Kurt Vonnegut's Daily Routine
Write 4 hours before your day job begins. Kurt Vonnegut wrote from 5:30 AM, swam before lunch, taught in the afternoon and was asleep by 10:00 PM.
By Colin PaceUpdated
Overview
Kurt Vonnegut wrote Slaughterhouse-Five and Cat's Cradle, novels that fold science fiction into satire and gallows humor. In 1965, while teaching at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, he still got 4 hours of writing done before lunch.
Mason Currey's Daily Rituals quotes his 1965 letter to his wife Jane, reprinted by The Marginalian. He woke at 5:30 AM, wrote until 8:00 AM, ate breakfast and wrote again until 10:00 AM. Then he walked into town and swam in the municipal pool before lunch at 11:30 AM. He taught from 12:30 PM, and from 5:30 PM had a few Scotches, cooked supper, read and listened to jazz until bed at 10:00 PM.
Adopt it if you have a day job and a book you keep not writing. You give the book your freshest hours, get a daily swim and end with an evening that asks nothing of you. The 11:30 AM lunch and the 12:30 PM to 5:30 PM teaching block are Podio's estimates, and weekends match weekdays.
Who's it for
At a glance
- 7 hr 30 min sleep per night
- 63 hr work per week
- 2 meals per day
- 5 hr eating window
- 10.5 hr movement per week
- 31.5 hr play per week
Sleep
52.5 hours/week7 hr 30 min per night
- Every day10:00 PM → 5:30 AM· 7 hr 30 min
No naps.
Work
63 hours/week9 hr a day4 hr writing5 hr teaching
- Writing5:30 AM → 8:00 AM· 2 hr 30 min · Every day
- Writing8:30 AM → 10:00 AM· 1 hr 30 min · Every day
- Teaching12:30 PM → 5:30 PM· 5 hr · Every day
Eat
10.5 hours/week2 meals19:5 eating window1 hr 30 min eating
- Breakfast8:00 AM → 8:30 AM· 30 min · Every day
- Lunch11:30 AM → 12:30 PM· 1 hr · Every day
Off
Move
10.5 hours/weekWalk 10:00 AM
- Walk10:00 AM → 11:30 AM· 1 hr 30 min · Every day
Play
31.5 hours/weekMusic 5:30 PM
- Every day5:30 PM → 10:00 PM· 4 hr 30 min