Ellisism

Daily Rituals is being published in the U.S. and Canada by Alfred A. Knopf, in the U.K. by Picador, and in Brazil, the Czech Republic, Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, and Turkey by fine publishers in those countries.

Notice that blogging and surfing the web never show up.

I’m glad to see that so many writers stick to routines. I always found that my most productive days happen when I hit the keyboard at 8am and avoid opening email until 9:30. This hour and a half is quiet and productive. My actual output is closer to what I might achieve in 4 hours during the busier times of day.

Here’s a good review of “Daily Rituals” on Good Reads.

Kafka is one of 161 inspired—and inspiring—minds, among them, novelists, poets, playwrights, painters, philosophers, scientists, and mathematicians, who describe how they subtly maneuver the many (self-inflicted) obstacles and (self-imposed) daily rituals to get done the work they love to do, whether by waking early or staying up late; whether by self-medicating with doughnuts or bathing, drinking vast quantities of coffee, or taking long daily walks. Thomas Wolfe wrote standing up in the kitchen, the top of the refrigerator as his desk, dreamily fondling his “male configurations”. . . Jean-Paul Sartre chewed on Corydrane tablets (a mix of amphetamine and aspirin), ingesting ten times the recommended dose each day . . . Descartes liked to linger in bed, his mind wandering in sleep through woods, gardens, and enchanted palaces where he experienced “every pleasure imaginable.”

Read more…

Camus himself may say, “Why bother reading Camus?” 

The Wheatsheaf Literary Society is currently exploring the work of Albert Camus, a self-described anti-nihilist writer who denied any involvement in the french existentialist movement. He knew Jean Paul Sartre, the great existentialist, and the two men agreed that Camus was not an existentialist. But does it matter? Should you get past the intellectual bullshit and read Camus? Yes. Once you start, you’ll find yourself in used book stores buying up all of his short, remarkable clear, memorable works. ‘The Stranger’ is as good a place as any to start. You’ll find an excellent review in the New York Times.