On Writing and Storytelling: Stepping Up to the Plate…for the Fifth Time

Sunday, September 20, 2026 – Orlando, Florida

“The scariest moment is always just before you start.”― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Hi there, Dear Reader!

I woke up this morning to one of those small but welcome surprises that occasionally drift into a writer’s inbox: a notification from Amazon Accounts Payable. According to Kindle Direct Publishing, I have a royalties payment coming later this week—£6.35 ($8.61) from a recent purchase of The Jim Garraty Chronicles: A Life in Four Movements in the UK Kindle Store. If all goes according to plan, the funds should land in my bank account within 2–5 business days.

It’s a modest payout, of course—not the sort of thing that changes a life or buys a yacht—but it is a quiet affirmation. A nod from the universe that the work matters to someone out there. Those four stories—Reunion: A Story, Reunion: Coda, Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen, and The Summer of Two Movies—represent decades of Professional Daydreaming™, thousands of hours spent staring at a glowing monitor, fingers poised over a keyboard, waiting for the Muse to stop by and leave a few breadcrumbs. They were written against the backdrop of sudden moves, personal upheavals, and the usual assortment of life’s curveballs. So yes—£6.35 feels like a just reward for honest work.

It’s fitting, really, that this news arrives on the eve of my first working day on And the Horse You Rode in On, the fifth story about Jim Garraty. I’ve wanted to be a storyteller ever since Mrs. Chambers, my Special Education teacher at Tropical Elementary in third and fourth grade, let nine-year-old me use one of those massive battleship-gray Royal electric typewriters. Later, as a teenager and young adult, I daydreamed about making a living from fiction—about writing stories good enough to carve out my own little corner of the American dream. That hope has proven…well, let’s say “optimistic” rather than “delusional,” but it certainly hasn’t been easy.

Still, I keep writing. And every so often, someone somewhere in the world clicks on one of my books and thinks, “Hey, this might be worth reading.” That’s enough to keep me going.

As for tomorrow’s writing shift, I’m cautiously optimistic. I have a few ideas for the opening—this one wants to be either a novella or a novelette, and at least it knows where it’s set and when it begins. I’m not stumbling around in the dark this time. I’ve had space since Reunion: Coda and Comings and Goings to let the next chapter of Jim’s life simmer. So I’m not walking into the stadium without a plan.

But beyond that…

This is where the tension creeps in—the one Stephen King names so precisely. “The scariest moment is always just before you start.” That line has been rattling around in my head all morning, because it captures the exact crossroads I’m standing at. On one side is the voice that says, I can do this. I’ve done it four times already. I know Jim, I know his world, and I know how to tell a story. On the other side is the quieter, more insidious whisper: Why do I even bother? Who am I kidding? Isn’t this all a bit Quixotic—tilting at literary windmills in hopes someone notices?

I’m not a baseball fan, but even I understand the moment when a player steps up to the plate. The crowd fades. The field stretches out in front of you. You’re holding the bat, waiting for the pitch, hoping your swing connects with something solid. That’s where I am right now—standing in the batter’s box, mind clouded with equal parts optimism and doubt, knowing full well that the first pitch is always the one that makes your stomach tighten.

Will tomorrow’s first at-bat begin with a clean swing and a run to first base? I honestly don’t know. But I do know I’ll step up to the plate. That’s the part a writer can control. The rest is faith, stubbornness, and the willingness to keep showing up even when the windmills look awfully large.

And if you’ve followed Jim Garraty’s journey so far—or if you’re curious about the four stories that led to this moment—I invite you to explore them, read them, and, if you feel so inclined, share your thoughts in a review on Amazon or on your blog. The new omnibus edition, The Jim Garraty Chronicles: A Life in Four Movements, gathers the entire arc in one economical volume. If you’ve already read any of the books, thank you. Your time, attention, and reflections mean more than you know.