About Routine Matters

One of my literary heroes is the late great Roald Dahl …

He wrote … My work routine is very simple. And it’s always been the same, for the last forty-five years. I go out to my writing hut at ten o’clock in the morning, and I stop at twelve. In the afternoon, I return for another two hour session from four to six. I have a comfortable chair, I’ve got a writing desk. It’s got on it dark green billiard cloth which is very soft on the eyes. I put a roll of corrugated paper under it so that it’s exactly at the right angle. I have an old leather trunk, filled with blocks of wood, to put my feet on. Once you’re in here, you can lose yourself in your work. It is my little nest, my womb.

I have always been fascinated by the amazing range of routines and rituals so many writers employ as part of their writing day together with their choice of a working environment.
In a wonderful book called The Literary Life & Other Curiosities by Robert Hendrickson, the author begins by quoting the views of two writers on writing …

The fascination of the silent midnight, the veiled lamp, the smouldering fire, the white paper asking to be covered with elusive words; the thoughts grouping themselves into architectural forms, and slowly rising into dreamy structures, constantly changing, shifting, beautifying their outlines, – this is the subtlest of solitary temptations, and the loftiest of the intoxications of genius. ( from The letters of Henry Adams)

or this little gem from the novelist Peter de Vries …

I love being a writer. What I can’t stand is the paperwork.

Whatever your point of view I hope you enjoy what follows.

Welcome to Routine Matters …