Eons ago, when I started my first book, I didn’t know squat about writing. One of my first problems was keeping my imagination flowing. Back then I hadn’t developed the writing habits that help keep my imagination going like nowadays. The only thing I discovered was that I needed to relax. I had always heard that some writers like Hemmingway and Stephen King were heavy drinkers. So I decided what was good enough for them would probably work for me. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
The only thing that happened when I drank alcohol while trying to write was that I got drunk. While drunk my brain was too dull to write anything imaginative, but worse, my drive to get things done disappeared. I ended up feeling guilty and annoyed with myself for not achieving my goals. If I were a quitter, that might have been it. I would have bought into the idea that writing is for only a select few, and decided I just wasn’t one of them. Knowing I could never live with myself after failing, I decided I did need to quit, but it was the alcohol which needed to go. Since my son was born around the same time, I stopped drinking for seventeen years while devoting myself to my writing goals.
During that time, I wrote my first book, signed an agent, and found my first publisher. I also developed my writing habits. I discovered that the idea behind drinking alcohol and writing was sound enough. It was the alcohol that was the problem. I just needed to relax while I wrote.
I have learned many relaxation techniques over the years, including self-hypnosis and as long as I employ them, I have no lack of story ideas. The other thing which helped was writing every day. Writing became my comfort time. Now it is the time of day I enjoy the most, and if something disrupts that time I get annoyed and frustrated about having my goals delayed.
So as with most things, drinking alcohol is not the solution. By learning to relax and allowing your mind to roam free, while developing good habits, writing can become more productive and enjoyable than drinking alcohol. Of course, having a few beers while not writing never hurts.