Day 9: Stay Drunk

You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you. -- Ray Bradbury

 

 

Certainly, none of us could stay "drunk" for long for fear of losing our jobs and destroying our lives.

This Bradbury quote intrigued me though -- the idea of "staying drunk", being fully and totally immersed into something, drowning in it.

 

There are so many things we throw ourselves into -- our jobs, our relationships, our families.

We are some times so "drunk" with these things that we can keep reality at bay.  We make those things our total reality.

 

There is nothing wrong with creating your own reality and living in it -- I do it regularly.

 

I'm just curious about the staying "drunk" part.  Is it good to escape reality by being too involved in things?  Or should we sober up every now and then and peek our heads out into reality?

 

For me, "reality", life unfolding around me (good, bad, and eveything else) is what fuels those "drunk" moments -- what helps me write, what helps me have compassion and depth and insight.

 

I'm not sure if I want to write to escape reality, to not let it "destroy" me as Bradbury said.

 

Perhaps it's those "sober" non-writing moments that can be what we "drink" to fuel us and our writing?

 

Discuss....(glass of wine as you type is optional)