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5.
AOTW: While we are on this subject --- what DO you drink? And do you drink when you write?
Regina McBride: I drink wine. I do not drink while I write. It dulls me and makes me lazy.
Mary E. Lyons: Would you ask an African American which part of the fried chicken she likes best?
Randy Lee Eickhoff: Actually, I drink very, very little. Occasionally when I go to New York I'll go out with my editors and publisher and perhaps have a pint or two, but this is very, very seldom. Since my recent illnesses (cancer and Chronic Renal Disease), I must be constantly careful of my diet. This doesn't mean that I don't enjoy a Guiness or Harp or even a glass of whiskey. I do, but very rarely and NEVER while I'm working. I can drink or write but I cannot do both. Not even at night when I'm finished writing for the day. Sorry, but I'm afraid that I am not the Joycean or Beckettian writer in that regard.
Jamie O'Neill: Moyne's a Guinness. (See puns, below.) I drink when I think I'm writing. Under the influence, my words are marvelous, and I marvel at my energy and dedication. Morning reveals yet another illiterate scrawl. There is much despair in being a writer. Drink, it's a shame, but it's best left for celebration.
Andrew M. Greeley: A glass of red wine every evening (at doctor's orders) and an occasional sip of Baileys. No hard stuff. I don't need the creature to write.
Marita Conlon-McKenna: Talk about stereotypes! OK I appreciate a bottle of good red wine and even my kids can guess when it's Martini time, as I do enjoy them, especially when I'm hassled or tired and want to unwind. I'll drink Beer or Shandy, and there's nothing to beat a well made Irish Coffee. I adore them! I find the computer hard enough to manage without throwing in alcohol too, and would never risk writing and drinking. I far prefer after working for hours to switch off the screen or close my writing pad and slope down to Gleesons, my local pub in Booterstown and have a drink there.
Niall Williams: a) Tea. and b) Yes, Tea.
Máire B. de Paor: Yes; spring water! and more spring water!
Maureen Dezell: I drink coffee, green tea, a lot of diet coke, sparkling water. Oh, do you mean alcoholic beverages? I wonder: If this were an African-American writers' roundtable, would participants be asked, even jokingly, about our athletic prowess? How would a group of Jewish-American authors to respond to a statement like: "It's a stereotype, of course, but I'm sure you can tell me how much money you hope to make on this book, since that's surely at the top of your mind."
Of course I don't drink when I write. I would have lost my job ages ago if I did, and I certainly wouldn't have had the energy or self-discipline to research and write a book.
Malachy McCourt: I never drink alcohol when I'm sober. I gave up coffee and the New York Times the same morning so tea is now my drug of choice and never when writing.
Eoin Colfer: I like a beer or two every week. Miller is my favourite believe it or not. But I never drink and do anything else, except maybe talk.
Martin Roper: Only to sign a check to pay for the next one in my local bar in Brooklyn. No, I never drink when I write. Well, I drink tea but I don't think you were referring to that in your question. I like my pint of stout in the evening, and any of the Irish whiskies.
Liam Clancy: I used to drink --- mostly wine and pints of stout. Anything I wrote while drinking turned out to be pure drivel --- so I quit.
Emma Donoghue: I've never drunk alcohol, disliking the taste --- which is the single thing that makes me feel cut off from the body of Irish writers. Being female is all right, being gay is more or less acceptable, but being a nondrinker (and not even a reformed alcoholic!), now that's freakish!
Morgan Llywelyn: I don't drink much, and never when I'm writing. I enjoy a glass of wine with a good dinner, and an occasional Bóru Vodka and tonic with friends, but that's about all. I can get high enough on good conversation.
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