The Write Wasted is a phrase inspired by Ernest Hemingway's call to all authors to "Write drunk; edit sober." But before you start pulling out the wine glasses, grabbing a cold beer, or stirring up a rum and Coke, please stop and read on. However much I'd sometimes like to believe that Hemingway said those words with no metaphorical intent, I must look beyond my wishes to the great advice hidden beneath the literal. Hemingway told us that every writer has two sides..
One
A writer is a creator who believes in the romance, mystery, and tragedy of a good story. This side of the writer is drunk on imagination and allows words to write themselves. The ideas flow freely and everything that can happen becomes real upon the page. How can a story become more than an idea if you continuously tell it, "No, that cannot be?" A story must be free to express itself in order to be written. A writer must be intoxicated with possibilities in order to write.
Two
A writer is a construction worker who not only knows how to build the tallest building, but also how to knock it down. A story cannot be written without a foundation, which may at times feel like a constraint, but with constraint comes support and feasibility. A writer must be able to pare down the longest paragraphs, demolish the impossible, and embrace only what can exist. The writer must sober up and clean up the mess from the night before.
Now if you still want to have a drink and hunker down with pen and paper, please do. I'd be a hypocrite to say I've never done such a thing. (Natasha will remember my physics homework.) And I'd be a liar if I said I'll never do it again. But while you're sipping your wine, please remember that there's another writer tucked away behind the fantastical, waiting to break out with red pen in hand.
"One thing I've noticed about editing, is that I know I'm getting closer to something decent when the editing starts to hurt. When it feels like as I'm cutting, I'm starting to cut bone." -Nathan Kontny
