Week 47 in the Year of Drinking Adventurously. Sweet potato beer. (FAIL)

I didn’t find this locally –although truth be told, I didn’t look too hard. I saw sweet potato beer and thought: pumpkin beer, which falls under the category of ‘enough with the pumpkin already’ in my world. The chapter of our guide started with ‘Japan’ and meandered to ‘gluten free’ and my eyes crossed and I gave up. (No offense Jeff, this is still an awesome book. Buy it y’all.)

And besides, I’ve been stressed enough this month trying to pen a novel in 30 days. So instead, because I’m consumed with writing, I thought we’d explore that age old bit of wisdom wrongly attributed to Ernest Hemingway: Write drunk, edit sober. (That’s right, Fictional Kevin, Ernie never said that.) I’ve also tried this approach: write sober, get drunk, edit with a hangover. Or write with a hangover, edit whilst drunk again. Of course, I’m kidding… Sort of. It actually works brilliantly with poetry. My poetry anyway.

Apparently (according to Google -that infallible source of all things everything) the quote is more likely from novelist, Peter De Vries. In his book, “Reuben, Reuben” published in 1964, the main character is based on a famous drunkard -the poet, Dylan Thomas. On page 242 the character says this: “Sometimes I write drunk and revise sober, and sometimes I write sober and revise drunk. But you have to have both elements in creation — the Apollonian and the Dionysian, or spontaneity and restraint, emotion and discipline.”

Well, whoever said it, its the second bit that’s brilliant -the part about having both elements of creation in your writing – emotion and discipline…  The trick is finding the balance. Lowering the inhibitions or finding that altered state, may prompt you to put down on paper (or screen) words that you may have have thought twice about in a more restrained condition. Some of my most inspired writing comes to me at 3:00 am when my eyes slam open with an idea fully formed during the fog of sleep. I have to creep from bed, find my notebook and scribble it all down before it’s lost to the next round of sleep, or daylight whichever comes first. 

There is a fine line between intoxication and inspiration. What I mean is, a little liquid prime to the creative pump is a good idea, but flooding the engine just stalls it out. So don’t write drunk and  edit sober. Write inspired and edit minimally.

Sorry for the fail Lula!