“I used to be a pre-industrial writer: thousands of words in a spurt and then a few days off. But as I get older, I've switched to a mode best described as 'slow and steady wins the race.' Basically, I write during the same four hours every day, after breakfast and the all-important coffee, generally in the same room and wearing the same pajamas.” WritingImportantUsedWinningHoursRoomsRaceFourCoffeeUsed To BeBreakfastSteadyDays OffPajamasSlow And Steady Author:Scott Westerfeld
“I found 'The Twin' sitting on a coffee table at a writers' colony in 2009. It carried praise from J.M. Coetzee. That seemed ample justification for using it to avoid my own writing. I finished it - weeping - a day later, and I've been puzzling over its powerful hold on me ever since.” WritingFoundMy OwnPowerfulSittingPraiseTablesFinishedCoffeeOver ItJustificationTwinsWeepingColonyPuzzlingCoetzee Author:Amy Waldman
“The single most important technique for making progress is to write ten words. Doesn't matter if you're badly stuck, or your day is completely jam-packed, or you're away from your computer - carry a small paper notebook and write a sentence of description while you're waiting on line at a coffee shop. I think of this as baiting a hook. Even if you have a few days in a row where nothing comes except those ten words, I find that as long as you have to think about the novel enough to write ten words, the chances are that more will come.” IfsThinkingWritingLongImportantMatterEnoughWaitingLinesChanceNovelProgressTenPaperComputerSentencesTechniqueCoffeeStuckShopsDescriptionHookJamChances AreNotebookCoffee Shop Author:Naomi Novik
“I drank some coffee and my outlook improved immensely. I was ready to write some poems and, I don’t know, get drunk, run around, take my shirt off and get kicked out of someplace. You know, live a little.” KnowsWritingLittlesRunningReadyCoffeeDrunkShirtsOutlookDrankShirt Off Book:Valencia Source: Valencia
“I like things to be orderly. For seven years I ate at Bob's Big Boy. I would go at 2:30, after the lunch rush. I ate a chocolate shake and four, five, six, seven cups of coffee-with lots of sugar. And there's lots of sugar in that chocolate shake. It's a thick shake. In a silver goblet. I would get a rush from all this sugar, and I would get so many ideas! I would write them on these napkins. It was like I had a desk with paper. All I had to do was remember to bring my pen, but a waitress would give me one if I remembered to return it at the end of my stay. I got a lot of ideas at Bob's.” IfsGivingWritingYearsIdeasEndsBigsRememberBoysFiveFourReturnPaperSixGive MeSevenCoffeeCupsRememberedShakesSilverChocolatePensLunchSugarThickBobDesksSeven YearsOrderlyCoffee CupWaitressNapkins Author:David
“I wake up fairly early every day, by 8, for sure. Sunday is a lighter writing day than the weekdays, but I still wake up and write for about an hour, beginning right around 8. I definitely have coffee first, and then I start writing. I do think it's kind of hard to get the right level of concentration without coffee.” ThinkingWritingFirstsKindStillsHardHoursLevelsWake UpCoffeeConcentrationSundayLightersWeekdays Author:Karen Thompson Walker
“My best time to write is right after coffee and breakfast - four eggs because, full disclosure: I'm really a komodo dragon - and that's because then I'm energized but not so awake that the critical voice clicks on, the voice that sometimes says, "Don't write that," or "Man, that sentence is terrible - you should give up and go pet the cats."” MenGivingShouldWritingSometimesVoiceFourTerribleGiving UpCatCriticalSentencesCoffeeAwakePetDragonsEggsBreakfastClicksBest TimesDisclosure Author:Jeff VanderMeer