Why Facing Your Muse Is the Hidden Key That Editing Alone Can’t Unlock
Ever wonder whether inspiration is something you can call up on demand, or if it’s more like that elusive spark that tiptoes in when you least expect it—whispering, dazzling, then vanishing before you can grab it? I’ve always pictured the muse not as some elegant lady with a flowing dress, but as a tiny knothole in an old fence—a cramped window peering between worlds. You squint in, you catch flashes, but stare too long and you just end up blinking away the burn. Writing, it turns out, isn’t a tidy, methodical affair. It’s flirtation. It’s chaos. And yes, sometimes it’s gloriously reckless. Forget looping over the same sentence a hundred times—how about learning to leap out of your own way and dance wildly with the passion that drives you? Let’s dive into the messy, magical heart of creation and why maybe, just maybe, “write drunk” is all the advice you really need.
THE RECKLESS WRITER
Inspiration isn’t a rational process, and you shouldn’t take it so seriously
Lawrence Winnerman recently told me that he visualized his muse as the manifestation of a physical being. She approaches him to whisper stories. That, to me, is an absolutely beautiful representation that contains more truth than most starting writers would believe.
It got me thinking on how I view my own muse. I concluded it’s not so much a being, but more like a knothole in a barrier between worlds. I can crouch and gaze into the knothole. I see all kinds of magnificent things. But the light burns my eye, and it’s both physically and mentally taxing to stay there.
Inspiration is like flirtation. The most important aspect is to learn how to get out of your own way.
Zen and the art of composition
Now that I’ve entered my fifth decade, my perspective on writing has changed. Academics become fixated on the need for editing. Writing coaches suggest you should take the same passage and go over it again and again.
Rubbish.
As far as I’m concerned, editing is overrated. Editing is an act of limited power. Sometimes, while gripped in the fever of your creative passion, you accidentally spell a word wrong. Fixing that is editing. The passion that compelled your fingers to dance over your keyboard is writing.
We talk almost exclusively about improving our editing skills. Writers should also contemplate how to light the fires of their passion.
“Write drunk, edit sober”
Dana DuBois told me that she feels the phrase “write drunk, edit sober” doesn’t refer to alcohol. It refers to the joy of creation. Her comment was a revelation, I’d never thought about it that way.
She’s absolutely right.
I also think you can cut the second half of that phrase. “Write drunk,” is all you need. How’s that for an edit?
When you are tapped into the creation energy of the universe, your work comes from a pure source. If you haven’t…
