Rituals are a part of Didion's creative process. At the end of the day, she must take a break from writing to remove herself from the "pages". She feels closeness to her work; without a necessary break, she cannot make proper adjustments. She spends a great deal of time cutting out and editing her prose before concluding her evening. She begins the next day looking over the previous evening's work, making further changes. As the process culminates, she feels it is necessary to sleep in the same room as her book. She says, "That's one reason I go home to Sacramento to finish things. Somehow the book doesn't leave you when you're right next to it."