How Successful Writers Start Their Day
Morning Habits To Inspire Your Own Routine
Morning routines. You either have one, or you don’t. Yet, the sheer number of articles claiming they’re the key to productivity is hard to ignore. As a writer, I’ve learned that mornings are usually good for me. While I rarely write for a whole day, both my husband and I are early risers naturally which helps a lot. However, with each season of life, my morning routine changes, and trying to follow a strict schedule doesn't help my creative process.
When I was working full-time, those early hours (hello, 5 AM!) were tough but vital for my writing.
When my children were very young, I didn’t have any routine at all and just wrote when I could.
Now my children are a little bit older, my morning routine is dependent on the school calendar and I have more hours to write during the day.
Ideally, I love to get my writing done first thing early morning, but at 45, I can no longer get away with missing a gym session and if I don’t do it first thing, it doesn’t get done. A good morning for me is a gym session, getting the kids off to school and then a writing session. Once I've done those three things, I focus on my to-do list. Such repetition is not guaranteed when you have kids though - sick days and snow days tend to throw my schedule off. While I wouldn't call it writer's block, I do find it hard to write when members of my household are home! If that's the case, I'll often pivot and work on one of my blog posts rather than a whole manuscript.
My current morning routine (when kids are at school) is this:
5:30 AM: cup of coffee (or two) and journalling in bed
6:00 AM: 30 to 40 minutes of exercise, usually Pilates or weights. (I do this at home to save time.)
6:45 AM: Shower, dress, and make the kids’ breakfast before walking them to school at 8:00.
8:15 AM: Back home, I have another coffee, some breakfast if I’m hungry and I’ll be at my desk around 8:45 / 9 AM to work on a first draft
While this makes my mornings very productive, it dampens my social life because I have to be in bed so early in preparation for the next day!
Understanding what works best for you, in this season of your life, is key to creating a productive routine. If you need help, there’s a good book called The Power Of When by Michael Breus who talks about how to work with your body's inner clock for maximum health and happiness using four body chronotypes (I’m a ‘bear’ in case you’re wondering.)
Below are the morning writing routines of famous authors. While their routines may differ, early mornings produce their best work seems to be a common theme. Stephen King, who is well known for his writing career, has a morning writing ritual when he sits down anywhere between 8:00 and 8:30 in the morning. He either has a glass of water or a cup of tea. He then takes his vitamin pill and listens to music. He also sits in the same seat with all of his papers sorted and arranged in the same places. For the rest of the day, his writing session won't finish until he's reached his 2000-word target.
If you’re inspired, there are some questions to help you create your own routine that suits this season of your life.
The Morning Habits of Famous Writers
Joan Didion
Didion typically used her mornings for thinking, telling an interviewer that she typically spends:
“...most of the day working on a piece not actually putting anything on paper, just sitting there, trying to form a coherent idea and then maybe something will come to me about five in the afternoon and then I’ll work for a couple of hours and get three or four sentences, maybe a paragraph.” The slowness of the writing process stems, Didion has said, from the sheer difficulty of thinking clearly. “Writing,” she said in 2011, “forces you to think.”
Kurt Vonnegut
In a letter to his wife in 1965, Vonnegut explained his morning routine:
"I awake at 5:30, work until 8:00, eat breakfast at home, work until 10:00, walk a few blocks into town, do errands, go to the nearby municipal swimming pool, which I have all to myself, and swim for half an hour, return home at 11:45, read the mail, eat lunch at noon."
Ernest Hemingway
In an interview, Hemingway outlined his process:
"When I am working on a book or a story I write every morning as soon after first light as possible. There is no one to disturb you and it is cool or cold and you come to your work and warm as you write. You read what you have written and, as you always stop when you know what is going to happen next, you go on from there."
Hilary Mantel
Two-time Booker Prize winner Hilary Mantel shared her unique approach to mornings in a 2016 article:
“I used to be a late starter, but now I get up in the dark like a medieval monk, commit unmediated scribble to a notebook, and go back to bed around six, hoping to sleep for another two hours and to wake slowly and in silence. Random noise, voices in other rooms, get me off to a savage, disorderly start, but if I am left in peace to reach for a pen, I feel through my fingertips what sort of day it is. … On flow days, I have no idea what I’ve written till I read it back. It’s a life with shocks built in.”
Roald Dahl
In a 1982 interview, Roald Dahl described his structured, almost ritualistic mornings:
“He would eat breakfast in bed and open his post. At 10:30 a.m., he’d walk to his writing hut and work until noon before heading back to the house for lunch—typically a gin and tonic followed by Norwegian prawns with mayonnaise. After a snooze, he’d take tea back to the hut and work from 4 to 6 p.m. Dinner followed promptly at six.”
Jodi Picoult
Bestselling American author Jodi Picoult balances her writing with family life:
“I get up at 5 a.m. and walk three miles with a friend (I do it for the gossip). I come home, shower, get my daughter off to school, make coffee and a bowl of yogurt with banana, and head up to my office.”
Haruki Murakami
The internationally acclaimed Japanese author shared his disciplined routine with The Paris Review:
“When I’m in writing mode for a novel, I get up at 4:00 a.m. and work for five to six hours. In the afternoon, I run 10km or swim 1500m (or both), then read and listen to music. I go to bed at 9:00 p.m. The repetition itself becomes the important thing; it’s a form of mesmerism… Writing a long novel is like survival training. Physical strength is as necessary as artistic sensitivity.”
Enid Blyton
Known for her prolific imagination, Enid Blyton’s mornings were dedicated to writing:
“She usually began writing after breakfast with her portable typewriter on her knee and her favorite red Moroccan shawl nearby, believing the color red was a mental stimulus. She would write until five, producing 6,000 to 10,000 words daily.”
Barbara Kingsolver
For Kingsolver, mornings are an unstoppable creative force:
“I tend to wake very early—four o’clock is standard. My morning begins with trying not to get up before the sun rises. But when I do, it’s because my head is too full of words. Getting to my desk feels like a long emergency. People ask how I discipline myself to write. For me, the discipline is leaving my desk. I write a lot of material I know I’ll throw away—it’s part of the process.”
Create Your Own Morning Routine
Inspired? Designing your own productive morning routine starts with self-reflection. Here are some questions to guide you:
Why do I want an effective morning routine? What specific goals am I aiming to achieve? Many people are nights owls, so mornings could be the cruelest time for you to write.
What can I prepare the night before? Set up your workspace, jot down ideas, or prep breakfast to ease into the day.
What habits need to change? (e.g., Avoiding the snooze button, limiting morning phone use, drinking more water, playing lots of good music.)
When do I feel most creative? Identify your peak creative hours and structure your writing time accordingly.
Does physical activity help? Consider adding a walk, stretch, or yoga session to boost focus and energy.
What are my biggest distractions? How can I minimize or eliminate them in the morning?
How can I wake up refreshed? Prioritize a consistent bedtime that allows for adequate sleep.
Your Turn
Morning routines vary greatly, but they all share a common purpose: to set the tone for a productive day. Whether you’re an early bird or a night owl looking to shift your habits, take inspiration from these authors and start experimenting.
Your perfect routine might just be a few tweaks away.
What’s one change you could make to optimize your routine?
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