Thoughts and Musings for Sunday, October 4, 2026

Sunday, October 4, 2026 – Orlando, Florida

 Hey, Dear Readers!

It’s the second day of this first weekend in October, and I’m taking a well‑earned breather from And the Horse You Rode in On, the fifth entry in the life and times of Jim Garraty. I need it. I’ve been working almost nonstop in the Garratyverse ever since I began Reunion: Coda back in the spring of 2023. Two tumultuous years went into that novel, and after publishing it in 2025, I rolled straight into a novelette (Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen, 2025), a flash fiction piece (The Summer of Two Movies, 2026), and several months of work on The Jim Garraty Chronicles: A Life Told in Four Movements, the omnibus I released in July.

That’s a lot of writing, editing, and publishing—especially when you factor in the moves. I started Reunion: Coda in Tampa, relocated to New Hampshire when I was about two‑thirds through the manuscript, moved again to Miami around the 75‑percent mark, and finally landed—hopefully for good—in the Orlando area shortly after finishing Comings and Goings.

It’s been a remarkably fertile creative period, particularly considering the quarter‑century gap between Reunion: A Story and its continuation. It’s as if finally completing a novel—something I’d dreamed of doing since 1978—unlocked a long‑sealed lockbox of story ideas I didn’t realize I’d been carrying around.

(Granted, Comings and Goings and And the Horse You Rode in On both spring from backstory threads briefly mentioned in Reunion: Coda. You could say the novel itself is a wellspring of untold stories waiting for me to discover them.)

Still, it’s been a long, tiring, and often stressful stretch. At my age, I value stability and a peaceful living arrangement. I have that now—mostly—but that wasn’t the case while I was working on Reunion: Coda and, as it turned out, Comings and Goings. I’m grateful I finished the latter before moving here and diving into The Jim Garraty Chronicles, but that unexpected relocation between projects was… well, not enjoyable.

So as much as I’m tempted to open the Word file and wrestle with that stubborn first draft of the opening chapter of Jim Garraty’s fifth tale, I’m giving myself permission to wait until tomorrow. My “little gray cells” deserve the rest. Besides, I’ve got some great books waiting in my Kindle stash—including a fun, gripping novel, The Amaretto, by fellow Catalyst alum Denise Corbitt. It’s a Florida‑set blend of thriller, buddy road‑trip adventure, and action romp—part Carl Hiaasen, part Dave Barry, and unmistakably Denise.

I’ve also picked up a few movies since returning to Florida two Octobers ago: The Music Man, The Long Walk (adapted from the Stephen King story that inspired Jim’s surname), and last year’s Superman. I’ve already watched that one—it’s solid. I like it far more than Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, though my heart will always belong to Richard Donner’s 1978 classic.

Anyway, I’ve got a quick errand to run before settling in for the rest of this Sunday, so I’ll close for now.