David W. Berner is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, author, and teacher.
He is the best-selling, award-winning author of fiction, creative nonfiction, memoir, short stories, and poetry. His work includes the novels A Well-Respected Man, The Islander, Night Radio, Sandman, and Rainbow Man, and the nonfiction books Accidental Lessons, Any Road Will Take You There, Walks with Sam, The Consequence of Stars, and Daylight Saving Time. He has won an Eric Hoffer Book Award, Book Excellence Award, NYC Big Book Award, National Association of Independent Writers and Editors Award for Literary Fiction, and the Book of the Year Award from the Chicago Writers Association. He's also been recognized by the Paris Book Festival, the London Book Festival, The Society of Midland Authors, the Hawthorne Prize, the Royal Dragonfly Awards, and the Readers' Choice Awards.
David has been honored as the Writer-in-Residence at the Jack Kerouac Project in Orlando, FL and at the Ernest Hemingway Birthplace Home and Museum in Oak Park, IL.
David is a retired associate-professor at Columbia College Chicago, a long-time Chicago broadcast journalist, and now teaches writing at Gotham Writers Workshop of New York City. He writes a regular blog on writing, music, and the arts at The Writer Shed on Medium and personal essays at The Abundance on Substack.
This one-on-one interview shares David W. Berner’s background and experience writing Daylight Saving Time: The Power of Growing Older.
Tell us about Daylight Saving Time: The Power of Growing Older.
When we are young, we think little about growing old.
But time soon catches up with us: the first gray hair, a buckling knee, the purchase of reading glasses, or when a heart attack at the age of 56 rattles your world and reminds you that none of us get out of here alive.
Daylight Saving Time is a meditative and intimate personal narrative on the act of aging where I discover how to accept and revel in the present, when the days that remain are fewer than those that have passed, offering a path for celebrating life's final chapters.
Through the lessons of seasonal change, the natural world, literature, and spirituality, I offer readers a kind of instruction book on the art of growing older, challenging our society to accept aging and its transformative power. I hope I can share a guiding philosophy on how to discover joy in the time we have left and nourishment in life's remaining seasons.
What inspired you to write Daylight Saving Time: The Power of Growing Older?
I began writing Daylight Saving Time after experiencing an unexpected heart attack. It was a wake-up call, bringing clarity to life’s most precious purpose and a realization that there were now fewer years ahead of me than behind. I have always believed that the act of aging was in many ways a privilege and that concept inspired me. In writing the book, my hope was to try to understand the unfolding of a life, to document it in the very moments that it was happening, piece by piece, day by day. To help see it, I chose a period of the year that some call the season of light, the space between the shifting of time, between Standard Time and Daylight Saving. It is a man-made concept, but it is also a remarkable period in the yearly ritual of preserving illumination, the darkest time on our calendars; yet we bravely stretch toward the equinox, toward something brighter, something beyond.
Like aging itself, what ended up in the book were small increments of a path that is nearly unnoticeable—little surprises, unforeseen awakenings, frightening experiences, moments of celebration and resignation, sorrow and delight—mixing like the chemicals of a mad scientist.
The book shares my personal journey, however, the philosophies, ideas and principles introduced are universal. I hope it will resonate with many around the world, no matter the age.
What is one message you would like readers to remember?
I would like readers to see that aging is a privilege, a kind of adventure that should be embraced.
There are many cliches about accepting one’s age: “Age is only a number,” “You're only as old as you feel,” and so on.
Daylight Saving Time is not a book that simply reiterates those old adages. Nor is it a self-help manual. Instead, the book takes it a step further by asking an important question: How do you plan to revel in the final chapters of your life?
Purchasing the Book
Daylight Saving Time: The Power of Growing Older (O-Books/Collective Ink) has received positive reviews from well-known experts, authors, and reviewers around the world. Book Excellence writes, "An authentic and touching memoir that delves into the complexities of aging, offering profound insights and heartfelt reflections on life's journey." In addition, Ryan Lindner, author of The Half-Known Life writes, “A touching, introspective exploration of life as we age…Daylight Saving Time is an exploration of what it means to truly live and grasp the beauty of life before it’s gone.”
The book is available for sale on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Nook, Google Play, and other online bookstores. Readers are encouraged to purchase their copy today: https://www.amazon.com/Daylight-Saving-Time-Power-Growing/dp/1803415118
To connect with David and learn more about his work, visit: www.davidwberner.com. You can also find him on Facebook and Instagram.
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