K. Marvin Bruce

I do most of my writing early in the day.  Generally between 3:30 and 4:30 a.m.  This isn’t really a matter of choice; I commute, therefore I am.  I take what little time I have to write. Not that I’m complaining.  My advice to my writing friends is always the same: find a time and try to stick with it.  It takes the brain a while to settle into writing mode, of course, and an hour is never long enough.  There’s a hidden danger here, too. Since I spend my waking hours wishing I was asleep, I tend to allow myself a little latitude on weekends.  Maybe I’ll sleep until 4:00 or 5:00.  But that extra hour’s snooze has its cost.  I wake up and my usual writing time’s gone. Sure, I can still write.  I don’t have to be to work, but like most commuters I find weekends incredibly busy.  It’s the only time I have to get things done.  In other words, waking up later means there’s less time to write before everyday concerns sta...

Persistence.  A great concept, but a harsh lover.  Writing is a delicate creature, easily crushed by changes in its preferred ecosystem.  I’ve been reminded of this ever since the dreadful event that I entitle the annual time displacement. Daylight savings time had a practical origin in an agricultural lifetime.  Of course, our society has changed radically since then—so much so that there would be no harm in staying on daylight savings time all year long.  To creatures of habit that one extra hour’s sleep in the fall doesn’t compare with the hideous, persistent weeks of uncontrollable yawns in the spring. I’m an early morning writer.  Since I’m not one of the privileged few who gets paid for my efforts, writing has always been an avocation.  Avocations are not viewed favorably by employers, so they are pursuits of personal time.  I think most clearly in the hours before dawn that I jealously guard from others.  I do not want ...