evidence: Write drunk and edit sober, was the first lesson a veteran gave me when I went to work in San Francisco years ago. [...] "Write drunk – edit sober". [...] The man takes a drink, then the drink takes the man. Liberation becomes stupor. "Write drunk; edit sober" is Hemingway’s much-quoted advice. But the rat-arsed aren’t capable of writing. After a point, the crutch becomes a cudgel.