Blog.
Jack London’s stint
Jack London wrote a thousand words a day and kept a running tally. A shortfall had to be made up the next day, and a surplus never counted.
Franklin’s little book
As a young printer in Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin set out to become morally perfect, and kept score in a little book. He never managed it, and kept the book anyway.
Why we removed streaks
A streak turns a missed day into a broken one. Okay Day counts your okay days instead, and that number only goes up.
Zola’s fireplace
Émile Zola had four Latin words painted above his fireplace, borrowed from a Greek painter who drew a line every day. His letters show he wrote five days a week.
Hokusai’s lions
In his early eighties, the painter of The Great Wave drew a lion every morning as a charm against misfortune, and threw each one away. More than two hundred survive.
Trollope’s watch
Anthony Trollope wrote much of his fiction before breakfast, with a watch on the desk, while holding a full-time job at the Post Office.
Darwin’s flints
For forty years Charles Darwin followed the same daily timetable, including a walk he once counted out with stones.
Morrison’s coffee
Toni Morrison wrote her first novels before dawn, before her sons woke and before her day job. She went on getting up early long after she needed to.