Have you
ever wondered about the routines of some of the world’s most famous writers? Here
are some snippets... (you can read the full article HERE)
Ray
Bradbury: “My
passions drive me to the typewriter every day of my life, and they have driven
me there since I was twelve. So I never have to worry about schedules. Some new
thing is always exploding in me, and it schedules me, I don’t schedule it. It
says: Get to the typewriter right now and finish this.”
E.B White: “I never listen to music when I’m
working. I haven’t that kind of attentiveness, and I wouldn’t like it at all.
On the other hand, I’m able to work fairly well among ordinary distractions. My
house has a living room that is at the core of everything that goes on: it is a
passageway to the cellar, to the kitchen, to the closet where the phone lives.
There’s a lot of traffic..."
Haruki
Murakami : “When I’m
in writing mode for a novel, I get up at 4:00 am and work for five to six
hours. In the afternoon, I run for 10km or swim for 1500m (or do both), then I
read a bit and listen to some music. I go to bed at 9:00 pm. 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.”
Ernest
Hemingway: “When I
am working on a book or a story I write every morning as soon after first light
as possible. There is no one to disturb you and it is cool or cold and you come
to your work and warm as you write. You read what you have written and, as you
always stop when you know what is going to happen next, you go on from there.
You write until you come to a place where you still have your juice and know
what will happen next and you stop...”
Maya
Angelou: “I write in
the morning and then go home about midday and take a shower, because writing,
as you know, is very hard work, so you have to do a double ablution. Then I go
out and shop — I’m a serious cook — and pretend to be normal. I play sane —
Good morning! Fine, thank you. And you? And I go home. I prepare dinner for
myself and if I have houseguests, I do the candles and the pretty music and all
that. Then after all the dishes are moved away I read what I wrote that morning...”
What does
your writing process involve?
