The habits of famous writers are a source of fascination and perhaps inspiration for book lovers and aspiring writers: aesthetics of their writing retreat; curios in their space; rituals performed before sitting down to work; writing tools; and, perhaps ‘easiest’ for the aspiring writer to replicate: their daily word quota.
Should we follow Michael Crichton’s gruelling 10,000 words per day, or keep it easy breezy at Ernest Hemingway’s 500?
To answer this question, I looked at available data on 39 famous writers and drew inferences on:
– Relationship between daily word quota and rewards
– Gender influence on daily word quota and rewards
– Perceived value of effort and output, and its influence on the writer’s psyche
