Should you write drunk and edit sober?
Could drinking really help you overcome writer's block and become a better writer, and have I ever been drunk while writing?
Write drunk, edit sober was at quite first attributed to the great Ernest Hemingway. But according to his granddaughter, he never wrote while under the influence. He preferred to write sober usually in the early hours of the morning. But that hasn't stopped Hollywood from portraying artists and writers as tortured souls who rely heavily on alcohol and drugs to produce great work.
Mad Men TV series
Just look at the hit TV drama Mad Men. It's a show about a New York advertising agency set in the 1960's. Much of the show glorifies a drinking culture amongst the team of copywriters and executives including Don Draper. We can regularly see the cast drinking before, during, and after office hours.
Even David Ogilvy who is considered the godfather of advertising is guilty of promoting the idea of writing drunk, editing sober. Listen to what he wrote to a friend when asked to describe his writing process.
"I am terrified of producing a lousy advertisement. If all else fails, I drink half a bottle of rum and play the gramophone. This generally produces an uncontrollable gush of copy. The next morning I can get up early and edit the gush."
So is write drunk, edit sober actually good advice?
No, it's terrible advice. Just look at Brooklyn based writer Crissy Van Meter who documented in a blog post her week of writing drunk, editing sober. What she noticed was she did write more words than usual but the output was actually unusable gibberish and she had more hangovers than usual. The idea of write drunk and editing sober really just glorifies addiction and alcoholism.
There are no shortcuts to becoming a better writer and drinking doesn't improve your creativity or your writing output. In fact, it's only procrastination and escapism from doing the difficult work of sitting down and writing.
Now if you feel like writing is difficult, time consuming, and even driving you to drink, then why not outsource it to a team of professional and sober writers? My team and I would love to help you with any of your writing needs such as websites, marketing, or advertising materials.