This Millionaire Writer Works 80-Hour Weeks: Here’s Why

It has to do with truth

Daniel Gonçalves
Aug 31, 2018 · 2 min read
Dean and his dog Trixie. https://sliverofstonemagazinedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/trixie-dean.jpg

It’s a regular Monday. Dean Ray Koontz walks his golden retriever just before breakfast. Then he eats eggs by his desk, as he looks into an old monitor, the screen dressed in blue.

The cursor ticks, words waiting to enter his next Novel. It will feature whimsical characters and unending suspense.

It’s 7:15 A.M. He gets comfortable in his chair. The fingers are ready for battle — the keyboard their weapon. Then the sound of gently pressed keys filling the walls of his office. The magic begins.

For the next six days, he’ll make characters love, laugh, cry, and murder. And he’ll love (almost) every minute.

Morning yields. He eats lunch by the window, as he gazes upon the barren South Californian landscape. Gerda — his wife and manager — brings him this months’ bank statement. It has many zeros in it. A career of bestsellers had brought him enormous wealth.

Then why would a 72 year old millionaire work six day weeks?

I searched for an answer.

At 24, I discovered the importance of focus and self-discipline, and decided to start writing, having been a lifelong reader. I tried to follow Koontz’ regiment — everyday I’d write from breakfast until dinner. I would do it 6 days a week.

But how could I devote 80 hours a week writing, if I had to have a day job?

I was set to fail. Then it came to me.

It wasn’t about the hours I put in. It was about commitment — the importance ascribed to every second of the joyful task, whatever the passion.

Dean Koontz spends long hours writing because he speaks one fundamental language.

The language of Truth.

Nowadays, I write an hour a day. But I make sure I speak the truth every instant.

Put truth in what you love, and the rest will follow.

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