On Writing & Storytelling: Pushing the Story (Slowly) Forward in the ‘One with the Emails’ Chapter

 Late Morning, Friday, January 19, 2024, Madison, New Hampshire

Hi, everyone. It’s a chilly, cloudy day here in my corner of New England. Currently, the temperature is 11°F/-12°C, but it feels a bit warmer (23°F/-5°C) than that. Today’s forecast for the area calls for mostly cloudy skies and a high of 24°F/-4°C. Tonight, we can expect partly cloudy skies and a low of -3°F/-20°C.

Why It’s So Hard to Write in My New Life in ‘Echo Base’

As is becoming the “New Normal” in my new – and often frustrating – life as a writer in New Hampshire, even when I manage to stick to my writing schedule (blog in the morning, rest and eat something for lunch around midday, then work on the novel from 1 or 2 PM till sundown), I find it difficult to actually write new copy for Reunion early in the “afternoon shift.”

Part of that, of course, is that I have only been here in Madison for 32 days, and having lived for most of my life in the subtropical climate of Florida (and most of that time in my hometown of Miami), I still have a hard time coping with the colder temperatures of the northeastern United States. I thought it was cold in Bogota, Colombia when I lived there from 1966 till the spring of 1972, and I experienced quite a few cold snaps in South Florida in the years after that, but that’s nothing compared to what I’ve seen here in rural New Hampshire. The snow from the recent storms that passed through Carroll County still hasn’t melted, and if you didn’t skip my daily weather report, you know that it’s cold now, and that it’s going to be even colder tonight.

I am, of course, doing my best to get acclimated to New England, its climate, and the vast difference between living in a large metro area (my natural habitat, if you will) and the countryside. But even though I’m trying to curb my impatience and accept my lot in life, I am a bit vexed that I am still mostly living out of my suitcases and, because I am not officially a New Hampshire resident, I will not be able to vote in the upcoming primary election.

On Writing & Storytelling: Boy, Epistolary Chapters Are Hard to Write (But, They’re Also Fun to Write…Once You Know What You’re Doing)

Moving on…(as one of my favorite characters in Reunion: Coda might say)

As you might infer from what I just said about the various nagging worries that distract me during my working hours, yesterday’s writing session didn’t start working on all cylinders until 2:55 PM or so. I was at my desk, my computer was booted up and running, I had Microsoft Word open on the .docx file with the manuscript for Reunion: Coda, and I had my usual light classical music playing on my Amazon Music app. The only thing that wasn’t ready to work on the novel was my brain; it was too preoccupied with such thoughts as When am I going to be able to vote? Am I going to lose my SNAP benefits before my EBT card gets “refilled” on February 1? When will I be “settled in” with all of my books, movies, CDs, and, of course, clothes in their proper places? Like I have confessed in previous posts, being patient is not my strong suit, but that’s compounded by my worrywart nature and dislike for “rocking the boat.”

Eventually, I was able to push those nagging thoughts aside for a while and concentrate on the task at hand. Namely, to write another simulated email in the epistolary chapter, aka (in Friends episode naming style) “The One with the Emails.”

As always, whenever I begin a writing session in this particular chapter, I want to write two emails: one by Jim Garraty, the narrator/protagonist of the Reunion Duology, and another by Madison “Maddie,” the leading lady of the chapters set in early spring of 2000.

 (Reunion: Coda follows Jim at two different stages of his life. One is the “Present Day” of 2000, when he is in his mid-30s and is a respected history professor and author. In the novel’s other timeline, Jim is a bright but socially awkward high school kid at South Miami Senior High School in what was then called Dade County, Florida in the early Eighties.)

When I started writing Chapter 12, aka the One with the Emails last fall, I sometimes wrote two, three, or even four emails during a typical writing session. Of course, once I began preparing – mostly mentally – for the Big Move North, I could only, at best, write one or two simulated emails a day; and when I had to get on with the tasks of packing stuff into moving boxes and assign them some sort of priority in case I had to leave some boxes behind in Florida, I ceased work on Reunion until I had the important section of my office – namely, a desk and my desktop PC – set up and my mind was calm enough to at least work on revisions, edits, and rewrites.

As I said earlier, I now start a work session with the intent to add two emails a day, but I never manage to reach even that modest goal.

But…yesterday I almost managed to do that, even though “almost” doesn’t quite count as much as actually accomplishing the desired goal.

I am going to be cautiously optimistic about the possibility that the recording sessions might end sooner rather than later. I know that you’ve only been gone a few days and that even if you don’t wrap up the album till after the ninth, you won’t be away, you know, forever. But it does feel to me like you’ve been in London for an eternity, and even though my job keeps me busy and fills the empty hours – to coin a phrase if you will, I miss you immensely. More than I thought I would.

Jim Garraty to Madison “Maddie” Reynaud, Reunion: Coda

I did write one complete email, this one being written by Jim (who is in New York) to Maddie (who is in London with the New York Philharmonic to record a new classical music album at Abbey Road Studios). Here it is in its entirety:

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: New Topic – Your Big Day (and Other Matters):

Dearest Maddie,

Hi, sweetie. I’m glad you liked my poem, and I appreciate your eloquence – as well as your command of the French language – in your commentary about it. I must admit, though, that I blushed when I read the phrase “mind of a scholar and the heart of a poet.” So…thanks for the compliment – I won’t let it go to my head. And, re the poem, as they say in France, De rien.

I am happy, nay, thrilled that the recording sessions are going well for you and the rest of the “Phil” in London. It does seem like everything is going well, aside from the usual minor musical goofs or technical errors that oft affect projects such as the album you all are working on.

Incidentally, does the album have a title yet? Enquiring minds, including the one of this particular scholar, want to know!  (Of course, if it’s a big secret, or the powers-that-be haven’t yet told you….)

I am going to be cautiously optimistic about the possibility that the recording sessions might end sooner rather than later. I know that you’ve only been gone a few days and that even if you don’t wrap up the album till after the ninth, you won’t be away, you know, forever. But it does feel to me like you’ve been in London for an eternity, and even though my job keeps me busy and fills the empty hours – to coin a phrase if you will, I miss you immensely. More than I thought I would.

As for my day at Columbia? It went as well as you might expect. As I told you this morning, my teaching schedule was relatively light – on Tuesdays and Thursdays I only teach one course – or sequence – that focuses exclusively on America’s participation in WWII. It went rather well, although one of my students – an older guy in his early 30s named Miguel, who served during Desert Storm with the 1^st Infantry Division (“The Big Red One”) – got testy with me after class because I shot down a comment he made during the class discussion on the island-hopping campaign about how Douglas MacArthur was the best general America sent to battle during the war. He added that FDR had known about the impending Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor but didn’t warn the Army and Navy commanders in Hawaii so that the U.S. would have to enter the war on the Allied side.

“Now. Don’t get me wrong, Professor. I think the Germans and the Japanese needed to have their asses kicked and all that happy crappy,” he said. “But Roosevelt was, like most Democrats then and now, devious, and disrespectful of the will of the American people. He maneuvered us into war, knowing that public opinion was more anti-involvement than pro.”

I’ve heard that song before, of course; it’s an old canard, a myth held mostly by ultra-conservatives who still resent Roosevelt for his New Deal programs and for winning the White House four times. Now, this guy, I think his last name was Hernandez or Jimenez, wasn’t even born during any of FDR’s terms – he was 20 or 21 years old when he went to his war in the Gulf – but his family is from a long, long line of Army veterans who also vote Republican down the ballot.  He’s smart and usually gets good grades on his in-class work. But he often repeats conspiracy theories and doesn’t like it if you disagree with him.

Thankfully, I’ve dealt with students like him many times during my teaching career, so even though I wanted to give him what my ex-wife Carrie calls the Garraty Eyeroll, I kept a straight face and just said, “Well, you’re entitled to your opinion, Miguel, but I put more stock in facts than I do opinions, and the historical record simply doesn’t reflect your…beliefs.”

I truly believe that Mr. Hernandez or Jimenez – I honestly don’t remember his last name at the moment – wanted to throw a punch at me right there and then. His face turned an almost unnatural shade of scarlet, his eyes were narrowed like Clint Eastwood’s in one of those Dirty Harry movies, and I could see that his right hand was closing into a fist, but there were still other students in my classroom – most of them preoccupied with grabbing their textbooks and going off to their next class, work, or home – and I’m sure he realized that it might not be a good idea to pop me one in a public space. So, he unclenched his right hand, took a deep breath, and left, but not before shooting me a last glare over his shoulder.

Oh, well. Just another day in the life of a history professor, I guess.

After that bit of excitement, I spent an hour, maybe an hour and a half, in my office, grading tests, going over my notes for tomorrow’s lectures for Intro to WWII, and the never-ending stream of paperwork and work-related emails that pile up on my desk or stare back at me – or so it seems at time – from my glowing computer monitor.

When I finally called it a day around 7:45, I left campus, headed home, and ordered an entire pie from Patzeria Perfect Pizza. I love that place – it’s only been around since 1992, but it’s family-owned, has the friendliest staff in New York, and they deliver! (I ordered their Margarita Pizza with an order of tiramisu and a bottle of Heineken; in case you’re wondering.)  Not a bad way to end a Tuesday night, really. I only wish you were here, Maddie. That would have been perfection.

(Man, you can tell that I miss you, huh, sweetheart? Well, I do. I miss you, Madison, and I love you.)

Anyway, that wraps up another exciting episode in The Life and Times of Professor Jim Garraty. I hope you get a good night’s rest, and I wish you all the best at tomorrow’s taping.

Love always,

Your “Professor Jim”

P.S. As I said, I’m going to try and curb my enthusiasm about the possibility of your early return home, but I will be rooting for that to happen. I’ll go to the nearest liquor store and get us those bottles of Lancers just in case. I once was a Boy Scout, you know, and our motto is “Be Prepared.”

Sent: Tuesday, March 7, 2000, 9:39 PM EST

When I reached the end of Jim’s email, it was almost 4:30 PM here in real-life New Hampshire. I was cold. I was tired. I was hungry.  I was preoccupied. And, most of all, I was berating myself for not having been able to stay in South Florida or make better decisions in that sad, stressful time in the immediate aftermath of my mother’s death in July of 2015. I wasn’t – obviously – in a state of mind that was conducive to writing anything beyond a text message or a real-life email.

However, once I figured out what to have for dinner, and with my morale boosted by the arrival of a care package from my friend Leigh not long after I stopped working on the novel, my mood lightened. So much so, that I decided to go ahead and at least start working on Maddie’s reply to Jim. If I could write the entire email in one sitting, great. If I couldn’t…well, at least I would give myself a head start on today’s work session.

So, once I finished my modest but delicious meal – two Nathan’s Coney Island-style hot dogs, a small bag of Doritos Nacho Cheese chips, and a glass of Coke – I went back to my desk, opened the file with the Reunion: Coda manuscript, and started writing Maddie’s reply to Jim’s email.

Because I started writing at an unusual hour – it was past 8 PM by then – I had to settle for writing half of Maddie’s email instead of the complete message. My original thought was to do the email like most real emails – a quick, maybe breezy reply to Jim, especially because Maddie would be writing it early in the morning from London, maybe before taking a shower, getting dressed for work, and dashing off to the hotel’s restaurant for a quick “brekkie.” 

However, since this is a novel, and my real-life emails aren’t always short, sweet, and to the point, I had Maddie write a long missive early in the morning – the sun has not yet risen in the Big Smoke, that’s how early – in reply to her “Professor Jim.” I ended up writing four paragraphs before calling it a night around 10:15 PM.

 Action This Day

Naturally, my plan for this last workday of the regular workweek is to complete Maddie’s email. If – and that’s a big if – I can concentrate on writing when I begin the “afternoon shift,” I might be able to write Jim’s reply in its entirety before quitting time, which usually falls around sunset. (Today, sunset will be at 4:37 PM EST.)

I know that I will, at the very least, finish the simulated email I started writing last night. What I don’t know is how long it will take my mind to be on writing mode. That depends greatly on how well I can keep my worries at bay, and also on my ability to get into – and stay in – a purely creative state of being. There have been times when, even if I am not happy about things going on in my non-writing life, I can get into my Writing Zone and stay there for many hours without much mental effort.

Will that happen today? I don’t know. I hope it does, but we’ll have to see how the rest of the day goes. I will, of course, do everything I can to make this Friday a good writing day.

Wish me luck, friends! I’m going to need al the good fortune I can get.