It was wonderful to walk down the long flights of stairs knowing that I’d had good luck working. I always worked until I had something done and I always stopped when I knew what was going to happen next. That way I could be sure of going on the next day.
Hemingway describes a practical method for sustaining creative work from one day to the next. He aims to finish something meaningful during each session, but stops before exhausting the material. By ending while he still knows what will happen next, he leaves himself a clear point of entry when he returns to the work.
In A Moveable Feast, the passage forms part of Hemingway’s reflections on his early writing habits in Paris. It presents writing as a disciplined routine rather than an activity dependent entirely on inspiration. The satisfaction he feels after a productive session comes partly from having made progress and partly from knowing that the work can continue. More broadly, the method applies to sustained creative projects: stopping at a deliberate point can preserve direction, reduce the difficulty of restarting and help turn repeated effort into a dependable practice.