Sometimes external influences are awesome for writing. Sometimes they’re really not. Sometimes only in moderation.
There are three things that do wonders for my writing ability when consumed in moderation: caffeine, sugar, and alcohol. Of those three, caffeine has the most positive effect on me… it is also what I can have the most of before my story mutinies against me and my fingers vomit letters on the page—sometimes they even form words, even more rarely they form complete thoughts. That’s all provided that the shaking doesn’t do me in first and I don’t end up in the fetal position twitching. (more…)