Famous Writing Routines
Uncovering the daily habits of iconic authors like Hemingway and Atwood, offering insights and inspiration for writers at all stages to hone their craft and achieve their goals.
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"I get a lot of work done in hotel rooms. The one solace for loneliness is work. I hand write and then I type. I don’t have a word processor. I write slowly."
"My favorite time to write is between 5 to 10 a.m., because that way you have the total silence before the world starts chasing you down."
"In an unmoored life like mine, sleep and hunger and work arrange themselves to suit themselves, without consulting me."
"I would love to be one of these prolific writers who comes out with a book every two years. But I guess I’m just not that kind of writer."
"I write for about three hours in the morning—from about 9:30 till 12:30—and I do another hour’s work between 6 and 7 in the evening."
"I’m not a words-per-day kind of guy. I always felt that if you have an artificial number, it probably means that you don’t want to be writing, anyway."
"For most of my life, the ritual was to get to work at seven or eight in the morning and work for five or six hours, until I had 1,000 words I was proud of."
“I’ve stayed with it for over 50 years and it’s paid off.”
“What do I need in order to release my imagination?”
“You have permission to not write, but you don’t have permission to do anything else.”
"Some days I write just a couple hundred words, but if it’s crucial I feel pleased about it."
"I keep to this routine every day without variation. The repetition itself becomes the important thing; it’s a form of mesmerism. I mesmerize myself to reach a deeper state of mind."
