Write Drunk, Read Drunk, Edit... Maybe

Today's blog isn't really going to be a question, but rather a bit of advice. Or at least the exploration of a theme in writing.

AFLM doesn't condone the act of the illegal consumption of alcohol;

However, if you're a grown up and you enjoy a good drink, and quite honestly you must, (I mean, what kind of writers don't drink anyway?) I would suggest that you, from time to time, move your pen away from your paper and witness the human drama.

Hemingway wrote the "Write drunk, edit sober" line but today I'd like to start with a quote from my boy Kerouac, from his essentials of spontaneous prose. Rule #3 "Try never get drunk outside yr own house." Genius. Not only is it cheap but it cuts down on drunk driving deaths. We know that writers take part in this activity because it lowers inhibition, makes the story come out more naturally, but, more obviously, it lowers inhibition and causes people to act different off the page. You just might catch some characters that you've never met before.

So, Socrates thought that writing was a way to forget things rather than remember them. Obviously, he didn't drink. And neither did Plato for that matter, how else did he find the time to record every word Socrates ever said? The point of the matter? Carry a pen and paper and take notes on these moments of inebriated lunacy, they just might make a great story. In fact, this has worked a few times for me, sometimes the stories were funny, sometimes they were solemn, but they were always raw and real. Sometimes you'll be amazed by the things you've seen with your own eyes, things that would have been lost if not recorded.

But chances are, you'll probably just laugh.

And Please,

Rule 28 "Composing wild, undisciplined, pure, coming in from under, crazier the better"

Rule 24 "No fear or shame in the dignity of yr experience, language & knowledge"

Rule 25 "Write for the world to read and see yr exact pictures of it"

Till next time all,

-Rainamoinen