Addict = best writer ever?

I'm doing it, friends--I'm getting back in the swing of blogging! I think I need another theme for March. That might help.

A grad school friend sent me this link to a bunch of great Life (as in Life Magazine) photos of literary friends with teensy tiny drug and alcohol problems. The dude up top (photo in the slideshow) is the wonderful addict Truman Capote, who is rocking some very cute ladies' sandals and is famous for IN COLD BLOOD, the first non-fiction novel (written with help from his friend Harper Lee). There's also the world's worst photo of Stephen King, and some other gems in between. Best list of addictions: "EVERYTHING," attached to Hunter S. Thompson's photo.

Maybe I need to drink more. Or add opium to my list of things to spend time with on a Friday afternoon. Maybe being an addict makes a person more honest, and you call it as you see it, which is an excellent trait for a writer.

I honestly don't think I have time in my life for an addiction, and I'm not independently wealthy. But the number of classics produced by these addicts is more than impressive, and as my friend Kristin says, there's nothing more literary than alcoholism.

Sigh.