Is writing an addiction?

Not addiction, as much as really fun obsession.

I could stop at any time, but don't want to. Instead of wasting my time on Facebook or on a game, I write. At least I'm learning something, my creativity is def getting a workout and maybe someday I'll make some money on it and gain a fan or two.

For me a novel is one step in a journey that has no end. I read somewhere, maybe from John Gardner, that a novelist changes, develops with each book. I would hope this to be true for myself--I've only written two. If that's the case, then it would make sense that we'll always be hungry for the next step. This is where I am right now. As you say OP, I have an emptiness that needs to be filled. So, yeah, in that sense it's like an addiction. 'Cept I don't think it'll kill me.

Writing has never really felt like an addiction to me. But it does feel like an obsession at times. When I was younger, I used to get extremely preoccupied with my ideas and WIPs. I would think about them almost non-stop, and my mom would complain because I'd be like a zombie sometimes when I was out running errands with her. Now I'm a little more balanced, I think. I still focus on my writing a lot and my ability to plot in my head saves me from many boring days at work, but I have other things that I think about and do, too.

That hangover happened to me too, but then I started planning the marketing and then something alot bigger filled the emptiness and not in a good way

Dave.C.Robinson said:

I think that for me it is.

As an example, I finished a novel last night. After the exhilaration of telling a complete story went, the next thing that hit me emotionally was emptiness. There was a novel-sized hole in my head - I know that sounds funny, but it's the only way to put it.

The feeling didn't go away until I started making notes and doing some concrete planning for my next novel.

So now I'm wondering if other people feel the same way.

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Wow, this feels like me exactly. I need a WIP to feel calm. It's like... something to latch onto. I tried to take a month-long break recently after finishing a novel. After four days of mood swings, I caved in.

Sometimes it honestly doesn't feel healthy.

I feel that way after finishing a poem. It's really interesting, and also surprising. That word "addiction" has such a negative meaning, but I have to admit that's the feeling. But then, perhaps "creative compulsion" is more accurate after all, because other engaging creative work can make that empty agitation go away. For me it doesn't have to be writing.

Hmm!

amergina said:

I don't think writing is an addiction, though. It's more of a creative compulsion for me. I've always toyed with stories, even before I started writing them down.

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Creative compulsion is a good way to put it.

I'm always telling myself stories, one way or another. I write novels, but when I'm not doing that I'm playing strings of random dialogue through my mind or re-enacting things I said or might have said or should have said, or describing things that aren't there to myself in intricate detail just to give my brain something constructive to do.

I hardly ever watch tv, it's too passive. I can't just absorb, I have to be involved. Obviously I read (I read a lot) but that's not the same, somehow. Maybe because I'm making the images in my head to go with the words, or reading as a writer, analysing the craft as I go I don't know, but reading still feels creative to me. Watching just doesn't.

I've called it an addiction, but creative compulsion is a much more descriptive term.

I get antsy without a day or two of any creative work. A week, and I get really unpleasant to be around. I know what happens at one month away, and it's not a place I ever want to visit again. It doesn't have to be actual creative work. I can build stuff or write in my head and get the same effect.

I get almost an endorphin high from the deep focus. I lose hours of time. My brain doesn't seem to distinguish between lighter creative tasks like easily set-aside beadwork, or intensely submersive activities like writing and painting. I do notice that the creative 'high' is deeper with the latter activities.

Filigree said:

I get antsy without a day or two of any creative work. A week, and I get really unpleasant to be around. I know what happens at one month away, and it's not a place I never want to visit again. It doesn't have to be actual creative work. I can build stuff or write in my head and get the same effect.

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That's interesting, because I find I can't *not* do that. I don't do anything physically creative like you do (painting, sculpture etc) but the "writing in my head" is always happening.

Always.

I can't go to sleep at night until I've told myself at least a fragment of a nothing-to-do-with-anything story.

Doesn't mean I'm crazy or anything...

I've never actually stopped, so I have no idea how bad the withdrawals would be! To answer your question, yes, it is. For me, anyway.

Writing itself isn't the addiction for me. It's telling stories. If I'm not telling a story, writing is just there. At least I can feed this addiction even when I'm not writing. A day rarely goes by when I'm not at least thinking about the stories I want to tell.

I dunno. I'd always been good at writing assignments in school, but I have to say I didn't start writing, really writing until I was like sixteen. Adolescence was a rough period and I felt like no one was listening, that I was constantly being ignored, so I found a notebook and started journaling and for some reason, I just kept going. I thought for the first few years of journaling that I would someday stop. Someday I'd be able to speak more clearly and have more people to talk to, because I freely admit that journaling is kind of a self-indulgent habit. But at this point, I don't think I ever will stop. Yeah, it's self-indulgent but there are worse indulgences in life.

I agree with creative compulsion. I do notice I write much, much more when life is hard on me. Like, writing the novel is going to make my life better in some way. Like if I write right now, maybe I won't have to deal with work tomorrow or my husband going on deployment. In some ways, it is like an addictive antidote, keeping my mind occupied so I don't think about x,y, or z.

PeteMC said:

That's interesting, because I find I can't *not* do that. I don't do anything physically creative like you do (painting, sculpture etc) but the "writing in my head" is always happening.

Always.

I can't go to sleep at night until I've told myself at least a fragment of a nothing-to-do-with-anything story.

Doesn't mean I'm crazy or anything...

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If you're crazy, then I am, too, Pete. I'm always thinking of a story, even if I'm not writing it down yet.

I think its addiction for me. I think about my book 24/7, I crave to write and when I finish a work, I start on one right away. I can't stop so I think it's addicted.

Not in the slightest; I wouldn't consider it an obsession, either. It's an interest, much like my flying virtual KA-50s or learning languages.

Sometimes I just can't be bothered. Sometimes I go a month or two without once seriously contemplating writing something.

Do I experience a 'high' when I've completed something? Yes

Do I get a rush when I'm infused with creative energy to work on something? Yes

Do I go through a withdrawal period if I go too long without working on something? Yes

Am I addicted? no

Am I compelled? no

Is my desire to write controlled or affected by any outside influences? no

I have the control and exercise it at will.

With me, it's not that important how I exercise my creativity, only that I do so regularly. I once stopped writing original fiction for ten years - but I was prolific on the visual arts.

I'd say I'm addicted. I need writing to feel complete. I'm always thinking about it and when I'm not writing I miss it.

Is writing an addiction?

Yes, I am an junkie. If I don't shoot up, snort, smoke or ingest writing on a regular basis, I get nauseous, my hands shake, I break out in tremors and cold sweats. I feel feverish, dizzy, light-headed and generally become one hot mess.

I've tried to kick. I've gone cold turkey, step-down programs, therapy. Nothing worked and the withdrawal symptoms are awful. I tried developing a hobby, drinking to excess, self-medicating, food binges and copious amounts of exercise, TV and sex (not simultaneously).

That didn't fix it either. I did enjoy the sex though.

I have accepted that which I cannot change and do not wish to. I am a writer hopelessly addicted to writing and I don't want to kick the habit. Writing is for me as Gloria Steinem described it: one thing which when I am doing I don't feel like I should be doing something else.

Shootin' up and gettin' high.

Nah, writing is just an excuse to feed my caffeine addiction.

If I don't write for a few days, I get cranky, and even my true addiction, peppermint stick ice cream, won't save me.