Two Years of Words: How ‘Reunion: Coda’ Came to Life

Late Afternoon, Sunday, March 9, 2025, Miami, Florida

“So okay― there you are in your room with the shade down, the door shut, and the phone unplugged from its base. You’ve blown up your TV and sworn allegiance to a thousand words a day, come hell or high water. Now comes the big question: What are you going to write about? And the equally big answer: Anything you damn well want.” ― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Two years ago, I found myself at my desk, staring at a blank Word document. It felt like standing on the edge of a diving board, about to plunge into uncharted waters. With a deep breath, I typed the first words of what would become the prologue to Reunion: Coda: 

“Some phrases just get under my skin. Take ‘Everything happens for a reason,’ for example. It’s like nails on a chalkboard to me. It’s worse than ‘Think outside the box’ or ‘At the end of the day’—those overused phrases you hear on TV all the time. It’s just a lazy way of saying something without really saying anything at all.”

(Later, I’d weave in an epigraph from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, but these simple lines marked the beginning of my journey.)

Back then, I had no idea what lay ahead—a creative odyssey of self-doubt, writer’s block, and plot puzzles that refused to click into place. Between December 2023 and October 2024, I even managed two chaotic interstate moves. But one thing was certain: this was my third attempt at writing my debut novel, and I wasn’t going to quit.

Now, two years later, I’m back in Florida (not Tampa this time) and closing in on the finish line. Last Wednesday, I completed Chapter 26—the emotional crescendo of the story. With the denouement chapters ahead, I anticipate typing “THE END” by mid-April. When that moment arrives, it will be bittersweet: a mix of joy, relief, and a touch of melancholy as I bid farewell to these characters who’ve become so much a part of me.

As I prepare to share Reunion: Coda with the world, my greatest hope is that Jim, Mark, Marty, Maddie, and their journeys resonate with readers as deeply as they have with me. Their struggles, triumphs, and emotional truths are the heartbeat of this story, and I can’t wait for you to meet them.