The Drunken Writer

“Write drunk, edit sober.”—Ernest Hemingway

I confess…I’m a researchaholic. I don’t need alcohol to get me high, reading and research send my heart and mind soaring. Like a person intoxicated after a major research binge, my lowered writing inhibitions throw up words all over the page. Bits and pieces of research splatter across page after page after page. Then I sober up and face reality: unmanageable words are powerless.

The Sober Editor

It isn’t a bad thing to be a drunken writer hurling research, thoughts and ideas onto the page. When I’m loaded and under the influence of interesting research, wasted wabbits weave this way and that. Yet, regurgitating my interesting discoveries help me figure out what information I want to keep.

After sleeping off emotional attachment to every word and thought, my stone cold editor—

• evaluates the hangovers
• takes a fearless inventory
• visualizes what I think
• sharpens the focus
• reframes content in my words and voice
• eliminates unnecessary ideas and words.

I don't need alcoholic substances to anesthetize the ups and downs of life. Life as a researchaholic transcends my circumstances, taking me to far away places. Research offers the joys of getting high on research and writing and then taking pleasure in the challenge of cut, cut, edit, edit.