John Grisham

When he first started writing, Grisham says, he had "these little rituals that were silly and brutal but very important."

"The alarm clock would go off at 5, and I'd jump in the shower. My office was 5 minutes away. And I had to be at my desk, at my office, with the first cup of coffee, a legal pad and write the first word at 5:30, five days a week."

His goal: to write a page every day. Sometimes that would take 10 minutes, sometimes an hour; ofttimes he would write for two hours before he had to turn to his job as a lawyer, which he never especially enjoyed. In the Mississippi Legislature, there were "enormous amounts of wasted time" that would give him the opportunity to write.

"So I was very disciplined about it," he says, then quickly concedes he doesn't have such discipline now: "I don't have to."

San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 5, 2008

(Thanks to Brenton Priestley.)

Comments

[Delicious]

it's nice though, with routines. kinda get you in the mood - sets your mindset.

I however discard routines on weekends period.

[sarah]

just found this blog via another. LOVE the insight into these bigguys' processes. very inspiring!

[tjs]

Helps you gain some insight in to people you admire.

[Sharon]

I just found this blog via today's "Very Short List." This looks to be fascinating topic! I'll be subscribing to your feed. Thanks for doing this interesting work.

[January]

Cool blog! I, too, found you through VSL. Very inspiring.

[Michael Sippey]

Congrats on the mention in VSL!

[barry]

so holy

[Marc]

I heard Grisham interviewed by Charlie Rose at a Barnes & Noble in NYC where he talked about his process. He's an outliner. Starts with that one tight thought and then outlines it chapters 1-40, or however many before turning it in to his publisher for review. Then the rest of the story is fleshed out.

[Betty L. Kines]

Is John Grisham writing a book now? I hope so have read all of his works and enjoy very much.