Comings, Goings, and Waiting

Afternoon, Friday, June 27, 2025, Miami, Florida

It’s a hot, humid, and gray-shrouded summer day in South Florida. Thankfully, it’s not one of those thundery “mean season” days, full of lightning bolts and peals of thunder that—according to my mom—were the sound of St. Peter scoring strikes in the Celestial Bowling Alley (and Grill). Folks who know me well will tell you (some with wry amusement, others with non-Floridian confusion) that I won’t touch anything plugged into a power outlet during a thunderstorm. So, I’m grateful it’s merely cloudy, not stormy.

I wish I could say I’m having a great last day of the workweek, and by all accounts, I should be. On Tuesday, I published Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen: A Jim Garraty Story, less than two weeks after I first conceived the idea and began writing it. If you’re familiar with my earlier fiction, you might recognize that Comings and Goings is a companion piece to my recently completed Reunion Duology. It weaves together plot threads from Reunion: Coda into a tight, lyrical short story about Jim’s first experience with a girl as a 19-year-old freshman at Harvard.

For the most part, I’m proud of this accomplishment—especially since it wasn’t that long ago that I published the much longer and more intricate Reunion: Coda. I hadn’t planned on writing another story so soon, nor did I expect to revisit the life and many loves of James Kevin Garraty in 2025, though I suppose I always suspected I would… eventually.

Two weeks ago, Comings and Goings was no more than a ghost of an idea: as vague as a promise and as fragile as a swan made of blown glass. Now, the Kindle edition has its own Amazon product page, five recorded sales (yes, I check), and two review-less ratings.

(As a once-prolific Amazon reviewer, I know that a rating often heralds a review being vetted by the e-retailer’s poohbahs—but not always.)

I honestly believe that Comings and Goings – this unexpected jaunt to a time when Jim is starting to become the man we meet in Reunion: Coda’s milieu of pre-9/11 New York City – is some of the best storytelling I’ve ever crafted. I say that not out of self-congratulation, but because Comings and Goings is focused, emotionally restrained, and structurally clean in a way that challenged me as a storyteller. It doesn’t sprawl across timelines or juggle a cast of dozens; instead, it zeroes in on a single, formative moment in Jim’s life, told with clarity and emotional precision. I deliberately strove to evoke the introspective tone of Summer of ’42—not to borrow from Raucher, but to capture that delicate balance of nostalgia, yearning, and innocence just beginning to break. It’s a quieter story, yes, but that quiet is purposeful. It gives space for small gestures, unfinished thoughts, and the unspoken threads that often carry the most weight.

So, from that perspective – the writer’s perspective – I am happy with my new literary offering, just as much as I am about finishing my doorstop of a novel, Reunion: Coda.

And yet….I feel somewhat…melancholic as I look at my sales report and wait for the paperback edition to drop on July 1.

When I published Reunion: A Story back in 2018, I was heartened by the responses—thoughtful, generous reviews that encouraged me to keep exploring Jim’s world. At the time, I wasn’t sure I could. But I listened. I waited. And eventually, those threads wove themselves into Reunion: Coda and, most recently, Comings and Goings. These stories are my answer to those early readers’ wishes, shaped with all the care and intention I could offer. The response this time around has been a bit more muted, and I’d be lying if I said that didn’t stir up a few questions and quiet doubts. But underneath that is something steadier—a sense that I told the story I needed to tell, in the way I needed to tell it. And maybe that, in itself, is enough.

If you’ve read Reunion: A Story, Reunion: Coda, or you’re just now discovering Jim Garraty’s world, I hope you’ll give Comings and Goings a look. And if it resonates with you—even quietly—I’d be grateful if you’d consider leaving a short review or rating on Amazon. For indie storytellers like me, that kind of feedback is more than encouragement; it’s a signal that the story found its mark.

Thanks, as always, for reading—and for letting these characters find a place in your memory, the way they’ve rooted themselves in mine.

Soundtrack to a Moment
A few of the songs woven into Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen:

• “This Night” – Billy Joel
• “Never Gonna Fall in Love Again” – Eric Carmen
• “The Longest Time” – Billy Joel
• “The Winner Takes It All” – ABBA
• Andante cantabile from Piano Sonata No. 8 – L. v. Beethoven

These aren’t just needle drops—they’re echoes. Jim’s hopes, hesitations, and late-night reflections all seem to hum with these melodies in the background. If you listen closely, you might hear what he’s trying (and failing) to say between lines.

You can find Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen on Amazon here.
If it moves you, I’d be honored if you left a rating or review—it helps others find Jim’s story.