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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āI donāt have any hobbiesāa terrible thing to admit. So what would I do otherwise? Gardening? Golf? What an appalling idea. Itās this or nothing.ā
āWriting is pure pleasure... even if itās excruciating and difficult, and I feel that Iāve lost it.ā
āI donāt have any particular routine except to try to get those pages out of the way before the sun sets. Once those pages are done, Iām allowed to do anything I like.ā
āWhen you write fiction, you enter another world. Itās a little bit like hallucinating or out-of-body travel.ā
āI feel as though I have a book in mind all the time, from the moment I start it. Even if there are periods of time Iām unable to write.ā
āI go months without being able to write anything. Then, when I get an idea, I could be writing 5,000 words a day.ā
The routine is strict: same cafeĢs, same hours, same meals. She works longhand or with printed galley proofs, editing by hand with a pen.
"I have nothing against my laptop, but itās too fast, too easy. Writing by hand is more like drawing."
āYou write in a poetic mood. The next morning, you edit like an engineer.ā
"Itās a long and slow haul, and thereās nothing about the process that is particularly interesting.ā
āI will stop in the middle of a sentence in order to avoid exceeding my page limit."
