I’m listening to the audiobook of Ray Bradbury’s incomparable classic Dandelion Wine, and in the introduction, Mr. Bradbury himself gives some great advice on creativity.
When you first wake up in the morning, before you do anything else, sit down and write the first seven words that come to mind. Then, while still groggy, do a word association with each one of the seven. Do this until you have to get cracking on your morning routine, or until you have to piss like a Russian racehorse on steroids.
Come back later, and you’ll find an idea for a story in your word association.
It’s worked for Ray Bradbury for 80+ years.
It might just work for us wannabes as well!
As always,
Peace from Keith
KeithParker.org 
Keep a notepad and torch by the bed so you don’t even have to get out. I love writing in that half awake/asleep state.
Ray Bradbury said the same thing when he was the keynote at a conference I attended. I think the half-asleep state of mind is better than a cocktail for loosening inhibitions!
The cocktail option tends to leave me on the sofa, staring at the ceiling and occasionally singing. There is not much writing goes on.
There’s nothing wrong with singing on the sofa, but if you *need* to be a writer, then you’ll resist the cocktail temptation simply because you are *compelled* to write. You can’t not write, as it were.
However, other things, like, “Your mind, clear it must be” (as Yoda would say) are important for me because I tend to edit as I go and to be a self-critic. For instance, how many times have I edited this simple reply?
Three, the same number of licks it takes to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop.
Clarity of mind is vital. I tend not to throw much into the mix, coffee being one of my few vices.
I had to look up Tootsie pop on Wikipedia!
Sorry about that. Reference to an old commercial that was popular when I was a kid. My age is showing.