The disciplined author sits at her writing desk from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m., religiously—stopping only when it’s time to take her daughter to school. “Keep at it,” she advises young novelists, convinced that one must have the singular goal of creating a good story, before considering what she refers to as the “long process” of publication.

Because diligently sitting at a fold-out table doesn’t necessarily pay the bills, she insists that aspiring literary writers “get a day job…that gives you flexibility.” She herself works as an interpreter and writer. 

However, Marivi didn’t always have this patient relationship with the written word. In her 20s, she was a copywriter, caught up in the instantly gratifying world of 30-second stories. While she’s grateful to the industry for teaching her how to quickly get a point across, the 51-year-old acknowledges that her younger self may not have had the endurance to complete the marathon that is writing a novel.

Still, she too needs help getting over writer’s block at times. Marivi gets inspiration anywhere: yoga, early mornings, other novels, etc. However, meticulously submitting work to and getting feedback from her writers’ group is where the bulk of her productivity seems to come from. “Anybody can be inspired by anything,” she says. But what makes quality art is the persistence to turn that spark of inspiration into a story, and then “to see it to the end.”

It’s also important to keep topping yourself, and always striving to make a better story. Marivi, who once spent a week with legendary feminist Gloria Steinem during a writing residency, has learned that it doesn’t matter what you’ve already achieved. It’s always about what you’re trying to do. Asked whether Gloria imparted any wisdom in that week, Marivi tips her hand to the purism that gets her up and writing at dawn: “Do the best work you can do. If your ego gets ahead of you, it gets in the way of your story.”

Photos by Paolo Tabuena