On Writing and Storytelling: When the Spark Won’t Catch

Tuesday, April 7, 2026, Orlando, Florida

It’s a gray, sodden spring day in Central Florida, the kind that feels more like November than April. As I write this, it’s just shy of noon. The temperature sits at 66°F (19°C), a light rain drifting across the neighborhood like a half-hearted curtain. The forecast promises more of the same through the afternoon, with the high barely nudging up to 67°F. We’re also under a wind advisory until midnight. Nothing apocalyptic, but strong enough that a few trees may topple and knock out power here and there.

Yesterday wasn’t one of my better writing days. Beyond my daily blog entry, I made no progress on The Jim Garraty Chronicles. I opened Kindle Create once, stared at the screen, and never even clicked on the omnibus file. My mind was too cluttered with heavier thoughts to slip into a creative headspace. The war in Iran, the rising cost of everything, the political rancor in America, and my own unsettled footing here in Orlando—none of it is conducive to fiction. It’s hard to focus on a world you’re building when the real one feels like it’s teetering on the edge of something reckless and cruel.

I’m not sure I’ll work on the Chronicles today, either. Part of me wants to. I began this omnibus project last fall, alongside the audiobooks for Reunion: A Story, Reunion: Coda, and Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen. I imagined readers appreciating the convenience of having all the Jim Garraty stories in one place, and maybe—just maybe—an omnibus would draw in new readers who might hesitate to buy three separate titles. And, truthfully, I want that book on my own shelf. So despite Kindle Create’s wobbly formatting quirks, I dove in. And I am committed to finishing it.

But the sparse sales of my existing titles take the wind out of my sails. It’s not just the Chronicles that suffer; it’s the future stories too, both inside and outside the Garratyverse. It’s disheartening to pour long hours into crafting something meaningful—something worth reading, watching, or listening to—only to feel like it vanishes into the void.

So yes, I’m not feeling that creative spark I had from late March 2023 through last April while writing Reunion: Coda. I’m all for working hard, for showing up at the desk every day. But some days it feels like I’m fighting an adversary more formidable than any critic or obstacle: indifference.