Confessions: October 5th
Write drunk. Edit sober.
I drink therefore I am!
I think I will become a wino.
Great advice?
Many of the great writers have been alcoholics. Or drug users. Or both. I have often joked about becoming an alcoholic to fuel my writing. But I can never find the right booze. If I’m out at a bar, I’m moving around and interacting with others; I don’t yawn and yearn for my bed. But if I’m home, a beer or two and I can’t concentrate on writing.
Beer makes me bloated. Scotch and whiskey and vodka are too hardcore while alone at home. What about wine? Red wine? Like a teenager experimenting, I pour a big glass. The kind that comes in a box with a plastic bladder inside. I power through the yawnsies, as I call them, and soon I’m in the sweet spot. Happy and invigorated.
I have reason to celebrate. I signed a contract with an audio professional for my book Twenty-One Octobers. He’s good. When I read aloud, I feel the emotions of the powerful scenes but I really felt them when I heard them from a trained actor. He hits words and really pulls the joy and rage and bitterness of the characters in the audition, in ways I hadn’t expected. I coach him on the subtext like a movie director and he understands me. I’m excited to hear him while reading the full script.
Jan-Ives Campbell 