Info We Trust

CHAPTER19CREATIVE ROUTINES

When I write, I must convince myself that it's going to be wonderful. … I'm going to write it and this time, this time, it won't be crap. When I don't have that confidence. I'm in big trouble.

WILLIAM GOLDMAN, 1983

The shore of our destination is in sight. Before our voyage lands and we share a triumphant close, here is a handful of observations, tips, and quirks learned through my own work. Of course, my experience as a data storyteller has shaped this entire book. But we have not yet seen the practical daily experience of what it is like, something—in the spirit of tethering lessons to reality—we can do now.

The denouement is the final part of a play, movie, or narrative in which the strands of the plot are unraveled and matters are explained or resolved. From Old French desnoer (to untie).

Day-to-Day

The first pages of this book showed Mozart's creative routine. That project surprised me. It revealed no similar patterns of activity between different creatives. Some people worked in the early morning while others melted late-night candles. Some exercised every day while others burned out their bodies with chemical cocktails. The only commonality between them was the inclusion criteria: All these creatives had a routine. There is no best way, but to make it on the list, you must have had a routine. No one can tell you when to eat. No one ...