I find this depressing.... the being disciplined and writing a thousand
words every day, that is! And being gluten intolerant I cannot drink
scotch.... but there is rum and wine (thank the goddess for that, I
say.) I would be a bona fide clinically depressed if I ever stayed in a
psychologist's or psychiatrist's office long enough to be thus
clinically diagnosed (and they certainly don't like it when you up and
leave them, although I did stay long enough once to get a prescription
for some nasty drugs after being made to go see this particularly evil
person against my better judgment... what's so wrong with heroin, pot
and alcohol, I have to ask?)
FROM: http://www.ads.guardian.co.uk
What's the big idea?
Thinking for yourself
As part of Observer Magazine's investigation of inspiration, JG Ballard
offers his thoughts on creativity, children and a large scotch and soda
Kate Mikhail
Sunday September 22, 2002
For most of my working life as a professional, which began over 40 years
ago, what kick-started the day was a large scotch and soda. After my
wife died, I was bringing up my children on my own much of the time:
getting them up and to school and finding their satchels, all that sort
of thing, and I needed a sort of change of climate. I used to find that
a couple of large scotches did the trick - it created a different
microclimate inside my head.
I find the imaginative pressure has always been strong, thank god. I've
always felt that I had this message I had to bring the reader - a
deluded notion, I'm sure, but it's kept me going. I've also always been
a very disciplined writer, because that's the only way you ever get
anything done. Usually when I'm writing a novel I set myself 1,000 words
a day, and I stick to it religiously. I sometimes stop in the middle of
a sentence, which isn't a bad idea, as the next day it's very easy to
get back into it.
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