Simone de Beauvoir

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.)

Comments

[lori]

love your blog. love love love it.

[Elizabiscuit]

me too. So much.

[Justino]

how long will we go without a new routine? I am jonesing for my daily routine fix!

[MG]

Uhm, great blog! How about posting from time to time?

[Cori]

MEEE TOOOOO - please post an update! :)

[Erin]

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. :)

[Veroniica12]

I relate to many of your interviewees, and to those that I don't relate to, I am inspired to do even more.

[KC]

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!

[scuttlebutt]

Hello we can has a wall post?

[Cori]

Get the feeling that this blog is dead.... :(

[megan]

don't let them get you down. we just really love your blog. checking in here was part of my daily routine.

[A.S.M. Pires]

Great blog! Its really interesting to read what writers have/had to say about themselves and how they work/worked.

[Morten Aagaard]

Please continue this blog, I really enjoy it...

Or at least post an status update, if it´s on hold or dead...

[Kelly Cherry]

Very interesting blog!

[muah]

salon.com gave your blog a shout-out.

[MG]

I second this:
"Here's an idea: how about making posting a new daily routine a new daily routine!?"

[marc]

such a great blog, mr/ms daily routines editor, please continue this supply of fascinating psychic reference points!

[John]

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!!

[Michelle Hoffmann]

Very informative! Keep up the awesome work... :)

[web design Landon]

Its really interesting to read what writers have/had to say about themselves and how they work/worked...t. Maybe you should outsource these posts and have people help you research more routines.

[How to Relieve Stress]

Obviously Simone de Beauvoir's routine works well, if he/she can afford to take a 2 month vacation. We should all be so organized and/or lucky.

[Kevin]

Cool concept. I think I'm going to do an interview similar to this one over on my blog. Thanks for the idea!

[Adam]

I agree for writing or anything staying organized and focused is key to your utlimate success.

[Pam]

we want daily! we want daily!

[Elizabeth]

Being busy now that's novel. Imagine being so busy that we are not coping. The real trick is to accept that the list never ends, the only way to get off the list is to ignore it for a time. Being routine about stuff will usually mean we get a lot of stuff done but it doesn't stop us being busy. Don't forget to stop and smell the posts.

[Brimshack]

It's fascinating to see the economics of this, the ability to set work aside for so much time. I wonder how many writers can do that today?

[شقق للبيع في الاردن]

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.

[Davidjames]

I just really love your blog. checking in here was part of my daily routine.

[crab scrambly]

I normally don't stray too far from fantasy and sci-fi when I choose a book to read, but "Daily Rituals" has me entranced. As an artist, I find it oddly comforting that others have as many creative quirks as I do. Upon finishing your book I wanted more, so I was pleased to find out that you have a blog too... Hopefully, you'll make posting on this blog part of your daily ritual... We want more!