (the only kind I have) don’t understand.

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 05:39:42 +0000

I really enjoyed reading this article!
I am not an alcoholic by any means but I enjoy a couple of glasses of wine a day, usually after dinner, while I write. A week ago, I decided to go on a detox and my writing to appears to have gone down the gurgler! So before heading up to the shop to buy a bottle of red (to attempt to write again) I typed in ‘authors that believed alcohol helped them to write’ into google and your article came up.

I’m undecided. Like you, I’ve gone past the point of no return and have felt robbed of time and creativity. But for months now, my writing has been flowing freely, with my couple of glasses of wine. Perhaps, its just a mind over matter thing.

I must say, my favourite writers Bukowski etc were all alcos. I kind of like the romantic notion that they suffered for their art. But yes, perhaps its just a personal thing, for the individual.

Glad you escaped to Western Australia. I’m based in Melbourne now, but I’m a West Aussie born and bred. Happy writing!

By: Joanna Penn

Joanna Penn — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 14:59:07 +0000

Good example Linda. I don’t think anyone finds critique easy but with alcohol, it would be shocking!

By: Linda Adams

Linda Adams — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 01:54:23 +0000

An alcohol/writing related experience. I used to be a part of a critique group that met at a man’s house. He always served Melot at the meetings to a few of the members (I don’t drink). One of the guys was getting his work critiqued that day. He’d had a bad day earlier, so while we were socializing, he had more than usual. By the time we got to critiquing his piece, he was on his way to being drunk. And of course, that was the section of the book that needed a lot of work, and he got hit with a lot of comments on things that needed to be fixed. Combined with the alcohol, and things turned ugly. It wasn’t good for him, and it wasn’t good for us. It made the host think we’d gone overboard on the critiques, even though we’d been fair. The problem was the alcohol.

By: Rebekah

Rebekah — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 01:18:34 +0000

I don’t recall ever writing while drinking and I don’t think I would ever mix the two on purpose. I don’t feel that it would benefit my writing. When I’m drinking I don’t feel much of anything. I become numb and that would be boring reading because readers want to experience what the writer is going through. I find that when I’m sober I can be creative and transparent in my writing. I like connecting with others and sharing things that are important to me. I share my struggles, my fears, my experiences and I am fairly confident I do it in a way that doesn’t embarrass me or my reader.

By: Rob F.

Rob F. — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 01:02:03 +0000

I left the UK when I was ten and sure as hell wasn’t an underage drinker, yet I miss British pubs too…

By: Rob F.

Rob F. — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 00:59:21 +0000

“You’ll never look back on a night of drinking and feel proud of it, but you can look back on your finished book and be proud of that for the rest of your life.”

I saw something stuck to a co-worker’s monitor one day. If I remember right, it was: “I live for the nights I can’t remember with the people I’ll never forget.” It seems to illustrate that there are people out there who do look back with pride on those big binge nights at the pubs and clubs.

And I wonder: What the hell’s wrong with them?!

By: amanda

amanda — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 23:33:20 +0000

Obviously a book like On The Road could be written by a drunk person, but In Cold Blood could only have been written by a sober author.

By: amanda

amanda — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 23:30:50 +0000

Capote actually said that real writing was impossible while drinking or taking drugs and that any real author would know that. You really did your research!