Author: Alex Diaz-Granados
-
Echoes of Emotion: What a Thoughtful Review Reveals About ‘Reunion: Coda’
💬 Echoes of Emotion: What a Thoughtful Review Reveals About Reunion: Coda When Thomas Wikman reviewed Reunion: Coda on his Leonberger Life blog, I expected kindness. What I didn’t expect was emotional precision—the kind that doesn’t just summarize a book but listens to its heartbeat. Thomas called it “a love story complicated by life.” That…
-
A New Chapter Begins: From Miami to Orlando
—
by
in Alex Diaz-Granados, Amazon, Amazon Spain (Amazon.es), Amazon UK, Creative Writing, Garratyverse, GoFundMe, Kindle, Kindle Create (Publishing App), Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Life in Florida, Life in Miami….Again, Life in New Hampshire (December 2023 – October 2024), Life in South Florida, Life in the Tampa Bay area, Personal Thoughts, Reunion Duology, Reunion: A Story, Reunion: CodaMidday, Tuesday, September 2, 2025 – East Orlando, Florida Hello, friends. As you may have noticed from the heading, I’m no longer in South Florida. After decades rooted in Miami, I’ve relocated about 200 miles north to the Orlando area. The move wasn’t smooth—our first attempt on Saturday was derailed by trailer issues that left…
-
Music Album Review: ‘Tchaikovsky:1812’
Tchaikovsky: 1812 – Orchestre Symphonique De Montréal, Charles Dutoit – 1812 Overture • Capriccio Italien • The Nutcracker Suite • Marche Slave Genre: Classical (Romantic Era), Orchestral Compositions Label(s): London/Decca Year of Release: 1986 🎼 Tchaikovsky for the TikTok Era: A People’s Composer Revisited In an age where musical tastes are splintered across streaming platforms…
-
Leaving Miami, Again
Later this morning, I’ll leave Miami behind—again. The city that raised me, shaped me, and held me through so many versions of myself. I’ve left before, always with a suitcase full of books and a heart full of ambivalence. This time feels different. Not dramatic, not cinematic. Just quietly significant. There’s a strange ache in…
-
On Writing and Storytelling: How – and Why – I Wrote ‘Reunion: Coda’
🎼 Writing the Coda: How Music, Memory, and Missed Chances Shaped Reunion: Coda When I first wrote Reunion: A Story in 1998, I didn’t imagine it would become the central panel of a literary triptych. It was a novella born from grief, memory, and a quiet experiment in fiction—an elegy for a classmate lost too…
-
The Garratyverse Explained: Marty’s Entrance in ‘Reunion: Coda’…and Why It Matters
The Chorus Room Door: How Marty Reynaud’s Arrival Sets the Emotional Tone of the Garratyverse In the Garratyverse, entrances matter. They’re not just logistical—they’re emotional overtures. And few are as quietly seismic as Martina (Marty) Reynaud’s first appearance in the chorus room. She doesn’t burst in. She creaks in. The door opens slowly, hesitantly, as…
-
On Writing and Storytelling: When a Reader Sees You
When a Reader Sees YouReflections on a Review That Resonated There’s a quiet kind of joy that comes when a reader truly sees your work—not just the plot or the prose, but the emotional architecture beneath it. Dawn Pisturino’s recent review of Reunion: A Story did just that. She saw Jim Garraty not as a…
-
“The Ones Who Stay” (A Poem)
“The Ones Who Stay” They clap the loudest when the room is full,Their laughter timed to match the crowd.They speak in echoes, not in truth—A friendship built on being seen, not known. They tag your name in borrowed light,A gesture made for watching eyes.But when the silence stretches long,Their presence fades, rehearsed and thin. Then…
-
Toothpaste, Jeans, and the Politics of Manufactured Outrage
🧼 Toothpaste, Jeans, and the Politics of Manufactured Outrage “If you made toothpaste illegal, people would be knocking over drugstores to get it.”– Daniel Okrent, Prohibition, a Film by Ken Burns That quote has stuck with me for years. It’s a wry observation about human nature and the unintended consequences of moral crusades. Ban something—even…
-
When Your Characters Feel Too Much: Writing Emotional Truth That Overwhelms Even the Author
—
by
in Alex Diaz-Granados, Amazon, Amazon Spain (Amazon.es), Amazon UK, Books, Comings and Goings (Short Story), Comings and Goings: The Art of Being Seen, Creative Writing, Garratyverse, Kindle, Kindle Create (Publishing App), Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Personal Thoughts, Reunion Duology, Reunion: A Story, Reunion: Coda, South Miami High School in fiction, Writing a First Novel, Writing as a CraftWhen Your Characters Feel Too Much: Writing Emotional Truth That Overwhelms Even the Author There are nights when I sit with Jim Garraty—not as his creator, but as his witness. I wrote him. I shaped his world. And still, there are moments when his emotional clarity leaves me breathless. Not because he’s dramatic. Not because…
A Certain Point of View, Too 