Tag: Fiction
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Why Marty Reynaud Is My Favorite Character to Write (Even Though Jim Garraty Is My Narrator)
Why Marty Reynaud Is My Favorite Character to Write (Even Though Jim Garraty Is My Narrator) Every writer has a character who sneaks up on them—someone who wasn’t planned, wasn’t outlined, wasn’t engineered to carry the emotional weight of a story, yet somehow becomes its quiet center of gravity. For me, that character isn’t Jim…
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On Writing and Storytelling: Advice for Aspiring Writers
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in Amazon, Amazon Reviews, Amazon Spain (Amazon.es), Amazon UK, Books, Creative Writing, Kindle, Kindle Create (Publishing App), Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), On Writing Well: 30th Anniversary Edition, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Reunion: Coda, Writing a First Novel, Writing and Editing, Writing as a CraftSo, you want to be a writer. Adorable. Truly. I once wanted to be a writer too—back when I was young, cocky, undisciplined, and convinced that stories would simply materialize out of thin air if I stared at a blank page long enough. Spoiler: they did not. What did materialize was a long, slow parade…
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Kindle Book Promotion: Get ‘Reunion: Coda’ Free! (May 30-June 3, 2026)
A Free Kindle Copy of Reunion: Coda — May 30 to June 3 Some stories never quite leave you. They linger — in memory, in regret, in the quiet spaces between what was and what might have been. Every so often, a story taps you on the shoulder and says, You’re not done with me…
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On Writing and Storytelling: The Girl Who Wasn’t Real (But Felt Like She Was)
Writing stories that draw, even partially, from an author’s lived experience can be a bit of a double-edged sword: wonderfully useful on one side, faintly perilous on the other. Memory is generous that way. It offers texture, specificity, and the small, telling details writers spend ages trying to invent—but it also comes with baggage, assumptions,…
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On Writing and Storytelling: 10 Quotes About Writing (and Writers)
10 Quotes About Writing (and Writers) Selected Reviews of the Jim Garraty Stories The Reunion Duology is a quiet, resonant exploration of connection, regret, and the complicated beauty of second chances. Told across two deeply personal works—Reunion: A Story, a novella, and Reunion: Coda, a novel—the series invites readers into the life of Jim Garraty,…
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Excerpt from ‘Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen’: An Unexpected (and Fateful) Escape from a Bad Party
An Excerpt from Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen Boston, 1984. A party Jim Garraty never wanted to attend. A girl who didn’t look away. A night stitched together by mixtapes, quiet courage, and the ache of choosing to stay. Jim isn’t chasing romance—he’s just trying to outrun the noise. But when…
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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: 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…