Category: Comings and Goings: The Art of Being Seen
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Coffee, Continuity, and Ken Burns
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in Alex Diaz-Granados, Amazon, Amazon Reviews, Amazon Spain (Amazon.es), Amazon UK, Audible, Comings and Goings: The Art of Being Seen, Creative Writing, Kindle, Kindle Create (Publishing App), Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Reunion Duology, Reunion: A Story, Reunion: Coda, The Jim Garraty ChroniclesWednesday, January 7, 2026 — Orlando, Florida Hey there! I’m running a little behind this morning, thanks to Florida’s version of winter casting everything in a cool, gray haze. I’m still feeling pretty tired—even after a rushed breakfast of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and two cups of coffee. There’s a hint of chill in the air,…
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A Small, Bright Victory to Start the Week
A Small, Bright Victory to Start the Week Monday, January 5, 2026 — Orlando, Florida “Writing fiction, especially a long work of fiction, can be a difficult, lonely job; it’s like crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a bathtub. There’s plenty of opportunity for self-doubt.”— Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft Florida winter—such…
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The Night Jim Garraty Kept Someone Up Reading
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in ACX, Alex Diaz-Granados, Amazon, Amazon Reviews, Amazon Spain (Amazon.es), Amazon UK, Audible, Audiobooks, Bryan Haddock, Comings and Goings: The Art of Being Seen, Creative Writing, Personal Thoughts, Reunion Duology, Reunion: A Story, Reunion: Coda, Stefan (Steve) Lee, The Jim Garraty ChroniclesWhen a Reader Reminds You Why You Write Every so often, something happens that cuts through the noise — the sales dashboards, the algorithms, the endless comparisons to writers with marketing budgets the size of small nations — and brings you back to the heart of why you sit down to tell stories in the…
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Confessions of a $7.64 Author
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in ACX, Alex Diaz-Granados, Amazon, Amazon Reviews, Amazon Spain (Amazon.es), Amazon UK, Audible, Books, Brandon Padilla, Bryan Haddock, Comings and Goings: The Art of Being Seen, Creative Writing, Kindle, Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Reunion Duology, Reunion: A Story, Reunion: Coda, Writing a First Novel, Writing as a CraftSaturday, January 3, 2026 — Orlando, Florida This morning, true to my routine (and perhaps with a sprinkle of wishful thinking), I logged into my Kindle Direct Publishing account. I crossed my fingers for a modest bump in sales—though, let’s be honest, I wasn’t exactly holding my breath. Living in a country where writers and…
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When a Reader Says the Thing Every Writer Hopes to Hear
Friday, January 2, 2026, Orlando, Florida When a Reader Says the Thing Every Writer Hopes to Hear One of the quiet joys of being an indie author — tucked somewhere between the formatting headaches, the bouts of self‑doubt, and the occasional wrestling match with Kindle Create — is the moment when a reader reaches out…
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New Year, Same Writer, Slightly Fewer Dramatic Sighs
Thursday, January 1, 2026 — Orlando, Florida “And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”— Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath Well, here we are again—another year behind us, another…
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On Resolutions, Realism, and the Year That Surprised Me
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in ACX, Alex Diaz-Granados, Amazon, Audible, Brandon Padilla, Bryan Haddock, Comings and Goings: The Art of Being Seen, Creative Writing, Family History, Kindle, Kindle Create (Publishing App), Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Life in Florida, Personal Thoughts, Reunion Duology, Reunion: A Story, Reunion: Coda, Stefan (Steve) Lee, The Jim Garraty ChroniclesWednesday, December 31, 2025 — Orlando, Florida I’ve never been much for New Year’s resolutions. That just wasn’t the kind of tradition our little, lopsided family—Mom, my older half‑sister, and Yours Truly—ever took seriously. Sure, one of us might toss out a hopeful line now and then: “This is the year I’ll finally hit the…
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Year’s End, Big Thoughts
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in Alex Diaz-Granados, Amazon, Amazon Reviews, Amazon Spain (Amazon.es), Amazon UK, Audible, Comings and Goings: The Art of Being Seen, Creative Writing, Films by Ken Burns, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Reunion Duology, Reunion: A Story, Reunion: Coda, The Vietnam War: A Film by Ken Burns & Lynn Novick, U.S. History, U.S. PoliticsThings On My Mind as 2025 Ends
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On Writing and Storytelling: Why Jim Garraty Isn’t ‘Self-Insertion’ or a Gary Stu
Why Jim Garraty Works: On Writing a Flawed, Decent, and Believably Human Protagonist Every writer eventually faces the same quiet accusation — sometimes whispered, sometimes shouted: “Is this character just you in disguise?” And if the protagonist happens to be male, introspective, and emotionally literate, the dreaded label lurks in the shadows: Gary Stu. When…
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On Writing and Storytelling: A Quiet Morning of Fixes, Tweaks, and Tiny Victories on KDP
A Quiet Morning of Fixes, Tweaks, and Tiny Victories on KDP Some mornings begin with coffee and contemplation.Today began with Kindle Direct Publishing. I woke up determined to tackle a handful of lingering updates across my books—nothing dramatic, nothing structural, just the kind of quiet maintenance that keeps an indie author’s catalog healthy. And for…
A Certain Point of View, Too 