Sheila had a giveaway on her blog the other day where people had to say what they'd least like for Christmas. Personally I was surprised just how many of them listed the demon drink at the top of their poop list. Good for them: one has to admire anyone who can face down their demons and poke them in the eye, while saying, "Take that, naughty alcohol / heroin / botulism / sex with goats / cigarettes , you have no hold over me!"
But personally I'm off my antibiotics and enjoying the delights of Bacchus. Wheeeeeeeee...
I was watching Stephen King being interviewed by Mark Lawson the other night -- which had all the appeal of a road accident. Marky-boy had his list of questions and he was bloody well going to go through them one at a time, in the order they were on his clipboard, word for bloody word. But Mr King (he likes me to call him that because I've never met the man) was talking about his addictive personality and how one beer would lead immediately to dribbling alcoholism. That was just they way his mind worked -- drink, drugs -- he's got an addictive personality.
And that got me to thinking: just how many writers out there have 'differently-abled' brains?
When it comes to proper celebrities (i.e. not people who've floated up into the public consciousness for sitting in a house on telly doing bugger all for a few weeks, or eaten bugs in a jungle somewhere) there seems to be an abnormal amount of people suffering from Bipolar Disorder. There seems to be something in a disjointed mind that propels, or fuels people into the limelight.
Or perhaps being in the public eye is the one sphere where you really don't have to be mad to work here, but it does seem to help.