How to write a book in eleven days

I’ve always enjoyed reading Maigret books and was fascinated to learn that Georges Simenon claimed to write them in eleven days, taking eight days to write plus three days to edit each title.

During lockdown, I thought I’d challenge myself to match him – and I’m not talking about lighting his pipe! 

Would I succeed in writing a book in eleven days?

Following a strict routine, Simenon apparently would:

• mark off the eleven days in his calendar

• summarise character details – using names chosen from telephone directories – on a large manila envelope but leave the plot to come as a revelation to him during the process of writing 

• the day before the first writing day, set up his IBM typewriter with a new ribbon, lay out a selection of pipes and his ‘Coupe Maigret’ tobacco, dig out a coffee pot and large cup, prepare two folders (one for typescript, the other for carbons) and put a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on his study door

• be up at dawn (which I take to be 5.30 am) every day of the eleven and write six to eight thousand words, with no correcting done, and finish each day at 10.30am

• wear the same shirt each day – it would be washed every day after wearing, not least because he sweated so much in the act of composition

My homage to Maigret, The Missing Monsieur Max, is set in Provence in the little town of St Rémy de Provence and writing it gave me the chance to take myself back – in my mind that is – having owned a house there for a period of ten years.

I got up early to write (around 6am) but didn’t manage to stick to a fixed regime each day and I didn’t smoke a pipe continuously or drink strong coffee.

So, did I take eleven days?

Not quite. 

Fourteen days in the writing and then several more in correction! George Simenon said, ‘I write fast because I have not the brains to write slow.’ I’m not sure quite what that says about me!

And, for the record, I don’t think I could ever match Georges Simenon as a writer, being only really fit to light his pipe!