Wright's daily ritual

Paul Ringstrom · Post by **Paul Ringstrom** » Thu Apr 18, 2013 11:56 am

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/cult ... ccess.html

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Fri Apr 19, 2013 10:56 am

It isn't the hour that's important, I think -- it's the fact of working after the mind has been "reset" (and the soul reconnected ?) during sleep. Of course, an empty and silent house would be a boon, as well, to concentrated work.

We've probably all had the experience of coming to a conclusion, or having fresh insight, upon awakening -- or during that half-awake state ?

SDR

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Fri Apr 19, 2013 12:15 pm

I was at my desk at Paramount by 5:30 every morning so I could get the worst of my work done before the rest of the workers started drifting in from 9 to 11. (Ultimate flex hours helped a lot; movie studios never really shut down for the night.) The principal advantage was the quiet and lack of interruptions. Sometimes this backfired when the coffee machine was on the fritz and I had to wait for the commissary to open at 7, but by and large it was a great advantage. I don't know that it had anything to do with the quality of my work, however, since it lacked creativity.

I can sit at my drafting table at any hour of the (retired) day and do what I do. The unstructured day makes reserving time for any particular activity unnecessary. Creativity has nothing specifically to do with the hour of the day.

dkottum · Post by **dkottum** » Fri Apr 19, 2013 10:58 pm

Somewhere I read of Wright waking up very early with a new idea or solution, and would immediately summon Jack Howe to his drafting board. They would have a scheme on paper before breakfast.

I believe it likely, having had solutions come clearly only during the first few minutes after waking up. Sometimes good ideas, not always. After that it gets lost in the events of the day and it's hard to think of anything original, just how its always been done.

doug k