Writing and Drugs

ishtat said:

But there is a connection. Yellowtail was started by the Casella family at Griffith NSW in 1969. It did not develop much until it appeared to have obtained significant capital from somewhere.

Later one of the Casella brothers (and Yellowtail director) was jailed with respect to a 'friend' growing marijuana on an industrial scale. The family has been under almost constant investigations for various criminality but amidst all that the legitimate business of Yellowtail wines became a huge success as an exporter of decent and well priced wine.

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A marijuana farm, in Griffith? Inconceivable!

(I had a friend who grew up in Griffith. One of his schoolteachers tried to sell drugs to a student whose father was one of the local capos. It ended about as well as you might imagine.)

ChloeTzang said:

Definitely not. I’m thinking more Oscar Wilde myself. With my last words being something hilarious. I want everyone laughing and saying “that was just like her.” I’d like to be lying there and saying “give me a kiss” and wearing fake vampire teeth and then do one of those one liners everyone remembers....

And I love that Madison Mills cover. That’s gorgeous.

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Thanks on the cover. I picked the image because it was my concept of the protagonist. But I'll have to say that that's not my concept of a hookup.

ishtat said:

But there is a connection. Yellowtail was started by the Casella family at Griffith NSW in 1969. It did not develop much until it appeared to have obtained significant capital from somewhere.

Later one of the Casella brothers (and Yellowtail director) was jailed with respect to a 'friend' growing marijuana on an industrial scale. The family has been under almost constant investigations for various criminality but amidst all that the legitimate business of Yellowtail wines became a huge success as an exporter of decent and well priced wine.

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I gave Yellowtail Shiraz a shot because Nana Jockel (wife of the Australian ambassador to Thailand and one time head of Australia's--shhhh--spy service Gordon Jockel) kept bringing it to parties and saying it was the best balance of taste and price you could get. I decided she was right and have had it as my "everyday" wine ever since. (Consumers Reports agreed a few years ago, although they rated some other Yellowtail wines higher.)

Bramblethorn said:

A marijuana farm, in Griffith? Inconceivable!

(I had a friend who grew up in Griffith. One of his schoolteachers tried to sell drugs to a student whose father was one of the local capos. It ended about as well as you might imagine.)

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Where I grew up (similar sized town to Griffith, further north), one of the dealers in my school was a local copper's son. It kept the quality stuff in town, and the wallopers only busted jokers coming up from Sydney. When I got my licence there was a four foot tall dope plant on the police-station porch. The son hadn't bagged it yet...

It all worked quite well until the Royal Commission into drug use, 1978 or 9, when it all went pear shaped. All the little dealers got busted, which left the market open for organised crime. Heroin addiction in that same town jumped from one Kerouacian old school user to about twenty, in six months. Fail. Now, of course, it's meth-amphetamines, which are probably a hundred times worse.

i've found that i've never done anything productive while under the influence, unless you count making a fool of myself. i get smashed so that i won't have to think, not so that i will.

Isn’t two people (or sometimes more) intoxicating enough? Kant

rae121452 said:

i've found that i've never done anything productive while under the influence, unless you count making a fool of myself. i get smashed so that i won't have to think, not so that i will.

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I should have clarified, I only have a beer or two, or maybe a glass of whiskey when trying to write. I’m not wasted and smashing keys blindly, but that little bit does help at least in unblocking my thoughts.

I knew about all the famous authors that notoriously loved to drink, and that really prompted my question as I wondered that there must be a reason.

For me, I do think inhibition getting lowered, or something, makes me write more freely and with less self-criticism!

To each his/her own!

davybyrne said:

I should have clarified, I only have a beer or two, or maybe a glass of whiskey when trying to write. I’m not wasted and smashing keys blindly, but that little bit does help at least in unblocking my thoughts.

I knew about all the famous authors that notoriously loved to drink, and that really prompted my question as I wondered that there must be a reason.

For me, I do think inhibition getting lowered, or something, makes me write more freely and with less self-criticism!

To each his/her own!

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I think those famous ones that drank to excess and topped themselves all has serious psychological issues.

One or two drinks is a relaxant. Those guys went waaaaay beyond that. Hunter S Thompson made a career out of it.

Hypoxia said:

Has anyone here tried writing after being tasered?

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I'm not even going to touch that question?

Once in a while I'll pour a couple of dark rum and Pepsi. But that's it.

Marijuana is legal here now, but I spent an evening stoned with a girl that wanted to get laid. I never clued in UNTIL I came down and figured it out the next day. I considered that a life lesson. Opportunity gained, opportunity lost. :caning:

gordo12 said:

I'm not even going to touch that question?

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I was kinda snide but serious, actually. Because we can be affected by more than recreational chemicals -- by medicines and procedures. I'm now writing "under the influence" of lotsa work on my heart and eyes. Scan my story list for the two-year gap from July 2016 to August 2018. My heart didn't pump my brain enough O2 for authorship. Procedures and chemicals have me writing again.

Much of my latest writing, before the most recent eye surgery, required peering at enlarged fonts on my laptop held close to my face. Actual typing took a more distant posture that produced many typos. So I proof-read and revised the Stanley Steamer series by closely scanning every word. My extra care may have made a difference.

Writing and drugs. When the drugs are blood-thinners, pulse-regulators, eyeball anti-inflammatory drops and pills, prescribed painkillers, et fucking cetera -- great! When the drugs are self-administered painkillers and mood alterers (drink, smoke, snort, shoot) -- it depends.

My favorite attitude adjustment appears in my stories -- coffee or mocha spiked with rum or tequila. I wash-down prescribed painkillers and potions with such a speedball and then pace around the house working out plot points and dialogs. A little hashish boosts imagination too, but be sure to take notes.
_____

Back to physical and electrical trauma. I asked about being tasered -- have any here been shocked, and written later? How about medical electroshock? Accidental house-current shocks? Does electricity affect your creativity?

Hypoxia said:

Back to physical and electrical trauma. I asked about being tasered -- have any here been shocked, and written later? How about medical electroshock? Accidental house-current shocks? Does electricity affect your creativity?

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I've taken a few mains AC and some 450 VDC shocks, and I can assure you, writing is the last thing I thought about. More a case of, "fuck, are my reactions really that fast?" and then removing the metal screw-driver from the back wall. Followed by, "Am I really that stupid, using an uninsulated screw-driver to adjust a high-voltage circuit?" Answer: yes, I really am that stupid, but still alive.

I write best when I am using stimulants

davybyrne said:

II knew about all the famous authors that notoriously loved to drink, and that really prompted my question as I wondered that there must be a reason.

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I suspect this is not so much "lots of writers are alcoholics" but "lots of people are alcoholics, and writers are more likely to be visible about it".

Here's an article with information about professions that have high rates of death related to alcoholism. For white males, the worst professions are:

Garbage collectors
Advertisers
Carpet installers
Gardeners
Surveyors
Farmers
Amusement park attendants
Concrete finishers
Musicians
Drywall installers
Construction labourers
Sailors
Cooks
Painters
Roofers
Shoe machine operators
Bartenders

Writers don't make the top 17. But writers tend to write a lot about themselves (see also: why so many books have a writer as protagonist...) and so we're more likely to hear about their issues with alcohol.

Hypoxia said:

I was kinda snide but serious, actually. Because we can be affected by more than recreational chemicals -- by medicines and procedures. I'm now writing "under the influence" of lotsa work on my heart and eyes. Scan my story list for the two-year gap from July 2016 to August 2018. My heart didn't pump my brain enough O2 for authorship. Procedures and chemicals have me writing again.

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I rarely drink and never use illicit drugs (no judgement on others, just not my thing) but I do find that some stuff is easier to write when I'm very very sleepy.

Back to physical and electrical trauma. I asked about being tasered -- have any here been shocked, and written later? How about medical electroshock? Accidental house-current shocks? Does electricity affect your creativity?

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I used to get shocked sometimes for scientific purposes. Can't say I noticed any effect on my creativity.

electricblue66 said:

I've taken a few mains AC and some 450 VDC shocks, and I can assure you, writing is the last thing I thought about. More a case of, "fuck, are my reactions really that fast?" and then removing the metal screw-driver from the back wall. Followed by, "Am I really that stupid, using an uninsulated screw-driver to adjust a high-voltage circuit?" Answer: yes, I really am that stupid, but still alive.

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Tuning a 50kw broadcast transmitter taught me to be very very careful with circuitry.

Hypoxia said:

I was kinda snide but serious, actually. Because we can be affected by more than recreational chemicals -- by medicines and procedures. I'm now writing "under the influence" of lotsa work on my heart and eyes.

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I'm with Hypoxia, albeit briefly. I've just had a little medical procedure done that will leave me essentially immobile for a week. I'm hoping to do some writing, and I'm definitely under the influence of some lovely painkillers. But if I have a productivity jump this week, it will be due to the excess time, not the drugs.

That said, I've just had a very difficult time typing this bit of genius prose. I'm a fast touch typist and flat on my back with laptop on delicate abdomen is not the best way to produce.

Caffeine and nicotine fuel all of my endeavors. My best bits in my stories almost all came to me while I was out on the porch having a cigarette. The coffee kept me awake and focused long enough to get those bits onto the page.

Drinking inspires ideas for me

I do put words on page then, mostly to capture thoughts. I finish the story sober.