The Strange Writing Rituals of Maya Angelou

Well known writer, poet and activist, Maya Angelou, died last Wednesday aged 86.

As well as being known for her writing she was also well known for her rather bizarre writing rituals.

In an interview in 2013 she said:

"I have kept a hotel room in every town I’ve ever lived in. I rent a hotel room for a few months, leave my home at six, and try to be at work by six-thirty.

"To write, I lie across the bed, so that this elbow is absolutely encrusted at the end, just so rough with callouses. I never allow the hotel people to change the bed, because I never sleep there.

"I stay until twelve-thirty or one-thirty in the afternoon, and then I go home and try to breathe; I look at the work around five; I have an orderly dinner — proper, quiet, lovely dinner; and then I go back to work the next morning.

"Sometimes in hotels I’ll go into the room and there’ll be a note on the floor which says, Dear Miss Angelou, let us change the sheets. We think they are moldy. But I only allow them to come in and empty wastebaskets. I insist that all things are taken off the walls. I don’t want anything in there. I go into the room and I feel as if all my beliefs are suspended."

You can read more at:
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/maya-angelou-writing-process-2014-5