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I’ve been thinking about whether to make a New Year’s resolution. I might like more structure to my days, but not nearly so much as when my kids all attended different schools. I think about Ursula K. Le Guin, who, over the course of a 60-year career, created an enormous body of literary work. I believe she accomplished this by knowing when she was productive, and when she was not:

 

5:30 a.m. – wake up, lie there and think.

6:15 a.m. – get up, eat breakfast – lots.

7:15 a.m. – get to work writing, writing, writing.

Noon – lunch.

1:00 to 3:00 p.m. – reading, music.

3:00 to 5:00 p.m. – correspondence, maybe house cleaning.

5:00 to 8:00 p.m. – make dinner, eat it.

After 8:00 p.m. – I tend to be very stupid. We won’t talk about this.

 

When she shared this schedule, Ursula had a young son. Who got him up, fed, dressed, to school and back? Was this, like many of her other works, fantasy?