Wake Up, Charles Bukowski!

Every once in a while, as a library assistant, I come across some fun random information. Like yesterday, for example.

While proofreading a slide presentation for the head librarian, I found an infographic about the sleep habits of famous writers. It correlated the hour they habitually woke up, based on interviews and biographies, with their literary output and the awards they won. Honoré de Balzac apparently awoke at an insane 1 a.m. (when did he go to bed?), followed by Haruki Murakami and Sylvia Plath at 4 a.m. An hour later Toni Morrison, Oliver Sacks, Benjamin Franklin, Margaret Mead and Immanuel Kant all began their days.

At the other end of the spectrum, Charles Bukowski didn't roll out of bed until noon, with F. Scott Fitzgerald only slightly earlier at 11 a.m. William S. Burroughs professed to wake up at 9:30 a.m., but I'd be surprised.

The early birds do seem to have more major awards, but there doesn't seem to be a huge impact on productivity, from what I can tell. The most productive writers in terms of quantity -- Isaac Asimov (6 a.m.), Stephen King (8 a.m.) and Ray Bradbury (9 a.m.) were all more in the middle of the pack.

Anyway the infographic is here, if you're interested. I found it intriguing. Everyone assumes that early risers get more done, and I definitely value my early-morning writing time, when the house is more or less quiet and I can concentrate before I begin the day. But everyone has a different system. Whatever works, right?

I met with my British tax advisor last night, and I now more or less understand the whys and wherefores of my tax bill. I still have to figure out how best to pay it, but the good news is that, as I expected, this year will be an outlier in terms of how much I pay because of the settling of my mom's estate. Next year ought to cost me less (but it will still cost me). As I always say, taxes are the price we pay to live in a civilized society, so I can't complain too much.

I did indulge in a glass of wine during that conversation, though. If I was going to give up an hour of my evening staring at columns of figures, then by golly I was going to enjoy it.

The temperatures this morning are  slightly warmer than yesterday -- 34º F (or 1.1º C) when I woke up, so not quite freezing. There may be more rain or wet snow ("wintry mix," as they say in New York) this morning, but after that nighttime temperatures are back in the 40s F, so I think I'll uncover the avocado this evening.

Dave thinks it's insane to keep covering and uncovering plants, or to keep bringing them in and putting them out again, but to me it's perfectly normal during the winter. For example, he thinks we should keep the avocado covered all winter, but that seems crazy to me. I might keep the geraniums inside and maybe the citrus, but I think the shroud has to come off the avocado until the next freeze.

(Photos: Autumnal garden scenes -- a maple leaf on hydrangea, a rhododendron bud and dry teasels.)