A Note on Graphics, Nostalgia, and the Long, Slow Ache

Confession time: I’m a writer, not a graphics artist. So when I open up Paint and tinker with quotes and covers, I do it with the full knowledge that I’m not Norman Rockwell. I’m not N.C. Wyeth, either—though if you squint, maybe the spirit of their storytelling crept in around the edges.

The graphic I made—Kelly standing in her small apartment’s living room, mid-century lighting soft around her—was my way of honoring a mood more than crafting a masterpiece. Over the couch, I placed one of Jim’s quieter reflections from Comings and Goings:

“And somewhere in the back of my mind, uninvited but strangely welcome, came a memory of reading Summer of ’42 in junior year. I didn’t remember much—just that long, slow ache between a boy who wanted something he didn’t understand and a woman who understood everything too well.”

That “long, slow ache” is no accident. Herman Raucher’s novel isn’t just a memory for Jim—it’s a thematic grandparent to Comings and Goings. The emotional DNA is there: loneliness, tenderness, that stretch between longing and understanding. Jim’s story, like Raucher’s, lives in the spaces between words—where kindness lingers, and what’s not said often echoes loudest.

So no, I’m not a visual artist. But if you feel a flicker of something real in that graphic—something a little wistful, a little worn, maybe even a little true—then I’ll count that as a win.

Comings and Goings: The Art of Being Seen — A Jim Garraty Story is available now on Kindle, with the paperback edition arriving July 1.

Whether you’re discovering Jim’s quiet journey for the first time or returning to familiar echoes, this standalone story offers a gentle, emotionally resonant entry point into the Garratyverse.