I've moderated a few author panels, and the one question that keeps popping up is, "What's your writing routine?"

It's a great question. After all, the idea of sitting around, being creative and writing to your heart's content doesn't seem to be work. But that's exactly what authors are paid to do.

And, of course, each writer has a different routine. Some feel sharper first thing in the morning, when they get the bulk of their work done, and then spend the rest of the day thinking, editing, and preparing for the next morning's work. Others write in the evening, when everyone else is asleep. And still others are just constantly writing, pulling away from their daily activities to scribble down a line or a thought.

So for those of you who've always wondered how your favorite writers write, Daily Routines is the site for you. As culled from different interviews and biographies, the site shares the routines, rituals and habits that keep writers and artists creating. (And of course, the site itself is to become a book next year.) It hasn't been updated in a while, but it's a great glimpse into the minds and lives of authors such as Emily Dickinson, Joseph Campbell, Toni Morrison and Truman Capote.

Capote's actually my favorite.

 "I am a completely horizontal author. I can't think unless I'm lying down, either in bed or stretched on a couch and with a cigarette and coffee handy. I've got to be puffing and sipping. As the afternoon wears on, I shift from coffee to mint tea to sherry to martinis. ..."

Someday, I'll convince my boss that I can only work under similar conditions.

 (Associated Press photo)