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- 📝 Lee Child’s Writing Routine
📝 Lee Child’s Writing Routine
"Some days I write just a couple hundred words, but if it’s crucial I feel pleased about it."
Famous Writing Routines
April 21, 2024
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.
Lee Child is a British author, best-known for his thriller novels featuring the Jack Reacher character. His first novel, Killing Floor, won both the Anthony Award and the Barry Award for Best First Novel.
When I start [a book], I have no idea what the plot is going to be. I try to come up with a good opening sentence, and then I think, “Great,” and go from there.
British author Lee Child has published a new book a year since 1997; he actually published two in 2010. To maintain his prolific output, Child has a tradition he likes to stick with, he starts writing on the first day of September every year.
“That was the day I started my first book, so it’s kind of sentimental, but it’s also common sense,” he explained to Fast Company. “I publish a book a year, so this gives me a structure, which is useful.”
Child wakes up between 7-8am every morning and goes to sleep between 1-3am. In between, he drinks “about 30 cups of coffee a day.” Writing starts between midday and 1pm, with cigarettes accompanying his voluminous coffee-drinking, and usually finishes up between 6-7pm.
He has two computers, one connected to the internet and the other one offline, at different ends of the office to discourage him going online. A 2019 New York Times profile featured a description of Child’s workspace:
He has lucked into the best room in the house as his office: double height and mostly glass with a fireplace. It should be the master bedroom. But the noisy furnace room below ruled that out, so here are two desks face to face, one for Reacher projects and the other for correspondence; plus high piles of books for Child’s recreational reading.
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