The Write Way
One of the most popular questions for, and among, writers is how to write. Here are some of the writing habits of famous writers:
Kurt Vonnegut
05:30: wake up and start work
08:00: eat breakfast and continue working
10:00: walk into town, do some errands, swim for half an hour
11:45: return home, read the mail
12:00: eat lunch then do schoolwork
17:30: get back from school, "numb my twanging intellect with several belts of Scotch and water", cook supper, read, listen to jazz
22:00: go to sleep
Truman Capote would not begin or end a piece on a Friday, nor would he leave more than three cigarette butts in his ashtray.
Henry Miller
Mornings: if groggy, type notes as stimulus; if "in fine fettle", write
Afternoons: write to finish one section at a time, "No intrustions, no diversions."
Evenings: see friends, read in cafes, write if in the mood, paint if tired, make notes, charts, and corrections of manuscript
Note: "Allow sufficient time during daylight to make an occasional visit to museums or an occasional sketch or an occasional bike ride."
Jack London wrote 1,000 words a day while Arthur Conan Doyle wrote 3,000. On the other hand, James Joyce considered the completion of two perfect sentences a full day's work.
Maya Angelou
In a 2013 interview, Angelou described how she keeps a hotel room in her hometown and pays for it by the month.
She has all paintings and decoration taken out of the room, but keeps a Roget's Thesaurus, a dictionary, the Bible, a deck of cards, and some crossword puzzles there.
She usually arrives at about 06:30 and leaves at 14:00, when she returns home to read what she's written that morning.
She asks all the management and housekeeping not to enter the room: "About every two months I get a note slipped under the door: 'Dear Ms. Angelou, please let us change the linen. We think it may be moldy!”
Victor Hugo
In the autumn of 1830, Hugo set out to write The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by February 1831. To achieve his aim, he locked away his clothes to avoid any temptation of going outside, leaving himself nothing to wear except a large grey shawl. But it worked; he finished weeks before the deadline.
Friedrich Schiller wrote at a desk with a drawerful of rotting apples. His wife claimed that "he could not live or work without" the stench.
What are your writing habits?
Kurt Vonnegut05:30: wake up and start work
08:00: eat breakfast and continue working
10:00: walk into town, do some errands, swim for half an hour
11:45: return home, read the mail
12:00: eat lunch then do schoolwork
17:30: get back from school, "numb my twanging intellect with several belts of Scotch and water", cook supper, read, listen to jazz
22:00: go to sleep
Truman Capote would not begin or end a piece on a Friday, nor would he leave more than three cigarette butts in his ashtray.
Henry MillerMornings: if groggy, type notes as stimulus; if "in fine fettle", write
Afternoons: write to finish one section at a time, "No intrustions, no diversions."
Evenings: see friends, read in cafes, write if in the mood, paint if tired, make notes, charts, and corrections of manuscript
Note: "Allow sufficient time during daylight to make an occasional visit to museums or an occasional sketch or an occasional bike ride."
Jack London wrote 1,000 words a day while Arthur Conan Doyle wrote 3,000. On the other hand, James Joyce considered the completion of two perfect sentences a full day's work.
Maya AngelouIn a 2013 interview, Angelou described how she keeps a hotel room in her hometown and pays for it by the month.
She has all paintings and decoration taken out of the room, but keeps a Roget's Thesaurus, a dictionary, the Bible, a deck of cards, and some crossword puzzles there.
She usually arrives at about 06:30 and leaves at 14:00, when she returns home to read what she's written that morning.
She asks all the management and housekeeping not to enter the room: "About every two months I get a note slipped under the door: 'Dear Ms. Angelou, please let us change the linen. We think it may be moldy!”
Victor HugoIn the autumn of 1830, Hugo set out to write The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by February 1831. To achieve his aim, he locked away his clothes to avoid any temptation of going outside, leaving himself nothing to wear except a large grey shawl. But it worked; he finished weeks before the deadline.
Friedrich Schiller wrote at a desk with a drawerful of rotting apples. His wife claimed that "he could not live or work without" the stench.
What are your writing habits?
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