Write drunk. Edit sober.

Whether it was actually Ernest Hemingway who said this quote or not, it’s sound advice. But perhaps you shouldn’t take it literally. For instance, who has ever had a coherent thought (or at least had the ability to write it down) while properly drunk? No… perhaps buzzed, when you realize you’re on your way to being drunk and have that critical decision to make in regards to how your evening will go. “Write buzzed. Edit sober.” But that doesn’t quite have the ring to it that “Write drunk. Edit sober,” does, does it? Instead, I prefer to take this quote with a grain of salt. We don’t know if it was actually Hemingway who said it, after all. I take it to mean that you should write in the thick of the moment – when you’re at your most inspired, most wild. Write when you can’t keep it in, and then edit once you have your wits about you.

I’ve had nights where I’m up at 3 in the morning, awoken suddenly from a deep sleep, shaking, in need of a pen. That, to me, is an extreme form of writing drunk. I allowed ink to flow, fingers to fly, at risk of reading my work later with a terrified look in my eye. What if I was writing complete nonsense? I may have been, but I could rely on my sober self to clean up the mess. Isn’t writing just a spattering of ink on parchment, a look into the mind of the writer just as a painting is for the painter? Good art is good art, no matter where it comes from or how it is portrayed.

There are times when I allow myself to stop, to let the inspiration sputter to a halt. How many stories have I lost? I couldn’t count. Think of this in your own life. How many times have you thought of something brilliant – whether it’s a flurry of words that work perfectly together or the answer to life itself – that you have let go to waste by not acting on your inspiration? You may never know. It’s fascinating to think of our minds as capable of such things in our moments of inebriation. Allow those walls to come down and you may realize that you hold the answer to the question that you’ve been asking yourself all along.

Perhaps it’s ironic that I am writing about this while in this state of mind. It’s as if I’m looking in on myself, giving myself this advice. At every paragraph break I second guess my decision to follow this streak of inspiration, wondering if I actually have something concrete to say. But as I sit here at my keyboard, shaking, it becomes clear that this is my natural state, and the walls I put up are just that. I am most as peace when I am inspired, when I feel that artistic urge to continue filling in the blank page.

So here’s to you, my dear friend. I know you have that inspired moment inside of you, waiting for the opportune moment to reveal itself. Don’t ignore it; don’t let it pass you by. Write, Paint. Dance. Make the most beautiful spreadsheet you’ve ever seen. Whatever you’re inspired to create, whatever art means to you, allow yourself to spend a few beautiful moments (or hours) doing what you love.