An Addled Imagination

Purposeful fodder

Photo by Myriam Zilles on Unsplash

With the discretion and intelligence necessary to demur… do you know author, Stephen King, admittedly does not recall writing entire books due to active addiction?

A prolific scribbler who prefers paper and a fountain pen to a keyboard, he began drinking at age 19, one year beyond the age of emancipation, two years shy of being able to legally purchase alcohol. He eventually progressed to cocaine, Listerine®, marijuana, NyQuil®, Valium, Xanax, or “any substance that came his way.”

A self-described addictive personality, he smoked two packs of cigarettes a day for over a decade, previously credited nicotine with stimulating his imagination, and later blamed ditching the habit with slowing his writing.

The author of 65 novels/novellas and approximately 200 short stories, and the recipient of more than 50 awards for his entire bibliography, he now actively rallies against the idea that addiction fuels creativity.