K. Marvin Bruce

Writing is all about habit.   I recently moved house and with the move I somehow left my old writing habits behind.   Or so it seems.   The fact is I’ve had two non-fiction book assignments in a row and my true love has had to wait. My house didn’t come with a writing nook.   It was a tough market this year and finding some kind of suitable domicile before my apartment lease was up proved a trick for which I wasn’t prepared.   I thought there would be lots of choices, but instead it was catch as catch can.   Writing nooks weren’t in this year. Still, my usual chair was still available and I settled in to try my morning writing.   I had a story accepted for publication—the first time in over a year—and I realized that what I was missing was the drawing in of new material.   I need to see how other people live. There’s a bar within walking distance.   A trendy one that serves only local brews.   There I noticed the be...

I have a problem with writing.  Actually, I have a problem with sleeping that leads to a problem with writing. I’m a morning person.  My circadian rhythms are chirping away at about 3 a.m.  I’m usually up and writing by 3:30 because I commute and I don’t live too close to the city.  This has become my habit.  I’m sleepy most of the time so I try to “sleep in” on weekends.  I’m up before 5 anyway. The problem is when I sleep in my mind is less sharp.  I get out of bed less tired, but less inspired.  I spend so much of the rest of the week weary that I look forward to that couple extra hours of slumber only to discover that the days I don’t have to commute I can’t write well.  What to do? I know that writers, historically, have kept idiosyncratic hours.  Staying up nights drinking, and such.  In today’s culture of running in place just to pay the rent, that’s not really an option.  Other people at work wonder why I d...

I have a problem with writing.  Actually, I have a problem with sleeping that leads to a problem with writing. I’m a morning person.  My circadian rhythms are chirping away at about 3 a.m.  I’m usually up and writing by 3:30 because I commute and I don’t live too close to the city.  This has become my habit.  I’m sleepy most of the time so I try to “sleep in” on weekends.  I’m up before 5 anyway. The problem is when I sleep in my mind is less sharp.  I get out of bed less tired, but less inspired.  I spend so much of the rest of the week weary that I look forward to that couple extra hours of slumber only to discover that the days I don’t have to commute I can’t write well.  What to do? I know that writers, historically, have kept idiosyncratic hours.  Staying up nights drinking, and such.  In today’s culture of running in place just to pay the rent, that’s not really an option.  Other people at work wonder why I d...

Keeping to a schedule, I’ve always found, helps me to remain steady in my writing.  A creature of the early morning, I awake when the majority in my time zone slumber, and try to capture my thoughts with this net call literacy.  I try to do it daily, but the desire to sleep is great, and weekends invariably find me cheating. Then there’s travel.  Even fictional people need vacation.  Indeed, travel is one of the greatest sources of literary inspiration.  Seeing something out of the ordinary, talking to people you seldom see, throwing your concept of morning and night off by several hours.  These things can be an alternate form of consciousness. I try to blog on schedule.  This, as most of my literary endeavors, is subject to a kind of profound failure at times.  Life gets in the way—wonderfully in the way—of writing.  It is always my hope, though, that at the end of it all, I’ll be able to scribble it all down. My current t...

Writers can be suspicious people.  I am related to a somewhat famous author.  He won’t talk about writing and never offers to give any help.  I figured it was just a personality trait. You see, I’m a pretty open and honest guy.  Well, as much as a writer can be.  I’m glad to talk about writing and share the paltry bit I know.  Thus I started this blog.  I’m finding that not many others share this trait with me. I knew an editor who was younger than me.  I’m not exactly wet behind the ears, I have to admit.  So this younger editor was, I suppose, a little suspicious of this older guy who contacted him out of the blue.  Still, he took my card and said he’d be in touch. Deep down I suspected he might be a writer.  I have no idea what he thought of me.  After he left his company to go off on his own, I contacted him and asked if he’d like to talk about writing.  Silence.  Not a word. You have to understan...

I’m not a wealthy man.  In fact, I’m barely middle class.  I do, however, have occasion to stay in hotels from time to time.  When you’re young, comfort doesn’t seem to matter as much as price, so I stayed in Motel 6 or Super 8 whenever possible. There’s something evocative about cheap hotels.  You know all kinds of things have happened in these thin-walled rooms with their heavily used furniture.  It depends on how far your imagination is willing to go. When I attend professional meetings, however, and the company is paying the bill, I stay in conference hotels.  These are a cut above.  They always make me feel like writing.  That hint of aristocratic luxury in the air suggests something slightly askew.  Some obscure haunting.  The sins of the indolent rich. As paradoxical as life is, such hotels make writing difficult.  I’m not in my usual writing chair at home.  I can’t get comfortable in all this luxury....