If you talk about diligence, you probably won't find a more diligent writer than Balzac in Paris, or even in all of Europe.
Like his idol Napoleon, Balzac's work schedule was equally bizarre and intolerable to ordinary people.
He would follow the schedule below for several months each year: go to bed at six in the evening, get up at midnight, throw on a large robe, light four candles, pick up a quill pen, and work for sixteen hours straight, or if the manuscript deadline was pressing, he could work for twenty hours.
According to Balzac himself, he once even worked for forty-eight hours straight, with only a three-hour break in between.
He would generally take a bath at seven in the morning, take a short rest, and at this time, the publisher would also send someone to pick up the manuscripts.
Such long working hours naturally resulted in an unmatchable output, and this donkey often rushed several works at the same time in one day.
