I stumbled upon this Asylum article via the ever-excellent Practicing Writing (who in turn credits Nextbook for the find): Gary Shtyengart (Absurdistan) offers sage wisdom on being a writer:
Take a lot of Xanax in the morning to really calm the hell down. Try to wake up no later than 11. Work from 11:30 to 4:30, then go see the shrink, then meet some friends for drinks. Find a good bar where everyone knows your name and you can get a nice buyback. Try to relax. This is the major problem. Writing is both boring and stressful, it’s the worst combination. Sometimes I go to the gym, but it’s very hard to lift things there, because they’re so heavy.
