Slate

Slate launched in 1996 on favors from writers because it couldn't pay. Atul Gawande began writing for Slate as a favor to a friend launching it, at a time when the magazine could not pay journalists. His first piece was a near stream-of-consciousness diary from his surgery duty.

Early Slate pieces ran about 800 words, a short format for a new online magazine.

How I Write

Short Slate pieces gave a busy surgeon a manageable way to build a writing habit. As a surgical resident Gawande set a goal of 30 hours a month of writing, about an hour a day on average, with high variance. He started with 800 word Slate pieces and one or two New Yorker pieces a year.

He used the hour or more of turnover between operations to read and research, and put weekend hours into getting a draft down. His first book appeared in 2002, about a year before he finished training. Quote: "I set a goal of 30 hours a month".

How I Write▶ 11:17