Tag: #CreativeWriting
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The Echo of a Smile: Memory, Maria, and the Garratyverse
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in Alex Diaz-Granados, Amazon, Blogging, Books, College Life, Comings and Goings (Short Story), Comings and Goings: The Art of Being Seen, Creative Writing, Films by Steven Spielberg, Garratyverse, Kindle, Kindle Create (Publishing App), Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Life in Florida, Life in Miami (1972-2016), Miami-Dade Community College, Movies, Personal Thoughts, Reunion Duology, Reunion: A Story, Reunion: Coda, West Side Story (1961 Film), West Side Story (1961), West Side Story (2021)Long before Jim Garraty stood on the curb in Somerville, watching a Corolla disappear into the quiet, there was a boy sitting in a sunlit classroom, speechless at the sound of someone saying “Hi.” I wrote about Maria in Catalyst back in 1987. She was radiant, kind, and achingly real. We shared benches between buildings…
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Jim’s Journal: A Stray Memory
February 12, 1990 It’s funny—the older I get, the more the loud nights fade, and it’s the quiet ones that stay. Not the parties, not the noise, but the silences that followed a shared laugh, the hush of a record spinning in a stranger’s apartment, the whisper of someone else’s heartbeat beside my own. I…
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Copyright, Connection, and the Cost of Being Seen
Tonight, I officially submitted Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen to the U.S. Copyright Office at the Library of Congress. The filing fee has gone up—because of course it has—but the act of registering this story feels more meaningful than ever. Copyright isn’t just a legal formality. It’s a quiet declaration: this…
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Comings, Goings, and Waiting
Afternoon, Friday, June 27, 2025, Miami, Florida It’s a hot, humid, and gray-shrouded summer day in South Florida. Thankfully, it’s not one of those thundery “mean season” days, full of lightning bolts and peals of thunder that—according to my mom—were the sound of St. Peter scoring strikes in the Celestial Bowling Alley (and Grill). Folks…
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“Because You Were Kind. Because You Were Here.”: Why Presence Speaks Louder Than Resolution
“Because You Were Kind. Because You Were Here.”: Why Presence Speaks Louder Than Resolution There are moments in life when we think words will fix things. That if we can only say the perfect thing, take the perfect action, explain ourselves clearly enough, everything will shift. Stories often chase that kind of transformation—the big gesture,…
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Running on Fumes, Fueled by Story: A Dispatch from the Garratyverse
Afternoon, Thursday, June 26, 2025 – Miami, Florida Gosh, I’m tired. Yesterday was long, busy, and—at times—frustrating, thanks to my dual role as both author and self-appointed marketing director in the aftermath of publishing Comings and Goings: The Art of Being Seen. My Wednesday started far earlier than I would’ve liked. I was up at…
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How I Came to Write ‘Comings and Goings’
Author’s Note Some stories arrive quietly. Comings and Goings: The Art of Being Seen wasn’t planned. It emerged from a single memory in Reunion: Coda—a name, a summer night, a girl who slipped through the edges of Jim’s story. But she stayed. Softly. Unmistakably. Kelly wasn’t loud, but she kept showing up—like a song you’d…
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A Note on Graphics, Nostalgia, and the Long, Slow Ache
Confession time: I’m a writer, not a graphics artist. So when I open up Paint and tinker with quotes and covers, I do it with the full knowledge that I’m not Norman Rockwell. I’m not N.C. Wyeth, either—though if you squint, maybe the spirit of their storytelling crept in around the edges. The graphic I…
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Writing and Storytelling: This, Too, Is Part of the Story
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in Alex Diaz-Granados, Amazon, Blogging, Comings and Goings (Short Story), Comings and Goings: The Art of Being Seen, Creative Writing, Kindle, Kindle Create (Publishing App), Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Life in Florida, Life in Miami….Again, Personal Thoughts, Reunion Duology, Reunion: A Story, Reunion: CodaThis, Too, Is Part of the Story Late Morning, Wednesday, June 25, 2025, Miami, Florida Hi there. It’s a typical South Florida summer morning, the kind that the tourism industry doesn’t tell non-residents about. It’s hot, yes (82°F/28°C, but the heat index is 93°F/34°C), and sticky, but the skies are veiled by a sheet of…
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On Writing and Storytelling: The Art of Letting Go (At 3 A.M.)
The Art of Letting Go (At 3 A.M.) Sometimes, despite our most careful planning and well-paced intentions, life leaves a Post-it on your heart that simply reads: now. I had originally planned to release Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen in the fall of 2025, imagining it arriving alongside the turning leaves…
A Certain Point of View, Too 