Anthony Trollope

Every day for years, Trollope reported in his “Autobiography,” he woke in darkness and wrote from 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., with his watch in front of him. He required of himself two hundred and fifty words every quarter of an hour. If he finished one novel before eight-thirty, he took out a fresh piece of paper and started the next. The writing session was followed, for a long stretch of time, by a day job with the postal service. Plus, he said, he always hunted at least twice a week. Under this regimen, he produced forty-nine novels in thirty-five years. Having prospered so well, he urged his method on all writers: “Let their work be to them as is his common work to the common laborer. No gigantic efforts will then be necessary. He need tie no wet towels round his brow, nor sit for thirty hours at his desk without moving,—as men have sat, or said that they have sat.”

The New Yorker, June 14, 2004

Comments

[Jonathan Ball]

This is the best blog in the world. I have always wanted to see a blog like this, but didn't realize it until I stumbled across yours, or I would have started it myself.

[Michelle]

A fascinating theme for a blog. Wonderful!

[Brain Bunnies]

You're blog is fascinating. I always wondered how different writers handled their days. Heard about you through the LA Times.

Thanks for creating this blog.

Jenny