Tag: family
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On Writing and Storytelling: The Stories Hiding Behind the Stories
Saturday, October 24, 2026 – Orlando, Florida The Stories Hiding Inside the Stories If you’re one of the Constant Readers of this blog (thank you, by the way!), you doubtlessly know that I’m working on the fifth book of The Jim Garraty Chronicles. More specifically, it’s the fourth long-form standalone work. The Jim Garraty Chronicles:…
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Musings on My Mother’s 98th Birthday
Saturday, October 17, 2026 – Orlando, Florida “I can pinpoint that as the single happiest moment of my life, because I realized then that Mom would always have my back. It made me feel giant. I raced back down the concrete ramp, faster than I ever had before, so fast I should have fallen, but…
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More October Reveries
Friday, October 16, 2026 – Orlando, Florida Tomorrow would have been my mom’s 98th birthday. My feelings about that are, well, complicated. She died 11 years ago in the South Florida townhouse we had called home for more than 37 years, after a long and painful struggle with dementia, depression, kidney problems, and the other…
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October Reveries
Tuesday, October 13, 2026 – Orlando, Florida October has always been a difficult month for me. Its arrival brings a chill that has little to do with the weather; before the calendar has turned its first few pages, I can already feel the weight of memory settling in. Whether I choose to dwell on the…
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On Writing and Storytelling: Two Steps Forward…One Giant Step Back….
Wednesday, September 30, 2026 – Orlando, Florida Hi, everyone. I hope your Hump Day — the last one in September, which feels impossible because I’m pretty sure July was last week — has treated you well. Here in the Eastern time zone, my Wednesday is already half gone; it’s almost 1:30 PM as I type…
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On Writing and Storytelling: The Making of an Unplanned Literary Series
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in Alex Diaz-Granados, Amazon, Amazon Brazil, Amazon Canada, Amazon Germany, Amazon Italy, Amazon Japan, Amazon Mexico, Amazon Poland, Amazon Spain (Amazon.es), Amazon Sweden, Amazon UK, Comings and Goings: The Art of Being Seen, Creative Writing, Kindle, Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Reunion: A Story, Reunion: Coda, The Jim Garraty Chronicles, The Summer of Two Movies, Writing as a CraftThursday, August 20, 2026 – Orlando, Florida Every story—or, in this case, every collection of stories—begins somewhere. It may start with a flash of inspiration, a lingering memory, a familiar-looking person or place, or even an old college creative-writing assignment that suddenly makes you want to revise, expand, and share it. In the introduction to…
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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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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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Sunshine, Semiquincentennials, and the Summer That Still Glows
Saturday, April 11, 2026 — Orlando, Florida Spring has settled over Central Florida with the confidence of someone who knows they look good in natural light. As I write this, it’s a sun‑washed 76°F (25°C), the kind of day where the breeze from the east‑northeast pretends it’s cooling you off while the humidity quietly bumps…
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On Writing and Storytelling: The Elementary School That Wasn’t
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in Alex Diaz-Granados, Amazon, Amazon Spain (Amazon.es), Amazon UK, Books, Creative Writing, Kindle, Kindle Create (Publishing App), Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Life in Florida, Life in Miami (1972-2016), On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Reunion Duology, Reunion: Coda, Writing a First Novel, Writing and Editing, Writing as a CraftSaturday, March 28, 2026 – Orlando, Florida The Elementary School That Wasn’t “When you write a book, you spend day after day scanning and identifying the trees. When you’re done, you have to step back and look at the forest.”—Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft I woke up not long after 7…
