Without Coffee Nothing Gets Written

Nancy Kress Quote

Without coffee nothing gets written; Author Nancy Kress on her caffeine inspired creative muse that has produced 34 science fiction books

Nancy Kress is an award winning science fiction author with six Nebulas and two Hugos to her name, her writings include 27 novels and her works have been translated into 15 languages including Klingon although I don't know of anyone who has verified this in a bookshop in the Klingon home world of Kronos.

The Writers Creative Muse

Her first novel The Prince Of Morning Bells published by Pocket Books first appeared in book shops in 1981 and in the subsequent caffeine inspired years the Nancy Kress' book release ratio was nearly one every year.

Coffee and alcohol are when taken in moderation, known stimulants for the writers creative muse. The trick is to find what sparks your creative mind into life, many famous songwriters and musicians have been known to experiment with much sterner stimulants in an attempt to increase creativity.

Some writers and artists have found a place or a ritual like yoga or meditation to be beneficial for producing great works, whatever it is that inspires you it can probably be tapped into by repeating the process.

Creativity is not knowledge so it cannot be taught, it can however, once discovered, be honed to gain an improved benefit.

A creative person can be inspired at any time, it is not something that can be turned on and off like a tap. The key to creativity is learning to act when the idea is fresh or perfected in your mind, some creatives have a pen and paper next to their bed ready to write down something as soon as they wake.

I've lost count of the number of times I have had an idea in my mind but I just couldn't perfect it or it seemed there was a piece of its jigsaw missing, then one morning I wake up and the answer seems as clear as daylight. This is the opportunity to make the time to write down all your thoughts and is a giant step in any creative piece of work.

Sometimes the hardest part of writing is actually starting that first line, I've found that it is better for me to just write the first sentence as 9 times out of 10 I will rewrite it later anyway, the first line leads to the second line and before you know it you are building up a head of steam.

Coffee For Momentum Or Mental Block

Just starting to write, this is my solution for beating mental block as once I start I can keep going, however I've never written an article past a few thousand words so I guess I'm more of a sprinter in writing terms than a marathon runner.

Writing a book can be draining on the mind, having a stimulant like caffeine as your friend can keep your neural net focused on the job in hand.

Personally I am not a caffeine connoisseur, but I have found it an extremely useful stimulant for staying awake if I am driving on a long road trip. With this in mind I can imagine it being a great writers tool for keeping the momentum going once the creative pen starts to flow.

One question I would love to ask Nancy Kress about the quote 'without coffee nothing gets written' is; Does she use coffee for inspiration or is it to keep the momentum going once her creative pen starts writing?

Article By: Michael Joseph Farrelly