https://medium.com/writers-on-writing/1f6bcb600140
Always write under the influence
A sober writer is a pretentious writer...
For me even posting around this place I feel like I have too much restraint. I'll type something and then delete it. Maybe I should lubricate the judgment a bit.
I wonder if I'm alone in feeling this way.
Hahaha you got a point there! :)
I thought the restraint i feel writing here is becoming less and less as i get used to caring less about the reaction of the readers - something that in everyday life is more difficult to do. But I haven't written in public forums for quite a few years, it feels like i have to relearn this. Even though the influence might help, i often have then a hard time understanding what i wrote myself :lulz: When i don't think clearly it seems to me (afterwards) that I skip parts of my argumets/sentences that to me at the moment appear self-evident. :eek: I actually do that sometimes also when I speak, and that even without any influences! :lol:
Sometimes, a bit of alcohol can help.
A bit. And too much, of course, doesn't help at all.
However, it's a bad habit to get into because...well, Christopher Hitchens. Basically.
I often post on the board with a bit of wine.
I never write papers for school while drinking though, it just fucks me all up for academic writing.
I've often thought I could put down some very fine words as long as I had enough booze and quiet space. I do really well when all lit up. The trouble is I am unprepared to potentially write a masterpiece (hah) if it means becoming a drunk.
Some of the best stuff I've written here was half written by a bottle.
I think it is a matter of judgement. Your judgement falters with the booze, so you actually put words down instead of THINKING about words you want to put down.
But I think if you just crank out a couple of thousand words every single day those little bumps smooth themselves over. Eventually. Maybe. If you're lucky.
My very best and very worst writing has been done with head full of whiskey. And there's no way to tell which it will be.
I have, however, quit drinking altogether, because I can't stand the hangovers anymore, and I'd like to think that I could liberate the things in my head without chemical assistance.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on June 26, 2013, 06:47:34 PM
My very best and very worst writing has been done with head full of whiskey. And there's no way to tell which it will be.
I have, however, quit drinking altogether, because I can't stand the hangovers anymore, and I'd like to think that I could liberate the things in my head without chemical assistance.
I think that's a good point. And like Alty said about judgement...I'd like to be able to get rid of, or at least quiet that voice in the back of my head that begins it's sentences with, "Now wait a second, there..."
I don't do my best writing when I'm drunk. I do my best writing when I need a drink.
So much semicolon hate. This kind of makes me want to get drunk or eat a bag of shrooms just to see what would happen to my writing. What could go wrong?
Hemingway was plastered, a lot, but IIRC he wrote standing in the mornings, and didn't get drunk until he was done.
Quote from: Bu☆ns on June 26, 2013, 07:56:35 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on June 26, 2013, 06:47:34 PM
My very best and very worst writing has been done with head full of whiskey. And there's no way to tell which it will be.
I have, however, quit drinking altogether, because I can't stand the hangovers anymore, and I'd like to think that I could liberate the things in my head without chemical assistance.
I think that's a good point. And like Alty said about judgement...I'd like to be able to get rid of, or at least quiet that voice in the back of my head that begins it's sentences with, "Now wait a second, there..."
I have that voice. I laugh at it when it tells me not to hit post.
YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME.
And what's the penalty if the voice is right? Thread falls off of page, world mysteriosly doesn't end.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on June 26, 2013, 09:13:10 PM
Quote from: Bu☆ns on June 26, 2013, 07:56:35 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on June 26, 2013, 06:47:34 PM
My very best and very worst writing has been done with head full of whiskey. And there's no way to tell which it will be.
I have, however, quit drinking altogether, because I can't stand the hangovers anymore, and I'd like to think that I could liberate the things in my head without chemical assistance.
I think that's a good point. And like Alty said about judgement...I'd like to be able to get rid of, or at least quiet that voice in the back of my head that begins it's sentences with, "Now wait a second, there..."
I have that voice. I laugh at it when it tells me not to hit post.
YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME.
And what's the penalty if the voice is right? Thread falls off of page, world mysteriosly doesn't end.
Yes. That is the only way to handle that thing.
Now that I think about it, my best writing is always when I've got that feeling in my gut that, much like certain bateria in certain digstive tracts, HAS to come out.
My very best writing is much like sudden, explosive, projectile vomiting.
IN MANY WAYS.
I like semicolons; they are very useful. I am not such a huge fan of ellipses, however...
First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college.
Quote from: Cain on June 26, 2013, 10:07:54 PM
First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college.
FUCK THAT SCHOOL LARNIN, THE REGLAR MAN DON'T NEED THAT SHIT.
I use them to separate sets of stuff that have a lot of commas, i.e., hardly ever.
Quote from: stelz on June 26, 2013, 10:43:07 PM
I use them to separate sets of stuff that have a lot of commas, i.e., hardly ever.
I use them to indicate a separation between one thought and a related thought, without a full stop.
The funny thing is that I have been using semicolons since I was maybe nine and I DIDN'T GO TO SCHOOL. I used them because I read a lot and saw them used in books, and I picked up punctuation from seeing it used.
Quote from: M. Nigel Salt on June 26, 2013, 11:38:18 PM
The funny thing is that I have been using semicolons since I was maybe nine and I DIDN'T GO TO SCHOOL. I used them because I read a lot and saw them used in books, and I picked up punctuation from seeing it used.
Mark Twain had an irrational hatred of semicolons. He wrote an essay about it.
So, tell me, Nigel - IF that's your REAL name - do you think you're smarter than Mark Twain?
And Kurt Vonnegut, who my quote was from, is an American WAR HERO.
Do you hate the military Nigel?
Quote from: Doktor Howl on June 26, 2013, 11:52:26 PM
Quote from: M. Nigel Salt on June 26, 2013, 11:38:18 PM
The funny thing is that I have been using semicolons since I was maybe nine and I DIDN'T GO TO SCHOOL. I used them because I read a lot and saw them used in books, and I picked up punctuation from seeing it used.
Mark Twain had an irrational hatred of semicolons. He wrote an essay about it.
So, tell me, Nigel - IF that's your REAL name - do you think you're smarter than Mark Twain?
I don't know him personally, so it's difficult for me to assess that.
HOWEVER, I will say that I don't have an irrational terror of pearl earrings, either, and I definitely don't think I'm smarter than Nikola Tesla.
YOUR MOVE, REVEREND.
Quote from: Cain on June 27, 2013, 12:03:16 AM
And Kurt Vonnegut, who my quote was from, is an American WAR HERO.
Do you hate the military Nigel?
Kurt Vonnegut once got high and ate so much ice cream that his bowels froze up and stopped working for two days. He was pretty sure he was going to die.
I've never done that.
JUST SAYING.
Quote from: M. Nigel Salt on June 27, 2013, 12:07:28 AM
Quote from: Cain on June 27, 2013, 12:03:16 AM
And Kurt Vonnegut, who my quote was from, is an American WAR HERO.
Do you hate the military Nigel?
Kurt Vonnegut once got high and ate so much ice cream that his bowels froze up and stopped working for two days. He was pretty sure he was going to die.
I've never done that.
JUST SAYING.
Exactly. A true war hero. No-one else could have survived such an encounter.
Quote from: M. Nigel Salt on June 27, 2013, 12:05:25 AM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on June 26, 2013, 11:52:26 PM
Quote from: M. Nigel Salt on June 26, 2013, 11:38:18 PM
The funny thing is that I have been using semicolons since I was maybe nine and I DIDN'T GO TO SCHOOL. I used them because I read a lot and saw them used in books, and I picked up punctuation from seeing it used.
Mark Twain had an irrational hatred of semicolons. He wrote an essay about it.
So, tell me, Nigel - IF that's your REAL name - do you think you're smarter than Mark Twain?
I don't know him personally, so it's difficult for me to assess that.
HOWEVER, I will say that I don't have an irrational terror of pearl earrings, either, and I definitely don't think I'm smarter than Nikola Tesla.
YOUR MOVE, REVEREND.
Doktor, if you please.
Nikola Tesla was infinitely more wise than you or I, which is why he died in a cheap motel, obsessively counting his pubic hairs. HE KNEW HOW MANY PUBIC HAIRS HE HAD. Right down to the folicle.
Do YOU know how many pubic hairs you have?
Quote from: Doktor Howl on June 27, 2013, 02:01:38 AM
Quote from: M. Nigel Salt on June 27, 2013, 12:05:25 AM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on June 26, 2013, 11:52:26 PM
Quote from: M. Nigel Salt on June 26, 2013, 11:38:18 PM
The funny thing is that I have been using semicolons since I was maybe nine and I DIDN'T GO TO SCHOOL. I used them because I read a lot and saw them used in books, and I picked up punctuation from seeing it used.
Mark Twain had an irrational hatred of semicolons. He wrote an essay about it.
So, tell me, Nigel - IF that's your REAL name - do you think you're smarter than Mark Twain?
I don't know him personally, so it's difficult for me to assess that.
HOWEVER, I will say that I don't have an irrational terror of pearl earrings, either, and I definitely don't think I'm smarter than Nikola Tesla.
YOUR MOVE, REVEREND.
Doktor, if you please.
Nikola Tesla was infinitely more wise than you or I, which is why he died in a cheap motel, obsessively counting his pubic hairs. HE KNEW HOW MANY PUBIC HAIRS HE HAD. Right down to the folicle.
Do YOU know how many pubic hairs you have?
That's what Brazillian waxings are for.
Exactly. If Tesla had been a wise man, he would have known that pubic hair is the enemy and must be annihilated with electricity.
Quote from: M. Nigel Salt on June 27, 2013, 04:22:53 AM
Exactly. If Tesla had been a wise man, he would have known that pubic hair is the enemy and must be annihilated with electricity.
You make an excellent point, Reverend. I'm off to the garage to get some wire strippers and an extension cord.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on June 27, 2013, 05:19:09 AM
Quote from: M. Nigel Salt on June 27, 2013, 04:22:53 AM
Exactly. If Tesla had been a wise man, he would have known that pubic hair is the enemy and must be annihilated with electricity.
You make an excellent point, Reverend. I'm off to the garage to get some wire strippers and an extension cord.
:spittake:
Quote from: Cardinal Pizza Deliverance. on June 26, 2013, 09:03:10 PM
So much semicolon hate. This kind of makes me want to get drunk or eat a bag of shrooms just to see what would happen to my writing. What could go wrong?
You could end up naked and screaming in an ambulance.
...Apparently 6 caps are too much if you're a control freak and cannot handle your cats teleporting.
Quote from: Cain on June 26, 2013, 10:07:54 PM
First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college.
...Always hating on the intersex people, I swear.
Quote from: hylierandom, A.D.D. on June 27, 2013, 01:48:54 PM
Quote from: Cardinal Pizza Deliverance. on June 26, 2013, 09:03:10 PM
So much semicolon hate. This kind of makes me want to get drunk or eat a bag of shrooms just to see what would happen to my writing. What could go wrong?
You could end up naked and screaming in an ambulance.
...Apparently 6 caps are too much if you're a control freak and cannot handle your cats teleporting.
Quote from: Cain on June 26, 2013, 10:07:54 PM
First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college.
...Always hating on the intersex people, I swear.
Shit. My cat teleports NOW and I'm not on anything other than Pepsi. The naked in an ambulance sounds like a dream I had once, though. Were the ambulance's walls made of yeti tongues?
I am considering taking the advice in the OP. Problem is, I really don't like alcohol, and the alternatives are a serious inconvenience to get hold of.
Still though, I am producing very little in the way of creative output lately and I feel like it's because I can't kick myself out of Autopilot Mode for some reason. A chemically-induced concussion usually helps in that department.
Quote from: Cardinal Pizza Deliverance. on June 28, 2013, 01:54:25 AM
Quote from: hylierandom, A.D.D. on June 27, 2013, 01:48:54 PM
Quote from: Cardinal Pizza Deliverance. on June 26, 2013, 09:03:10 PM
So much semicolon hate. This kind of makes me want to get drunk or eat a bag of shrooms just to see what would happen to my writing. What could go wrong?
You could end up naked and screaming in an ambulance.
...Apparently 6 caps are too much if you're a control freak and cannot handle your cats teleporting.
Quote from: Cain on June 26, 2013, 10:07:54 PM
First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college.
...Always hating on the intersex people, I swear.
Shit. My cat teleports NOW and I'm not on anything other than Pepsi. The naked in an ambulance sounds like a dream I had once, though. Were the ambulance's walls made of yeti tongues?
Nah, just a couple of ambulance crewmen, one of whom told the (ex)wife that "Yeah, six caps are just WAY too much for starting out."
Except I was on 9, and didn't call an ambulance...did get naked, then put my clothes back on, then got naked again.
It was a really weird night.
Quote from: Cain on June 26, 2013, 10:07:54 PM
First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college.
Permission to steal for marginalia?
Quote from: Queen Gogira Pennyworth, BSW on June 28, 2013, 09:13:15 PM
Quote from: Cain on June 26, 2013, 10:07:54 PM
First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college.
Permission to steal for marginalia?
It's a Vonnegut quote, so it's entirely up to you to use as you please.
<-- Is a dummy.