What I Learned About Philip Roth's Writing Process

There is a lot that can be said Blake Bailey's biography of Philip Roth that I finished recently. In this entry I would like to write about what I learned of the author's writing process. Here are some details I learned from Bailey's book:

• When he joined the army, Roth was given work as a typist because that was work that needed to be done and most enlisted men at that time could not type. He decided then that he would spend several hours each day writing. However, it should be noted that Roth hated the army. Some people hate being told what to do. Roth also injured his back shortly before his discharge and suffered back problems the rest of his life. Circa 1995, Roth found he could not sit at a desk for an extended period of time and bought a standing desk that he used for approximately the last fifteen years of his career.
• For much of his life, Roth went for a long walk, as much as three hours, in the morning before he started writing. Roth would work on his writing for something like six to ten hours a day. He estimates that he would complete about two pages of polished prose each day. Much of his time was spent arranging and rearranging sentences.
• Roth kept plugging away at an idea, often unsure if it would become a novel or not. There were times when he wrote as much as seventy pages before he gave up on an idea.
• Roth's first drafts, according to people who have seen them, were not very impressive. Roth put each manuscript through at least four or five drafts before he sent it on to his editor. 
• When Roth finished the penultimate draft of his manuscript he would send it off to a small group of trusted readers. After someone read the draft, Roth would interview that person and take detailed notes as they talked. Later, he used a tape recorder to capture the comments.