Late Morning/Midday, Monday, September 30, 2024, Madison, New Hampshire
It’s a beautiful early autumn day in Madison’s Eidelweiss District. As I begin writing this post at 11:22 AM EDT, the temperature is 70°F (21°C) under mostly sunny conditions. Today’s forecast calls for partly sunny skies and a high of 74°F (23°C). It will be nice weather for New England, but tomorrow we can expect colder temperatures. This signals that winter isn’t far away. This time around, I’ll be back in the warmer climate of South Florida and won’t be seeing blizzards again, except on TV.
Today marks the end of September 2024. I can’t believe that the time flew so quickly; it doesn’t feel like I’ve been in New Hampshire for almost 10 months. Objectively, time is a constant and doesn’t change “its pace from day to day” – to borrow Shakespeare’s line from Macbeth – but subjectively, it does seem to fly more swiftly as we get older. It’s a weird and even sad feeling; I just got here, it seems, and soon I’ll depart without having had a chance to know the area or any of my neighbors except Patti and her husband Marc.
Apropos of leaving….I’m glad I donated a copy of Reunion: A Story to the Conway Public Library before I leave around October 18 – the day after my late mother’s birthday, as it turns out. I used some of my Amazon Visa Rewards points and had it sent via the U.S. Postal Service instead of going in person, which I regret. I’ve always loved libraries and was looking forward to settling down here and getting a library card, but I couldn’t. The issues with my name being on the lease and its impact on my fellow tenant’s benefits made it impossible for me to stay, even if other issues I’ve had were eventually resolved. Despite this, I wanted to make the donation – which ironically wasn’t originally my idea – before I left, so I did.
I admit that my motives for donating weren’t 100% altruistic. As a self-published author with limited financial means, I have a vested interest in putting my work “out there” so readers are aware that Reunion; A Story exists, that despite its origins as a self-published work it is a good book, and maybe some folks will buy a copy or two. (And, if they can’t afford to buy it – though the price is not unreasonably high – they can check it out from public libraries…if they ask their librarians to add it to their collection, anyway.)
In case you’re curious, my motivation for writing stories isn’t primarily financial, especially not at the level of luminaries like Stephen King, James Patterson, or Sally Rooney. Admittedly, I wouldn’t turn down the chance to be dubbed a “bestselling author,” with my works transformed into blockbuster films, and enjoying a more self-reliant life. Sometimes, I daydream that either Reunion: A Story or its sequel, Reunion: Coda, will gain enough popularity to lift me off public assistance and perhaps even enable me to afford my own home one day.
I wrote Reunion: A Story many years ago to see if I could convincingly write a fictional story. Originally, it was not intended for publication. It wasn’t until I showed it to a few people, mostly women, who told me it had deeply touched them that I decided to share it with the world. I wasn’t thinking of becoming a famous writer; I just had this story that meant a lot to me personally. I thought other people might relate to it on a subconscious level. If fame and fortune followed, I wasn’t going to fight it.
That’s why I continue to harbor a small flame of hope that the kind souls at the Conway Public Library will include Reunion: A Story in their main collection, despite it being a novella from an unknown self-publisher. My optimistic side yearns for this outcome, while the pragmatist within suspects my contribution might end up in the Little Free Library program in Carroll County.
A Certain Point of View, Too 
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