Jill Ciment

“I begin my writing day with a sip of coffee and a vape (or two) of marijuana. (Disclaimer: I live in a state where medical marijuana is legal.) I never actually compose stoned, but I do read what I wrote the day before and take notes—silly, hallucinatory notes, but sometimes ideas that I might not have stumbled upon otherwise. The high, which also causes me to be forgetful, makes rereading a paragraph that I have read a hundred times before feel fresh and full of possibilities. The intoxication never lasts more than fifteen to twenty minutes and then I get on with the business of writing. But the high reminds me (and I need to be reminded every day) that writing can be joyous. Take time to be playful with your writing, with whatever practice works for you.”
—Jill Ciment, author of The Body in Question (Pantheon, 2019)