Daily Rituals: How Artists Work

Books

[Franz Kafka](/authors/OL33146A), frustrated with his living quarters and day job, wrote in a letter to Felice Bauer in 1912 "time is short, my strength is limited, the office is a horror, the apartment is noisy, and if a pleasant, straightforward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle maneuvers." 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](/authors/OL4359988) wrote standing up in the kitchen, the top of the refrigerator as his desk, dreamily fondling his "male configurations"... [Jean-Paul Sartre](/authors/OL117592A) chewed on Corydrane tablets (a mix of ...