Dr. Maya Angelou's writing routine
Dr. Maya Angelou (1928-2014), an American poet and writer, known for her book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, is renowned for her writing routine, which included writing in hotel rooms designated for this purpose.
The following is an excerpt from Neil Burkey's Writers' Retreats: Literary Cabins, Creative Hideaways, and Favored Writing Spaces of Iconic Authors. I'm particularly intrigued by Angelou’s editing process because I often can't look at something I've just written, and my edits need to wait at least till the next day.
“Maya Angelou liked to keep her house pretty. And she couldn't write surrounded by pretty. It was for this reason that, in every town she lived in, whenever she found herself ready to write, she rented a hotel room for a few months. Her routine went something like this: she rose at five-thirty or so, left home at six, and tried to be at work by six-thirty. No one was allowed entry into the room. Before she arrived, the hotel staff would have been given instructions only to empty the wastebaskets, and not to change the bedsheets, as she never slept in the room. The management might slip a note under her door pleading to change the sheets, for fear that they might be moldy, but the request would be denied. She also insisted that the room be stripped of any distracting decorations - no artwork, no flowers. On the bedside table was a dictionary, a thesaurus, a Bible, books of poetry, a yellow notepad, ballpoint pens, a deck of cards, an ashtray, a glass, and a bottle of sherry.
Angelou would read through one of the books in order to get a feel for some rhythm that might spark words, to remind herself of language, from Psalms, or poetry - maybe James Weldon Johnson or Paul Laurence Dunbar. Then, once she had found momentum, she began the labor of writing. Angelou wrote lying across the made-up bed, working for such long periods in this position that her elbow became rough with calluses. If stuck, she played solitaire to loosen the brain - to help her, as she put it, find a place of enchantment, so that she might be granted easier access to her memories. She might have her first sip of sherry as early as six-fifteen, as soon as she arrived, but generally she waited until about eleven.
Usually, she wrote until the early afternoon, hoping to have produced by then ten or twelve pages. She then went home, took a shower, and tried to forget about writing. She might go to the grocery store and pretend to be normal. At five in the afternoon she read through whatever she had written, and began the process of editing it, boiling the material down to three or four pages. Afterwards she prepared dinner, lit candles, put on music, entertained, bid farewell, cleared the dishes, and, before bed, read once more what she had written. The next morning she started it all over again, etcetera, until the thing was finished.”
Source: Dr. Maya Angelou Foundation
