As you may have heard, we’ve been avoiding the office this week. Which means our Elevator Interview — the weekly chats we’ve been conducting with Times writers and editors to get inside their heads about how they do their jobs — took place over email.

That was no problem for Veronica Chambers, who has an early morning writing ritual that, at times, has involved her sleeping on her kitchen floor to ensure that she would be so uncomfortable that she wakes up early. It appears to have worked: She is the author of more than a dozen books, including her most recent, “Queen Bey: A Celebration of the Power and Creativity of Beyoncé Knowles-Carter,” and is editor of the Times archival storytelling project, Past Tense.