John McPhee’s Writing Routine

"Time is the thing that has always favored me. My pieces take a long time and I’m around the subject a lot."

When it comes to writing careers, you’d be hard pressed to find one as revered and storied as John McPhee. A staff writer for The New Yorker since 1963, McPhee is widely regarded as a pioneer of creative nonfiction and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his 1998 geology book, Annals of the Former World.

McPhee has built a career out of writing about obscure topics and drawing the interesting out of the mundane. His writings have covered eclectic subjects the farming of oranges, the New Jersey Pine Barrens, birch-bark canoes, and the headmaster of Deerfield Academy, to name a few.

In addition to his writing, McPhee also teaches a writing course at Princeton University. He’s held the role of Ferris Professor of Journalism since 1974, and many of his students have gone on to acclaimed writing careers of their own, including David Remnick, editor-in-chief of The New Yorker; Richard Stengel, former managing editor of Time magazine, Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek and The 4-Hour Bo…