Caffeine and Writing

Nope. Caffeine doesn't seem to affect my writing. But Coffee does. I make the distinction because I've trained myself to recognize coffee as a catalyst for work. Smell/taste of coffee=focus. While drinking black tea=relax. I'm getting caffeine either way, but my mode is different.

I do know that for a lot of people in my family caffeine is a calming agent, no matter how it’s delivered. And for a lot of people I know it's a stimulant. Just depends on your system.

I add whisky to my coffee to counteract any imbalances between the ying and the yang. In saying that, I've yet to finish any novel I've started writing.

So I'm with you B, I'm going to ditch the coffee too.

Regards

Whacko

I tend to work better with caffeine in my system. Early morning before my a.m. coffee, and late afternoon before my p.m. coffee are my most sluggish times. But once I've had it, I perk right up and am ready to work.

If you're a heavy coffee drinker, than beware of the withdrawal headaches!

I normally have a coffee nearby when I'm writing. Never noticed any effect on productivity. I have a viral infection right now, so those pills seem to be slowing me down more than anything else.

I tried giving up my hot tea in the morning, but couldn't focus and had bad headaches from the withdrawal, so in order to finish the ending of my book I had to go back to drinking tea for awhile.

Google is a lousy doctor. If coffee harmed writers or productivity, I doubt most of the world would use it to be more productive. It is about how much coffee you're used to, but, no, coffee will not harm your productivity, if used in anything like sensible amounts.

Not that I'm sensible about it. I drink about two pots per day, which is actually quite a drop from what I drank just a few years ago.

Whacko: but will you ditch the whiskey? LOL

Bartholomew said:

It never used to bother me--I don't think. But lately, I've been getting hardcore jitters. I wasn't able to get anything with caffeine in it this morning, so I sipped water, and I wrote way more than usual--and then once I found a supplier (IE, the internet cafe where I essentially live opened), it got harder and harder to focus on my story. I've given up about now, and have surrendered myself to text messages, Facebook, and AW.

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Maybe it's not the coffee but the cafe? (Perhaps you wrote more at home because there were fewer people/conversations, etc?) Your lack of productivity may be environmental, not chemical.

Oh I hate tea. But I've managed to get addicted to nearly everything else, so I can tell you a way of avoiding withdrawal symptoms for the milder stuff is to decrease intake over a period of months - if you're strong enough to do that.

If you have an addictive personality (which is such a ****** nuisance to have) the decreasing method probably won't work, but at least the caffeine withdrawal headaches rarely last more than a week. Paracetamol won't touch them though.

OpheliaRevived said:

Whacko: but will you ditch the whiskey? LOL

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I wouldn't touch whiskey. But I'm now sipping a caffeine free whisky.

I drink a pot of coffee a day and don't function well without it. But beware of dehydration because caffeine is a diuretic and it makes you lose fluid (aka pee) as fast or faster than you take it in. If that happens, you get dehydrated and that will definitely affect your ability to function and concentrate. So balance the caffeine drinks with plenty of water and non-caffeinated beverages.

Beth

Bartholomew said:

It never used to bother me--I don't think. But lately, I've been getting hardcore jitters. I wasn't able to get anything with caffeine in it this morning, so I sipped water, and I wrote way more than usual--and then once I found a supplier (IE, the internet cafe where I essentially live opened), it got harder and harder to focus on my story. I've given up about now, and have surrendered myself to text messages, Facebook, and AW.

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I've known a few people who've had to swear off caffeine for a while because their body began having negative reactions to it. So it's very possible that it may be having an adverse affect on you. Stay away from caffeine for a while and try water and juices, instead. It's definitely healthier, and this might be your body's way of telling you to lay off the stimulants.

I ingest large amounts of caffeine, but it doesn't seem to affect me in any relevant way. Now sugar was a damn hard habit to kick. Cutting back on the sugar really did strange things to my energy and mood (oh the poor people around me!). I thought it was the caffeine, but it was the sugar.

Bartholomew--did you eat anything with your coffee by any chance? Having food in your stomach can help with the jitters.

The only time I have caffeine while writing is when I sip on some (regular) Coke and whiskey (or Coke and rum, depending on what I've got in the cabinet). It makes me less productive, but I'm pretty sure that's the liquor, not the caffeine, at least in my case

Coffee and writing. Coffee and artwork. Coffee and housecleaning, phone calls, breathing. If I could, I'd drink coffee while I sleep. So I've never noticed caffeine making a difference to my writing, mostly because I have nothing to compare it to. I've never written without it, and there are very few other things I do without it. Caffeine is always in my system. In fact, it's time for a nice evening cuppa right now.

But yes, even I, hardcore coffee addict that I am, know about jitters. I suffered that back when I had The Job From and In Hell, and I somehow fell without realizing it into a habit of downing up to 10 cups of coffee per 8-hour day, just to keep going. Yeah, that wasn't good. As soon as I quit, I cut that back to three cups a day, four if they're small.

Jitters are not fun. If you're getting jitters, cut back the caffeine. I heard a news report, oh, years ago, that said some study had shown that very crunchy foods, eaten in the afternoon, will perk us up. Crunch stimulates the central nervous system, apparently. Maybe switch that afternoon cup out for some pretzels and carrot sticks?

A science professor at grad school advised: "Test with the same drug you use for study." I thought it was at least half in jest, but I noticed a decrease in concentration while tackling longer exams.

I don't use tobacco, alcohol, or recreational pharmaceuticals, but I'd do all the crimes heroine addicts do for coffee, so I took Thermoses to tests and found both focus and test scores spiked up.

I apply the same perk-factor to writing.

To show his gratitude for my financial support, Sanborn put my name on his label and gave it first billing.

I have to chew insane amounts of gum if I want to get anything done. I need that action/habit to focus me on writing instead of drinking coffee (which I agree lowers my productivity) and smoking. Since I smoke, a lot, and use it as a vice if I don't distract myself with gum, I would get up and go for a smoke way more often, or get up to make coffee.

I also chew gum all the time in the car, because if I can't smoke, or drink coffee I need to chew gum. It's funny, I use gum to supress my other bad habits and yet, when I write it down it feels that gum is being added to my addictive nature too. Hmm. Must go ponder this.

I like my coffee first thing in the morning, and when I'm writing. I've never had a any issues with it.

I drink tea – I especially like East Frisian – and I can't tell one way or the other that it affects my productivity. What I can certainly tell, however, is that I'm a happier writer with a cup of tea at hand.

But if I exceed two pots of the stuff, I'm a jitterbobble of nerves and energy. Maybe that's just a matter of timing, because it's usually noon by then, I'm hungry, and other business presses.

Depends on the caffein beverage. Coca-cola gives me a dry mouth after a while. The 'coffee/cappuccino' from automatic beverage dispensers at work give me stomach cramps if I drink too much. So at work I mainly stick to drinking tea.

At home, I have a Quickmill 820 espresso machine and a Nespresso Aerocinno milk-foamer [my wife is not as handy with the steam pipe and doesn't drink coffee herself, but the Aerocinno is pretty handy].
Home-made cappuccino doesn't give me any negative effects. Plus I'm not the kind of person who gets jitters or cannot sleep if drinking coffee after noon, so for me it's all good.

Take my coffee off me and I will kill you all.