While recent studies have demonstrated the importance of material structures in shaping writers' roles and practices in academic settings, relatively little attention has been focused on temporality, which exists as an embedded aspect of all such structures. Using the perspectives on temporality articulated in Anthony Giddens' concept of "time geography," this cross-national study compares the influence of temporal structures on the recurrent daily practices and writing-role constructions of student writers in two different university environments, one German and one American. The study draws evidence from case studies matched cross-nationally between first degree student writers in both universities. The data suggest a distinct cross-national difference in the way American and German students constructed their roles and practices in relation to temporal structures. The American students interpreted time negatively, as a constraining factor in their goal setting, task planning, and composing; while the German students interpreted time positively, as an enabling dimension leading to opportunity, choice, and self-direction in task planning and writing.