Thereâs a famous two-decade-old Paris Review interview with Haruki Murakami in which he, one of the worldâs most celebrated novelists, details his daily routine. He wakes up at 4AM, works for five hours, goes for a run, reads, goes to bed, and then repeats it all over again. The rigor and repetition are the point.
I am not Haruki Murakami.
In addition to my work at The Verge, I write novels â my second one is out today â and while I admire Murakamiâs commitment to an immovable schedule, Iâve found that I produce my best work when Iâm constantly rethinking routines, processes, and, mostly, how Iâm writing. In the modern age, that means what software Iâm using.
What I am about to describe will be a nightmare to anyone who likes all of their tools to work harmoniously. All of these apps are disconnected and do not interoperate with each other in any way. Many of the things they do are redundant and overlap. I suppose this process is quite the opposite of frictionless â but thatâs precisely the point. Iâm not sure I believe that ambitious creative work is borne from a perfectly efficient workflow.
This is, instead, a journey of moving the work through diffe …
