Tag: Books
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Book Review: ‘Miss Harper Can Do It: A Novel’
Miss Harper Can Do It: A Novel By: Jane Berentson Publisher: Viking Year Published: 2009 Genre(s): Contemporary women’s fiction Miss Harper Can Do It — A Surprisingly Poignant Home‑Front Novel Every now and then, I like to wander outside my usual reading comfort zone. Most of the books on my shelves skew toward the traditionally…
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On Steamy Days and Sluggish Muses
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in Alex Diaz-Granados, Amazon, Amazon Spain (Amazon.es), Amazon UK, Audible, Blogging, Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Books, Comings and Goings: The Art of Being Seen, Creative Writing, Florida Weather, Kindle, Kindle Create (Publishing App), Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Life in Central Florida, Life in Florida, Personal Thoughts, Pooja (P.J.) Gudka, Reunion Duology, Reunion: A Story, Spring 2026, Spring in Florida, The Jim Garraty Chronicles, The Summer of Two MoviesMonday, May 18, 2026 — Orlando, Florida It’s early afternoon in my corner of Central Florida, and it is, in a word, steamy. The temperature outside is 89°F (32°C) under mostly sunny skies. With humidity at 47% and an easterly breeze at 11 MPH (18 km/h), the feels-like temperature is 94°F (35°C). We’ve already hit…
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On Writing and Storytelling: Stories, Sunshine, and the People Who Read Them
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in 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, Florida Weather, Kindle, Kindle Create (Publishing App), Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Life in Bogota, Life in Central Florida, Life in Florida, Life in Madison (NH), Life in Miami (1972-2016), Life in New Hampshire (December 2023 and Onward), Life in South Florida, Life in the Tampa Bay area, Personal Thoughts, Reunion Duology, Reunion: A Story, Reunion: Coda, Spring 2026, Spring in Florida, Stefan (Steve) Lee, The Jim Garraty Chronicles, Writing and Editing, Writing as a CraftThursday, May 14, 2026, Orlando, Florida Hi, there. It’s another scorchingly hot late‑spring afternoon in Central Florida. As I write this, the temperature sits at 87°F (30°C) under mostly sunny skies. With humidity at 42% and a west‑northwest breeze of 11 MPH (17 km/h), the heat index nudges up to a sticky 92°F (33°C). The…
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On Writing and Storytelling: Between the Work I Want and the Work That Needs Doing
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in Alex Diaz-Granados, Amazon, Amazon Spain (Amazon.es), Amazon UK, Audible, Comings and Goings: The Art of Being Seen, Creative Writing, Florida Weather, Kindle, Kindle Create (Publishing App), Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Life in Central Florida, Life in Florida, Reunion Duology, Reunion: A Story, Reunion: Coda, Royalties, Spring 2026, Spring in Florida, Stalled Projects, The "New Story", The Jim Garraty Chronicles, Writing a First Novel, Writing and Editing, Writing as a CraftMonday, May 11, 2026, Orlando, Florida Vapor, Vessel, and a Very Warm Monday Hi there, and welcome to the Monday edition of A Certain Point of View, Too. Although we’re still a few weeks away from the first day of summer—June 1 for those of us who follow the meteorological calendar, or June 21 at…
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On Writing and Storytelling: The Comfort of Lasagna, the Weight of Goodbye
By the time I began writing Reunion: Coda in the spring of 2023, I was facing an uncomfortable truth: this was my third attempt to write a novel since 2015 and my fourth attempt overall. Each previous project had stalled out somewhere between ambition and exhaustion. I knew I couldn’t afford to abandon another one.…
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The Last Afterschool Walk Home – June 15, 1983 (An Excerpt from ‘Reunion: Coda)
This vignette is the third movement in the four‑part Prologue of Reunion: Coda. The Prologue begins with Jim’s wry rejection of clichés, then shifts into his candid admission of why he never pursued Marty in high school. This passage picks up only minutes after the final 1983 scene of Reunion: A Story, following Jim and…
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On Writing and Storytelling: Why Brahms’ Poco Allegretto Has Become Jim’s ‘Letter Music’ for Me
Wednesday, June 15, 1983 My dearest Martina, I’m not sure if I am doing the right thing by telling you this now, or if I should tell you this at all. I wish I had the answers. I can’t believe our three years at SMSH have come to an end. It seems as though only…
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When a Florida Spring Gives the Keys to Summer Prematurely
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in Alex Diaz-Granados, Amazon, Amazon Reviews, Amazon Spain (Amazon.es), Amazon UK, Audible, Audiobooks, Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Books, Brandon Padilla, Bryan Haddock, Comings and Goings: The Art of Being Seen, Creative Writing, Denise Longrie, Florida Weather, Life in Central Florida, Life in Florida, Life in New Hampshire (December 2023 – October 2024), Reunion Duology, Reunion: A Story, Reunion: Coda, Scrivener 3 for Windows, Spring 2026, Spring in Florida, Stefan (Steve) Lee, The Jim Garraty Chronicles, Writing and Editing SoftwareFriday, May 1, 2026, Orlando, Florida “God, it was hot! Forget about frying an egg on the sidewalk; this kind of heat would fry an egg inside the chicken.” – Rachel Caine May didn’t stroll in this year — it kicked the door open and asked where the nearest sauna was. Today isn’t so much…
