What It Means to Write Drunk and Edit Sober

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! This photo is from a couple of weeks ago, celebrating 25 years with my valentine. Never imagined I'd find someone who is such a wonderful partner for me, or that we'd be together so long. Every day I give thanks for him.

This week's topic in the Bordello is how our personal vices actually aids in our writing.

I have a little trouble with the concept of a "vice." It's defined as immoral or wicked behavior. Coming from a Catholic background, I have plenty of voices in my head willing to chime in on what the Church views as immoral. And my Celtic pagan ancestors are happy with anything the priestly immigrants would have deemed wicked. Really, I regard my vices as those things I love to indulge in that are not so great for my health. Especially if I overindulge.

I have a terrible sweet tooth, I love to laze about in the sun and drinking alcohol is one of my greatest pleasures.

Seriously, I love to drink. I gave up beer years ago because it made me fat, but I love wine of all kinds, whiskey, vodka, brandy, champagne. Mmm... One of my favorite treats is a long lunch with plenty of wine. A martini finishes the day off perfectly. Fortunately those same Celtic ancestors blessed me with a strong constitution, but I do have to be careful not to overindulge.

But I do think it helps my writing.

That is to say, I never write drunk. Not that I wouldn't if I could, but I simply can't. The focus isn't there. A poet once told me that one beer makes the words flow and two dams them up for the duration. I've found that even one drink - say a glass of wine at lunch - means no words for me that afternoon.

People often quote Ernest Hemingway as having said, "Write drunk, edit sober." Apparently this is a misattribution. While he was famous for his drinking, Hemingway was also a morning writer and his family says he never wrote past the early hours and always drank later in the day. Which matches my own experience.

So why do I say this particular vice helps my writing?

I think what this advice is getting at - and it clearly resonates on some level or it wouldn't be passed around so much - is that drafting and revising require two different states of mind. People are sometimes surprised that I am organized about my schedule and word counts to the point of keeping Gantt charts, but that I don't pre-plot or outline in any way. This is because, for me, drafting uses a very different part of my consciousness than more critical-thinking activities like editing, revising or schedule-planning do.

Thus I very deliberately let go of those considerations when I'm writing. As much as possible. To my mind, this is much like letting myself enjoy drinking. I'm perfectly aware that my grandfather was an alcoholic who died of cirrhosis of the liver. The critical part of me keeps track of my consumption and whether it affects me in a negative way. But the other part, the hedonist in me, the part that loves the feel of a well-made glass in her hand, the flavor of good alcohol and the dreamy buzz of liquor - that's more my writing self.

I need both parts in equal measures.

Also, I'm teaching a webinar this week on Navigating the Lines of Consent in sex scenes. Should be big fun!

I'll Drink to That

by Allison Pang

...or not really.

Not to be a killjoy,but even if I *could* drink, I have to admit my palate is rather dead when it comes to wine and champagne and the like. It's just not my thing.

Which is probably why when I mentioned on Twitter that I was going to make mimosas for Danielle Poiesz with the bottle of Dom I received for Christmas, Jeffe begged me not to.

Apparently that's a bit of a sin in the champagne world. (Yes, I am aware of how much it costs...but what else was I going to do with it?)

But...since Danielle actually agreed with this, I found a bottle of cheap stuff. Some form of Brut. And actually the second bottle I chose and chilled turned out to also be a $150 dollar brand. Yeah, okay, I'm clueless.

But in the end, mimosas were made with the third choice and enjoyed, along with banana chocolate chip pancakes.

Which sort of segue-ways into Jeffe's topic earlier this week about drawing lines in professional relationships. For those of you who may not know, Danielle was my editor for A Brush of Darkness. She left to pursue a new career with Book Country, but we always kept in touch.

It's kind of an interesting place to be because I've been on both sides of the line with her. As Jeffe pointed out, a writer's relationship with an editor or an agent has to be professional. Obviously you want them to believe in you and your work and encourage you as needed...but they have to be able to give you the tough love side of things too. A writer depends on her editor to help her write the best book she can. A good agent helps navigate the potential pitfalls along the way.

Being too close to either one, particularly at first, can be a detriment to your professional growth. I say at first, because we do hear from authors who indicate their editor or agent is their best friend - but usually if you dig a little deeper, you discover they've had a deep working relationship for many years. They've worked out the personal space issues and know what works for them to keep the team running smoothly.

I do think that new authors need a little distance - particularly when they're processing everything that's coming at them for the first time. Contracts, deadlines, social networking. There are so many things crawling out of the woodwork  - having someone behind you who will tell you what you need to know and give you an honest appraisal of your options is refreshing and much needed.

To put it in perspective - I'd go out to lunch with my editor or agent at the drop of a hat...but would I invite them to my house for the weekend to make unicorn poop cookies?

Probably not.

I'd break out the Dom, though.

Drinks...and something about colleagues

by KAK 

I'm not sure how this week's topic of "Drinks" became about work, or is it colleagues?  I'll chat about drinking with colleagues. It's funny how the type of booze consumed at business functions tells a lot about the people behind the business.

Note: I said consumed not served.

It's an important distinction. Once you move past "Mom & Pop" sized businesses, what is served is decided by the event planner. Really big businesses have corporate regulations on what sort of libations are acceptable. Oh, and let's not forget the rules and astronomical mark-ups on the booze courtesy of the place in which the event is being held.  I've been an event planner. I have sobbed as I have read the pitiful "Top Shelf Options" in venue contracts.

Now, any self-respecting booze-hound will bypass the house white wine and make his way to the bar -- the real bar. Not the five liquor cash-bar. If there isn't a real bar in the venue, BYOB happens back at the hotel. As an event planner, you know you've screwed up when only a quarter of the attendees remains after two hours.

Beer and hard liquor: Once upon a time, I used to work in the regional sales office for a big-time oil company. This office oversaw the corporate-owned and franchise gas stations. Once a year, all of the station owners would get together and ... whooooeee. There were no raised pinkies, umbrella drinks, or Veuve Clicquot. It was all whiskey, beer, and back-slaps.

Local Beer & Local Wine: Local Chamber of Commerce Meeting or Dot.com Start-Up?  Yes, yes to both. You won't find Chateauneuf du Pape at a "Start Local, Go Global" meeting. What you will find are the best and possibly most obscure libations your neighborhood has to offer. You won't have to wait for the "annual drink fest" either, this stuff is consumed at every "offsite" luncheon, birthday bash, and "1,000 Customer" mark.

What about your business, dear reader? What is your preferred work-drink?

In Praise of Frou-frou Drinks

Anyone who's met me in person knows I distinctly am not a girly girl. Fashion for me is a pair of Levi's 501 jeans without holes and boat shoes that aren't mottled with bottom paint. So you'd think that I'd be all about tough guy booze. Yeah. Not so much. Turns out, I don't much like the taste of alcohol. Ergo, I'll only drink it if it's sweet enough. If I'm drinking alcohol straight, I'll go for the liquors like Amaretto or Bailey's. 

The rest of the time, it's frou-frou drinks. These aren't umbrella drinks, necessarily. These are creations that, at their best, combine a series of unlikely flavors into something sublime. The simplest version of that is the Raspberry Lemon Drop:

1 1/2 oz cirtrus vodka
3/4 oz Triple Sec
1/2 oz Chambord Liqueur
1 oz Sweet & Sour mix
Juice from two lemon wedges
lemon twist & sugar for rimming glass

1. If desired rub a lemon wedge around the rim of a martini glass and dip in sugar to coat the rim.
2. In metal mixing tin, fill with ice, add vodka, triple sec, Sweet & Sour and juice from two lemon wedges.
3. Shake thoroughly and strain into chilled martini glass.
4. Pour Chambord down the center of the drink for layered affect (red bottom, yellow/white up top).
5. Garnish with a lemon twist if desired

But the true masters of the frou-frou are at Carmelita's, a vegetarian restaurant in Seattle. Here's just one example from their drink menu:  Chrysanthemum -Lucid absinthe, Benedictine, Noilly Prat dry vermouth, orange peel

If you wish to peruse all of their drink creations, look at their menu: http://www.carmelita.net/pdf%20menus/carmelita-wine-list-3.8.11.pdf - scroll to the second and third pages.

Carmelita's specializes in combining flavors you'd never consider putting together and melding them into a taste experience that transcends the sum of the parts. Sometimes, depending on your particular palette, that's a bad thing. But most of the time, it's very, very good.  Another restaurant in Seattle, Moshi Moshi (sushi) has a fun drink menu, too. Their great claim to my affection is liberal use of ginger and lime in their various drinks. When I say I like ginger, most people nod, but my husband quickly corrects their mistaken notion that they comprehend the level of my appreciation for the spice. My very favorite soda on the planet is Reed's Extra Ginger Ale. Fizzy, GINGERY goodness - so much ginger, this stuff burns. All the way down. And there's no alcohol. Mmmmmmm. The DH claims he could pour Reed's Extra into the batteries as a substitute for the acid already in there. It's Reed's Extra that Moshi Moshi uses to mix a few of the drinks on their menu. Those drinks make me happy.
 

Guinness is Good for You

Rather than talk about what I won't be drinking, I thought I'd mention a bit about the mother of all Irish drinks...Guinness**. (And yes, I realize that Bailey's and whiskey and Bulmer's and all that are high on the list as well, but Guinness has some pretty awesome marketing going on.)

I've been to Ireland a few times (even fell down the Hill of Tara), and I have toured the Guinness brewery in Dublin. You can smell it from blocks away. Hell, the entire River Liffey  in that area smells like hops, so it's not hard to find. As far as a tour goes, it wasn't overly interesting - we didn't actually get to see it being brewed like I have on other brewery tours...but we did get to watch a movie on the history of the beer, along with a few coupons for a couple of pints in the bar there.

Still, I did learn that it was originally brewed in 1778, so it's been around for a bit.  It's also made with the standard sort of hops and barley and a special little ingredient made from fish bladders. (NOM?) That's air bladders, btw, not urinary bladders. Kinda funky.

Of course, it's not uncommon for some pubs to have a slightly different flavor of Guinness, simply because those tap lines from out back probably haven't been cleaned in a hundred years, so there's a bit of regional taste going on. (Or so I've been told.)

And yeah - I stopped by a pub at 10 am once or twice to take pictures, and the locals were already in there happily nursing a pint or two. Stereotypical, I guess, but apparently somewhat rooted in truth.

And then there's the commercials. Lots of commercials.


Yeah...just a bit sexist there. LOL.

Anyway, I know earlier in the week we were also discussing cooking with alcohol, so I'm going to leave you with this delightful looking thing.

And a link to the recipe even -->

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

**As an aside, the real mother of all Irish drinks? Poteen. Irish moonshine. Potatoe squeezin's. Illegal for centuries (since 1661), but continues to be distilled secretly anyway.

According to Wikipedia: "Traditionally distilled from malted barley grain or potatoes, it is one of the strongest alcoholic beverages in the world (renowned for its ability to get the drinker intoxicated the morning after drinking it by drinking water and thereby bringing the remaining ethanol back into solution)"

So. Um. Yeah. You can buy the stuff for real now, as there are now two official licensed distilleries in Ireland. for example, produces a 180 proof version. (90% alcohol!)

Sláinte!

Confessions from a Stick in the Mud... and Recipe Swap

by Laura Bickle

Okay. I'll confess. I don't have a liquor cabinet. I don't spend my evenings reclining in a red smoking jacket with a glass of bourbon. I'm not that cool. I've never aspired to be cool, so this doesn't really hurt my self-image much. *Grin.*

What I do have around here...hnh. An unopened champagne bottle left over from my wedding several years ago. And a lone can of Guinness rolling around the back of the fridge for the next time I make beef stew.

My interest in alcohol is roughly equivalent to my interest in crocheting. Which is to say...I do it once in awhile. Not sure how much I enjoy it, and it feels a little lopsided.

I will confess that I have, at one time, attempted to wash my hair with beer because I heard that hops yields volume. My hair was slightly bouncier, but I smelled like a drunk.

Yeah. I know. I'm no fun. That's all right. But my beef stew kicks ass. This is quite similar to the recipe I use, only I throw all the stuff in the crock pot: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/beef-and-guinness-stew-recipe2/index.html

Anybody else care to share their alcohol-based recipes? Marsala sauce, anyone? Beef bourguignon? Irish soda bread?