I am not without my vices. I tend to spend too much on foolish trivialities, like collectible statues and mini busts from comic books. I like to buy DVDs and CD and I am addicted to television and movies. I buy books like drug addicts by their favorite flavors of addiction.
I don't drink. I don't smoke. I had to give up eating everything in sight because of diabetes and because, frankly, I wanted to fit into human sized pants again. While I wouldn't mind being a sex addict it takes two to tango and even when someone is interested I remain blithering ignorant of the fact until it is pointed out to me later, normally by an amused friend.
The good news about my vices is that they keep me in tune with the market to one extent or another. Movies are research. listen to the CDs when I'm writing and my plethora of little statues and knick knacks inspire me. I look at them while I contemplate what I'm writing about and they make my mind work a little harder.
Do I think vices are important to the process? Sure, I suppose. There's a very well renowned comic book writer who allegedly took two hits of acid on Thursdays so he could write again on Mondays. Apparently it worked. I'm not going to mention names but if I did you'd agree he had a long run of really amazing work before his brain turned into an echo chamber and he started repeating himself. These days nothing he writes is without a violent rape scene. Apparently he got rather fixated. I stopped reading him a while back and keep hoping that somehow he'll come back to his senses. I'm not holding my breath.
There are endless tales of how a writer needed to get pickled every day. Most of those writers were alcoholics who wrote some seriously depressing stuff, but they were damned good writers. I tend to think, personally, that they might have managed just as well without the booze, but that's me.
I said I don't smoke and that's true, but I did smoke, for many years. I spent a fortune on tobacco. I was up to three packs a day with Nicorette between smiles if I had to wait for more than ten minutes. By the end I LOATHED the damned things and I quit. I never got into beer or booze because, I saw some tendencies toward violence in myself that I didn't think needed to be harvested. These days, if I DO have a drink, it;s one and it's nursed for a while. The cigarettes used to be a thing for me. i chain-smoked while I was writing and when I quit smoking I had to find my groove again without the benefit of nicotine.
Do I NEED any vices to write? No. Writing IS my vice. I do it to bring me joy. That it makes me money is a nice plus, but as I have said before, I would very likely write even if there were no money involved.
Keep smiling,
Jim
Oh, and here's a link to my latest Jonathan Crowley story, for anyone who's interested.
Some of my toys.
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