Haha, I used to write while drunk when I was in college, usually after being out with my friends. The results were earnest, emotional, linguistically experimental (to put it one way), and SPECTACULARLY embarassing when I woke up the next morning. But I do love me some Faulkner, and Hemingway wasn't so bad either. So to each their own, I say!

This is a GREAT POST, Scott. Very timely for me. Driking is something I, personally, need to be aware of. Lately I've been drinking more heavily then in times past. (When I was writing an epic biblical story I went dry for about 10 months)
This post came at a great time for me. Sometimes you need a reminder of the dark side that alchol brings. Soooo glad I visited it the link you provided. IF you're not carefull, alchol can control you, can destroy you. Everyone likes to have a good time, but you have to know when to say when. Can you stop drinking if asked? Are you in control, or is something else?

Personally, I can't write when I start drinking. Drinking is the reward I give myself sometimes AFTER I've reached a level of completion.

Running is the way to go if you want to kick start the creative process. Running has worked wonders for me in the past, and I highly recommend that over drinking.

- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

I always get away from the pages and back to the outline and research.

I don't think I need writing as an excuse to tilt a few back so I guess I'm tapped in alright.

There is a strange and unfortunate romanticism about a scribbler and his/her mind altering elixirs but writer beware is certainly good advice.

So now I must recommend a fine wine for the blocked writer.

Manufactured here in lovely downtown Cedarburg, Wisconsin, at the Cedar Creek Winery...

www.cedarcreekwinery.com

"Waterfall Riesling" - - a semi-dry with hints of apricot and pear.

Tasty stuff, kids! And, for whatever reason, when the dialogue and scenes get stopped up in the drain, this particular lubricant seems to clear the clog, as it were.

A shameless plug for my hometown winery, sorry! :D

It's inaccurate that these authors actually wrote drunk; most of them would write until drunk. At least that's how Hemingway & Bailey's Bartending Guide to Great American Writers tells it. The rare exceptions are Falkner, McCullers and Chandler, with the latter having the best story in the book: After being sober for several years, Chandler agreed to fall of the wagon for Paramount in order to complete the Blue Dahlia, since he couldn't figure out the third act any other way. It subsequently won him the Oscar for best original screenplay.

In "On Writing," Stephen King laments not having any recollection of writing Cujo because of his beer preoccupation.

A glass (or two) of wine always gets my creative juices flowing. Add music to the mix, and I am blinded by my brilliance! Too bad it's so fleeting.

Never had much success writing while drinking. I used to smoke cigarettes, which was very effective. Alas, that vice is no longer permitted to me.

That list of "Top 10 Drunk American Writers" represents some of my least-favorite authors, FWIW.

Drunk-writing?

Nah. Too much typo-catching afterwards.

I found out that writing at early hours can give you the same "freedom" without the typo drawback.

M.

I must second M's comment.

I find myself writing the most after 1:00 AM. I can write during the day, but it's a lot more difficult for me, and somehow I find distractions to waste my time away with a lot easier. It's weird.

It's good for the creativity, bad for the discipline.

"Glug glug" LOL. Funnily enough I was just thinking about this since I had for the last hour so many ideas and creative juice flowing that I had a hard time to keep it up. I thought that the reason might be moderate eating and meditation that I have not done for a long time. Also I did fairly heavy exercise. What all this has in common is to lift up the spirit or rather to tackle the heavy mind. The lack of serotonin and or endorphin. Alcohol can be self medication that lifts the spirit. Depression, sadness, anxiety, stress and other crappy stuff stifles the creative juice. It blocks. It makes you contracted instead of expanded. I would recommend rather exercise, meditation and light eating for clear and flowing mind.