what gets you going? (1 Viewer)

[sgraham]

Bukowski seemed to use booze + sex + job stress to get his motor running. It could be in writing or painting or just in an aesthetic way of putting a vase on a shelf but what gets your mental gears grinding?

As much as I have tried to wish that a positive mental outlook and sunny disposition has best gotten my creative engines turning I have come to realize that my best has come from heartache and maryjane and huge amounts of coffee. I've tried pretty much all the others, in combination and alone, and have found that at the end of the day coffee (maybe any stimulant???) and pot and getting dumped gets the best results for me. That kind of makes reality a bummer.

Stimulants get high word counts but lots of deleting the next day. Alcohol alone makes for a lot of embarrassment because of the over-emotionalism and sentimentality that results. Psychedelics just make no sense at all and opiates aren't conducive to constructive time usage.

 

[number6horse]

Heartache of one type or another is usually a good motivator for me. Probably a lot of others feel the same way. That being said, I don't wait around for my next disappointment to get at the keyboard and write. A lot of times, memories come back at me and trigger some inspiration, or at least a concept of something to write down. Those memories don't have to be painful, they just have to be strong. As for being buzzed and trying to write, I rarely come up with any "keeper" material in that state. Maybe a line or two in a whole poem, from which I will construct a whole new poem that makes sense to the sober reader (including myself.)

 

[esart]

ART, some film, ....certain opiates I guess. Good conversation.