Here’s a little process note on the writing of East of Eden that is fascinating:
From January 29 to November 1, 1951, Steinbeck wrote notes to himself and his editor, as well as ‘warm-up’ prose, on the left-hand pages of his notebook. He described it as "getting my mental arm in shape to pitch a good game". The text of the novel filled the facing right-hand pages.
An interesting approach I’m going to take a look at. Also:
10 months to write this masterpiece? I wonder how many cigarettes.
I will be going further down this rabbit hole, but here there will be light instead of darkness.
