Victor Hugo's Daily Routine
Do your hardest thinking before lunch. Victor Hugo's writing routine ended at 11:00 AM with icy water poured over himself on the roof.
By Colin PaceUpdated
Overview
Victor Hugo wrote Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. In exile on Guernsey he wrote standing up in a glass lookout on his roof. His writing routine ended each morning with a tub of icy water.
He rose at dawn to the gun from a nearby fort, took coffee, a letter from his mistress, Juliette Drouet, and two raw eggs, then wrote until 11:00 AM. On the roof he poured water left out overnight over himself. Lunch with guests, hard exercise, the barber and dinner and cards followed, as Meaning Ring's notes on the book retell it.
It's for early risers who want the hardest thinking done before lunch. It also suits anyone who sits all day and needs a physical anchor in the middle of it.
You get 4.5 hours of writing while the day is quiet, 2 hours of real movement and an evening with people in it. A cold shower is the doable version of the plunge. The evening writing hour and the 10:00 PM bedtime are our estimates.
At a glance
- 8 hr sleep per night
- 38.5 hr work per week
- 3 meals per day
- 15 hr eating window
- 14 hr movement per week
- 24.5 hr play per week
Schedule
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