Write drunk, edit sober?

The idea of writing drunk and then editing ruthlessly while sober has always struck me as incredibly peculiar. Being drunk lends itself to a lot of things, one being brutal honesty. If you later edit the things you wrote while drunk, will the honesty be lost? What happens to the crazy flow of thought that comes with slowing down the brain? I’m not sure who’s noticed, but being drunk is excellent for slowing down that maelstrom of sub-par ideas which hits ever writer while they’re in full control of their faculties.

Having your brain a little off-kilter might help slow down the words bursting out of you. And you can make all sorts of unexpected connections which would have otherwise been drowned out. Writing is hard, it’s important to try out whatever makes you feel like you have more control and gets you to that sweet spot where what you’re writing doesn’t feel like nonsense.

That’s the general takeaway I have from my own writing experiences. Writing drunk is a bit like writing angry, it makes you write more passionately than you would when you’re over-thinking every sentence. So write when you’re over-whelmed in some way. Who knows where it might lead. (Don’t develop an addiction for the sake of your writing, that’s a terrible idea. As bad as lazy writing in a movie-script is. Deadpool, baby-I’m referencing you.)

But what do I know? I might or might not be currently inebriated.

Swearing, it’s not just a phase in childhood

Some people take the view that swearing is a phase that all children go through, and I was certainly an example of this. I won’t go into the specifics but I will say that I had a problem when I was a kid. 

But what makes swearing so attractive to kids? I think it is all about the taboo of it, I mean it isn’t like children know the meaning of what they are saying and they might stop if they did. For instance, when I reached a certain age, I learned the meaning of some of the swear words I was using and I went into a state where I didn’t use any words harsher than stupid or idiot. 

This worked out fine for me, because I think I have an attitude towards swearing that is not interfering in my life. I swear when I want to, but only in appropriate situations, and I love the idea of creating new swear words. I do that sometimes, and I applaud those who do, because using those words relieves pretty much the same amount of stress or anger, and also makes me smile, since the words are often ridiculous. 

I saw a post recently from one of the blogs I follow (Publikworks), and this inspired me to write about my own experiences with swearing. By using the same old four or five letter words,etc, we are being banal, irreverent and just really really silly. I totally agree with this, and I think we should all try to spice up our language with a few choice words that no one has ever heard before, or at least use some of those  insults we learned from random looks at dictionaries (am I the only one who does that?).

Let there be a new phrase to describe amazing swearing skills-“Hey, you swear like a really well-versed and intelligent sailor!” So get out your inventive side, and the next time you stub your toe, or get angry while driving, use barnaclebrainedtomato or purpleheadedlizard instead of  a#$%#%e!