Reddit mentions of Floodsick: A Horror Story

Warning: Longish post ahoy.

I am an opiate/opioid addict and professional writer (freelance content, marketing stuff, etc.) who has been under Suboxone management for the better part of three years now. It's funny you asked this question at this time: My two shorts on Kindle were written during a very dark time in my life with regard to drug abuse, and one, Floodsick (which I just put on free promotion for a couple days in case any of you are interested in seeing it without paying) is a story about addiction set in a horror story's framework.

To answer your questions in order:

1. Pills and heroin. A lot. Like hundreds of dollars a day worth. My current Suboxone scrip and monthly doctor's visit runs me closer to $450 a month, which is a phenomenal fucking savings compared to the old days.
   
   
2. Because I needed - and still need, counting the Suboxone - them to do anything. Opiates/opioids fuck with your brain's reward center. When you're taking them, you're flooded with dopamine, and you're at your most creative - or, more likely, the critical voices in your brain shut the fuck up and let you explore this idea or write that sentence without stopping you. In that respect, they're very helpful. BUT: They're totally not worth the downtime or instability they cause when you aren't on.
   
   
3. Feverish some days, forcing myself to sit at the desk others, not doing it at all others yet... addicts aren't known for their personal accountability or ability to do things they don't feel like doing at a consistent level. I would go through manic creation phases followed by periods of zero productivity. Even though I write daily now, my creative cycles still sort of mirror this.
   
   
4. If you count Suboxone, yes. I haven't had an illegal drug since I started the program, and science willing I never will again. That said, if I had to quit Suboxone cold turkey, I would definitely not be able to write for a while because of the, you know, crippling withdrawal and all that.
   
   
5. I don't know. I'd be lying if I said my work wasn't largely better when I was donked out on H/Fentanyl/Percocet all the damn time, but it came at a much slower rate, and I'm getting back up to a level of productivity that blows that out of the water while still maintaining 90% of the quality. That said, Floodsick is still the best short story I've ever written... having recently gotten back into the fiction game, though, I'm hoping I can achieve similar results there as I have with contents.
   
   Sorry for the novel. Topic near and dear to my heart and I really had to restrain myself to keep it this short. If you're a younger writer reading this: DO NOT RELY ON DRUGS TO MAKE YOU PRODUCTIVE, CREATIVELY SPEAKING, AND DO NOT FALL INTO THE NEED-DRUGS-TO-WRITE TRAP. Not to go all motivational-speaker on everyone, but I am like the dictionary entry on a promising young life fucked up by the poppy, and I hate myself for it as a person and as a creative professional every goddamn day. There isn't a trip to the doctor goes by that I don't think about crashing my car into something big for wasting all the money I have and hurting all the people I have - myself included in that statement.
   
   Fuck drugs, and especially opiates and opioids. A sincere thanks for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts and experience on this topic.