📝 Kurt Vonnegut’s Writing Routine

"In an unmoored life like mine, sleep and hunger and work arrange themselves to suit themselves, without consulting me."

Welcome to Famous Writing Routines, where we explore the daily habits, writing process, and work routines of some of the most renowned authors throughout history.

Kurt Vonnegut was an American writer, best-known for his breakthrough novel, Slaughterhouse-Five. Vonnegut published 14 novels, three short story collections, five plays, and five nonfiction works over his 50 year career.

It just turned out that I could write better than a lot of other people. Each person has something he can do easily and can’t imagine why everybody else is having so much trouble doing it. In my case, it was writing.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Playboy interview 1973

By the time the 1960s rolled around, Kurt Vonnegut had been writing for over 20 years. Born and raised in Indianapolis on November 11, 1922, Vonnegut attended Shortridge High School where he became a co-editor of the school newspaper, The Shortridge Echo. It was there that he discovered he had a natural talent for writing.

In 1943, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Vonnegut enlisted in the Army and was sent to Europe as an intelligence scout with the 106th Infantry Division. He fought and was captured at the Battle of the Bulge. While held as a prisoner at Dresden, Vonnegut managed to survive an Allied bombing that destroyed most of the city by hiding in a meat locker three stories underground. The author’s experience here would influence much of his later writing.

After his discharge from the Army, Vonnegut returned to Indianapolis and married his high school sweetheart, Jane Marie Cox. He began working as a reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago, before transitioning to General Electric (GE) as a technical writer. While working at GE, Vonnegut published his first writing piece, “Report on the Barnhouse Effect,” in the February 11, 1950 issue of Collier’s magazine. Shortly after, Vonnegut quit his job at GE and moved his family to Cape Cod, Massachusetts to pursue writing full-time.

Over the next few years, Vonnegut would publish several books (his debut Player Piano came out in 1952) and countless short stories, but he wasn’t able to break through with any significant commercial success. In 1958, Vonnegut’s sister, Alice, passed away from cancer two days after her husband was killed in a train accident. With his growing family, a struggling career and the added responsibility of taking care of his bereaved nephews, Vonnegut was close to giving up his writing.

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