William J. Bruce III has built a career at the intersection of creativity and connection. A Canadian writer, producer, and celebrity publicist, he’s worked with everyone from NFL players to professional wrestlers, while also carving out time for his own passion projects — including his novels Penholder and the forthcoming Hate.
In this conversation, William talks about how he balances the demands of publicity and creative work, why he sees storytelling as a powerful tool for healing, and how his personal journey with depression has shaped both his writing and his outlook on life.
You’ve worn many hats—author, publicist, producer, host. How do you manage your energy across such creatively and emotionally demanding roles?
To be honest, I pull lessons from my school days. When you’re a student you juggle different teachers, subjects, and deadlines much like today having different clients and projects. I learnt early that when I get stuck on a question, I move on to the next one and come back later. I do what I can to leverage my time and treat each project like a class assignment.
You’ve been open about your experience with depression, especially in Penholder. How has your approach to mental wellbeing changed over the years?
This is a great question. You know when I wrote Penholder, it was after going through a low moment and truth be told I hadn’t at that time been formally diagnosed with depression, and even though I knew it was there, I was still largely in denial of its existence in my life. If that makes any sense lol. In 2017 , depression would hit again when I returned from the Philippines to sponsor my wife.
After just being back a couple months I was diagnosed with pericarditis and was put on beta blockers. I thought my lack of energy was due solely to the beta blockers, but it was in fact depression. I literally would sleep most of the day during that time. I say all that to say this; it wasn’t until 2021 when I was again suffering from depression that I sought out professional help and got a formal diagnosis for depression. Getting the formal diagnosis gave me a sort of ground zero moment, and a starting point for growth and restoration.
I grew up in a religious community and there can be a huge stigma and denial within that community and you can therefore sometimes feel like you are suffering alone. I’ve had to work through the bitterness and unforgiveness I’ve had to forgive people within that community and accept that I’m in need of God’s grace too. I believe God is real and knowing Him gives me that future and that hope.
Your new novel Hate explores grief and mystery. How do you look after your own mental health when working on darker material?
Hate has been a long time in the making largely due to the dark material it covers. I want the book to be authentic, and so there is a lot of me in this book (emotion and personality wise). That said, I’ve had to take breaks as it gets overwhelming at times. In certain ways it’s very therapeutic as I am able to confront topics in a fictitious manner that I may not feel as comfortable speaking of otherwise.
With such a wide-ranging career, what does a typical day look like for you now? How do you create structure and find balance in it?
As wide-ranging my career may look like, I’m blessed in that there is a lot of overlap. I usually start by responding to emails and returning calls. I’ve also learned over the years to create a structure, not just in my time, but also in how I maintain records to make processes scalable.
You’ve interviewed some pretty big names—what’s one conversation that really stuck with you or changed how you think about work and purpose?
The interview that stuck with me the most would have to be the one I did with Alveda King. Her uncle was my childhood hero and still is. It was crazy to sit down and talk to her directly. I was so nervous I actually messed up her father’s name … yikes. But she kindly corrected me in a manner that didn’t detract from the interview. Thank you Alveda!
For me, I viewed it as a chance to have had a one on one discussion with someone who would have known Dr. King in a much more intimate way . It was great to hear about him from that angle and see both the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and A. D. King lives on through her. It was also interesting to hear her…for her, if that makes sense. She is an activist herself, continuing the work of her father and uncle. I’m a fan of hers. Hopefully one day I can interview her cousin Martin Luther King III as well … hopefully.
How do you see storytelling as a tool for healing—and has that played a role in your own personal journey?
I believe it was Gayle Lynds who shared to me once that writing can create a way to meet someone you may not be privileged to meet in life. By that I believe she meant that you can learn from someone from another time period (as I did from Dr. King’s Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?), or another culture (as I did from Lisa See’s book The Island of Sea Women). Storytelling can be a great way to create a place for healing to begin.
I am using storytelling right now for my upcoming book “Hate” (working title) to hopefully relay feelings that would cultivate healing. Though the story, being that it is a novel is obviously fictitious, the emotions are very real. After Chris Cornell, Chester Bennington, and Dolores O’Riordan passed in 2017 as a fan of their music I began to write this book, perhaps first as a way to unpack my feelings of their loss. Later I realized it was much more personal. Listening to music has always been an escape for me as I could hear in the lyrics someone who relates to my own experiences. Music doesn’t judge.
I can only hope that this book would do the same for someone else. May they be able to relate and find healing in the pages of this book as I have in the lyrics of these songwriters.
What advice would you give to someone trying to juggle a creative passion project while also managing their mental health and other responsibilities?
I’m not sure I would be able to manage my mental health without a creative passion to be honest. That said, I’ve always relied heavily on creative things, that’s my personality. I think the main thing is to find out what creative thing you are passionate about and it will be your outlet to relieve pain, not the cause of it.
