INTERVIEWER
People say that you have great self-discipline and that you never let a day go by without working. At what time do you start?
DE BEAUVOIR
I'm always in a hurry to get going, though in general I dislike starting the day. I first have tea and then, at about ten o'clock, I get under way and work until one. Then I see my friends and after that, at five o'clock, I go back to work and continue until nine. I have no difficulty in picking up the thread in the afternoon. When you leave, I'll read the paper or perhaps go shopping. Most often it's a pleasure to work.
INTERVIEWER
When do you see Sartre?
DE BEAUVOIR
Every evening and often at lunchtime. I generally work at his place in the afternoon.
INTERVIEWER
Doesn't it bother you to go from one apartment to another?
DE BEAUVOIR
No. Since I don't write scholarly books, I take all my papers with me and it works out very well.
INTERVIEWER
Do you plunge in immediately?
DE BEAUVOIR
It depends to some extent on what I'm writing. If the work is going well, I spend a quarter or half an hour reading what I wrote the day before, and I make a few corrections. Then I continue from there. In order to pick up the thread I have to read what I've done.
INTERVIEWER
Do your writer friends have the same habits as you?
DE BEAUVOIR
No, it's quite a personal matter. Genet, for example, works quite differently. He puts in about twelve hours a day for six months when he's working on something and when he has finished he can let six months go by without doing anything. As I said, I work every day except for two or three months of vacation when I travel and generally don't work at all. I read very little during the year, and when I go away I take a big valise full of books, books that I don't have time to read. But if the trip lasts a month or six weeks, I do feel uncomfortable, particularly if I'm between two books. I get bored if I don't work.
The Paris Review, Spring-Summer 1965
(Thanks to Marcine Miller.)
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Posted by: workout routines | November 20, 2009 at 01:13 AM
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Posted by: website laten maken | November 16, 2009 at 06:02 PM
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Posted by: juegos de estrategia | October 28, 2009 at 10:10 PM
Thanks for sharing this article, greetings
Posted by: juegos de estrategia | October 28, 2009 at 10:44 AM
I love reading your blog! Thanks for entertaining us all!
Posted by: Working Tax Credits | October 20, 2009 at 03:29 PM
Wow. Organizing your time in this day and age, that's going to get hard. Unless a writer takes away all the electronics, maybe even the computer and sticks to just a pen and paper...quite possibly there won't be as many distractions......and go to somewhere like Tuscany - that actually sounds rather nice!!
Posted by: John | September 14, 2009 at 11:44 PM
such a great blog, mr/ms daily routines editor, please continue this supply of fascinating psychic reference points!
Posted by: marc | July 31, 2009 at 09:51 PM
nice article thank you so much
Posted by: How to | July 08, 2009 at 03:53 AM
I second this:
"Here's an idea: how about making posting a new daily routine a new daily routine!?"
Posted by: MG | June 21, 2009 at 08:22 AM
salon.com gave your blog a shout-out.
Posted by: muah | June 17, 2009 at 10:37 PM
Very interesting blog!
Posted by: Kelly Cherry | June 13, 2009 at 07:25 PM
Please continue this blog, I really enjoy it...
Or at least post an status update, if it´s on hold or dead...
Posted by: Morten Aagaard | June 08, 2009 at 11:00 AM
Great blog! Its really interesting to read what writers have/had to say about themselves and how they work/worked.
Posted by: A.S.M. Pires | April 28, 2009 at 12:12 AM
don't let them get you down. we just really love your blog. checking in here was part of my daily routine.
Posted by: megan | April 16, 2009 at 08:59 PM
Get the feeling that this blog is dead.... :(
Posted by: Cori | April 13, 2009 at 11:24 PM
Hello we can has a wall post?
Posted by: scuttlebutt | April 01, 2009 at 09:59 PM
Hey blogger! Here's an idea: how about making posting a new daily routine a new daily routine!? Love the blog, but the crowds are getting restless!
Posted by: KC | March 29, 2009 at 11:29 PM
I relate to many of your interviewees, and to those that I don't relate to, I am inspired to do even more.
Posted by: Veroniica12 | March 26, 2009 at 06:14 AM
Second all the comments above. I depend on this blog for motivation! You need to post more frequently! Even my therapist reads it now after I told her about it. Maybe you should outsource these posts and have people help you research more routines. Find an English major at a nearby university with too much time on their hands. :)
Posted by: Erin | March 24, 2009 at 02:52 PM
MEEE TOOOOO - please post an update! :)
Posted by: Cori | March 23, 2009 at 12:30 AM
Uhm, great blog! How about posting from time to time?
Posted by: MG | March 18, 2009 at 09:00 PM
how long will we go without a new routine? I am jonesing for my daily routine fix!
Posted by: Justino | March 13, 2009 at 09:36 AM
me too. So much.
Posted by: Elizabiscuit | February 24, 2009 at 09:14 PM
love your blog. love love love it.
Posted by: lori | February 24, 2009 at 04:34 PM