Toni Morrison’s Writing Routine

"Is there chaos outside or is there serenity outside? What do I need in order to release my imagination?"

Throughout her career, Toni Morrison was never able to dedicate herself solely to her books. In between her writing, editing job at Random House and teaching role at Princeton University, as well as raising her children (Harold Ford and Slade Kevin), the Nobel Prize-winning author often had to steal time away to work.

It seems as though this method of writing worked best for Morrison. In a 1980 interview with the Bryn Mawr Alumnae Bulletin, she recounted a story about going away to the countryside with a friend to just focus on writing. After staying there for a couple of weeks, the two came back empty-handed. No writing was done during that entire period.

A similar instance occurred when her work schedule at Random House changed and Morrison found herself at home during the day. “I was distracted by the place, which I was seeing for the first time—not a day off or a holiday, but a long period of being home regularly without having to travel from place to place, without having anything …