A Writer’s Afternoon in Miami: Battling Laundry and Literary Demons

Mid- to Late Afternoon, Friday, January 17, 2025, Miami, Florida

It’s a cool, gray afternoon here in South Florida. As I sit in my dimly lit room on this final weekend of President Joe Biden’s Administration, the temperature is a mild 70°F (21°C) under cloudy skies. It’s not exactly postcard weather, but hey, it’s warmer than Madison, New Hampshire, where I lived for just over ten months before returning to my sunny hometown of Miami three months ago. Up in Madison, it’s a nicer sky but a chillier 30°F (-1°C) under partly sunny conditions. Brr!

Truth be told, I haven’t worked on Reunion: Coda today because, well, it’s Laundry Day. And let’s face it, trying to focus on writing when you know you need to check on the clothes tumbling in the dryer is like trying to read a novel in the middle of a circus. Writing fiction—especially the kind you plan to publish and sell (mainly on Amazon)—is no walk in the park. It takes a lot of mental gymnastics to immerse yourself in the world of your characters, like Jim, Maddie, Mark, Marty, and the rest of the gang you’ll meet in my novel. Sure, daydreaming for a living sounds like a dream job, and it can be, but it requires some serious brainpower to conjure up these characters and situations and then put them down on paper (or, in my case, Microsoft Word).

So, as much as I’d love to dive into a new scene in my novel’s latest chapter and inch closer to its grand finale, I just can’t. It’s now nearing 5 PM (and likely past 5 by the time you read this). If you know me well, you’d know that starting work on the manuscript after four in the afternoon is about as likely as a snowstorm in Miami. I don’t know if it’s some kind of writer’s version of sundown syndrome or simply a creature of habit thing, but if I haven’t begun scribbling away by 4:30, consider it a lost cause. Besides, who can concentrate on the epic saga of Jim, Maddie, Mark, Marty, and the gang when there’s laundry to check on?

I’m not satisfied with my productivity today, but at least I take comfort in the significant progress I’ve made with Reunion: Coda since I began writing it on March 9, 2023. The manuscript now spans 496 pages, including the title and copyright pages, and has a total word count of 121,591.

Despite the chaos of two unexpected interstate moves—first from the Tampa Bay area to New Hampshire, then back to the sunny shores of Miami—within ten months, as well as dealing with several nasty colds, bouts of depression, stress, and relentless self-doubt, I’ve managed to keep writing.

It’s been a rollercoaster ride, but the story of the Reunion Duology continues to unfold. The journey has been filled with challenges, yet my characters’ tales persist, making their way onto the page through sheer determination and a healthy dose of caffeine.