Before Ray Bradbury made it as a science fiction writer, he was dirt poor and he couldn’t afford rent on an office.

So, Bradbury did the bulk of his writing in his garage, which I imagine got pretty toasty during the summers in Venice, California.

Bradbury’s writing garage was short-lived, though.

After he and his wife gave birth to a couple of kids, the garage became less like a make-shift office and more like a room surrounded by distractions.

His daughters would often tap on the window panes, begging their father to step away from the typewriter and come outside and play.

Bradbury’s new office became the basement of UCLA’s library. While he didn’t have to pay rent, he did have to pay to “type” on the library’s typewriters.

10 cents would earn him approximately 30-minutes of writing time.

The moment he heard the coin drop to the depths of the machine, the impoverished writer would punch away like a mad man, getting as much writing down on paper as he possible could before the time ran out.

At the end of a particularly aggressive nine day sprint, Bradbury had his very first draft of Fahrenheit 451.

He was out $9.80.

Being that the book has gone on to sell 10 million copies, I’d say his investment was well worth it.

The lesson in Bradbury’s writing of Fahrenheit 451 is Parkinson’s Law, which states that work expands to the time we allow for its completion.

So, if you’d like to create more in less time, give yourself less time.

By Cole Schafer.

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