A made-up bed with a bottle of sherry a dictionary, Roget's thesaurus, yellow pads, an ash tray and a bible

You once told me that you write lying on a made-up bed with a bottle of sherry, a dictionary, Roget's thesaurus, yellow pads, an ash tray and a bible. What is the function of the bible, to begin with?

The language of all the interpretations, the translations, of the Judaic Bible and the Christian Bible, is musical, just wonderful. I read the Bible to myself; I’ll take any translation, any edition, and read it aloud, just to hear the language, hear the rhythm, and remind myself how beautiful English is. Though I do manage to mumble around in about seven or eight languages, English remains the most beautiful of languages. It will do anything.

And this:

The bottle of sherry is, in its own way, a kind of reward.

It comes at the end not at the beginning?

Well sometimes in the middle.

From this interview with Maya Angelou. How many other writers give that sort of advice?