Routines vs. Rituals
“I go to bed at six or seven in the evening, like the chickens; I’m waked at one o’clock in the morning, and I work until eight; at eight I sleep again for an hour and a half; then I take a little something, a cup of black coffee, and go back into my harness until four. I receive guests, I take a bath, and I go out, and after dinner I go to bed. I’ll have to lead this life for some months, not to let myself be snowed under by my debts.”
— Honoré de Balzac
Greetings, writers—
I believe in writing routines and think everyone who’s serious about writing should have one.
Mine is nowhere near as intense as Balzac’s when he needed cash (btw, have you read Pere Goriot lately? I haven’t for two decades and it still haunts me), but it’s consistent: I get to my desk as early as I can, and then I stay as late as I can stand. That’s it.
When my kids were big enough to be in school but little enough that they couldn’t tell time (a brief, blissful window), I started writing later in the day and worked until they got home. We’d hang out, eat dinner, you know the drill, and then at 6:30 p.m. I’d lie about how late it was (so easy in the dark PNW winter) and get them into bed by 7. After that I’d work again until 10 or 11. I have such fond memories of that time—their youth, of course, but also my double writing sessions—but I’m sure that nostalgia is sweetening what was actually too much deadline pressure.
Anyway, here are a few writing routines of far more illustrious writers than I:
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Good Ideas to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.