“Write Drunk, edit Sober!” Boom, that’s it. That’s the trick. No need to read on any further.
You’re welcome. I just saved you 5 minutes of your life. Ok, bye.
Oh wait, you’re still here?
Ok, then I guess you’ve never heard of the phrase before, “Write drunk, edit sober”.
Allow me to enlighten you for a moment.
For those of you who haven’t heard this phrase before, it shouldn’t be taken literally.
I’m not suggesting you literally drink some whiskey or beer, get drunk and then start writing and wait until you’re sober to edit. No, not at all. But hey if that’s your thing and helps you write, then more power to you. Have at it! Salud!
But what the phrase is really saying, is this.
You see, us writers sometimes run out of things to say or come across this thing called, “Writer’s block“.
Another camp of writers have this habit to be “perfect” and feel the need to edit as they are writing.
What “write drunk, edit sober,” allows you to do is write with a stream of consciousness, like a mad man, or a chicken with its head cut off. Too much? Yeah I thought so too.
Anywho.
You just write and write WITHOUT editing one line. You save those edits for later.
Look, I know, writing is our passion and is our thing, our form of expression to the world. Therefore, we want everything to be perfect and so we put so much emphasis on choosing the right words, the right message, the right tone – God forbid if we offend anyone. Oh no we don’t want to do that. Ugh, please.
This aim for perfection, politically correctness and desire to not hurt anyone’s feelings has been many a cause for analysis by paralysis.
Just stop it.
What “write drunk, edit sober” does, is it allows you to easily enter a state of flow without having to worry about being perfect or “task switching” from writing to editing and then back to writing. In addition, if you were not made aware there is a high cost when task switching or multitasking that you pay with your lost of productivity.
As writers, we all know that entering that state of flow or “zone” is a much heralded place and moment. It comes and goes for a lot of us and is difficult for many of us to consistently enter. I’ve written about another example of flow states I have entered before in my blog post here titled: Flow
Put in another way, this is our “Deep state” and the type of work we are doing is what’s called, “Deep Work” coined by author, Cal Newport. I’ve purchased and read “Deep Work” myself and highly recommend you read it or listen to the audio version because Cal has a lot of great insights, which may be helpful for you.
In my own writing I often write in this stream of consciousness for 35-45 minutes. Sometimes an hour if I’m really rocking. But 35-45 minutes is my sweet spot until I start feeling ancy, my back starts to ache, butt starts to hurt and I want to get up and walk around.
Researchers have found that distractions will take you out of your flow and will take approximately 15-20 minutes tjust to get back in flow. If you’re someone who is constantly distracted, switch tasking can add up pretty quickly and before you know it the day is over and you’ve accomplished nothing, nada, zilch.
But in all seriousness, writing in this stream of consciousness, is a powerful way to really say what you want to say. When I am in my zone, the words just seem to flow onto the page. It is quite a weird experience and can often feel like an out-of-body experience. I know that may sound a bit woo woo but you have to understand that I pray and meditate everyday and so writing for me is often an extension of my meditation.
So, yes I am the one writing but be it my consciousness, subconscious or a spiritual force, the ideas and words just come to me. It is difficult to explain but when I am in flow and really passionate about the topic, I channel my inner writer and write something that I hope would be helpful for others. My focus is no longer on me, but on helping others and expressing my idea in the fullest capacity that I can.
And for you skeptics, yes YOU, I know you may be thinking what a load of BS and you would be right, because this may not work for you and for a good number of people. What might work for you is writing an outline and then hammering on the article. While others might prefer writing out the ending and then working backwards.
Everyone has their method of what works for them. This way of writing is what works for me.
But for those of you who find this method interesting or would like to try it out, I suggest the next time you sit down to write your next piece, “Write drunk, edit sober.”
Cheers (I swear, I am not drinking)
Sonam
