Tag: Jim Garraty
-
Three Times Jim Garraty Walked Through a Door
Three Times Jim Garraty Walked Through a Door In the hush between daylightand whatever comes after,there’s a man who keeps finding himselfat the threshold of his own life. Once, he walked back into memory—a reunion no one warned him would achein the soft places he’d tried to outgrow.He learned that the past isn’t a ghost;it’s…
-
On Writing and Storytelling: Giving a Fictional Universe a Theme Song
—
by
in Alex Diaz-Granados, Amazon, Amazon Spain (Amazon.es), Amazon UK, Billy Joel, Books, Comings and Goings: The Art of Being Seen, Creative Writing, Forgotten Dreams, Garratyverse, Kindle, Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Leroy Anderson, Melodies and Memories: Music, Songs, and Singers, Reunion Duology, Reunion: A Story, Reunion: Coda, The Jim Garraty ChroniclesThe Garratyverse Has a Theme Song — And It’s “Forgotten Dreams” Every now and then, a creative universe taps you on the shoulder and says, Hey, I know what I sound like.Today, the Garratyverse did exactly that. If the world of Jim Garraty — his memories, his ghosts, his quiet victories — had to be…
-
Metadata, Subheadings, and Other Monday Mischief
—
by
in ACX, Alex Diaz-Granados, Amazon, Amazon Spain (Amazon.es), Amazon UK, Audible, Audiobooks, Blogging, Books, Comings and Goings: The Art of Being Seen, Creative Writing, Kindle, Kindle Create (Publishing App), Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Life in Central Florida, Life in Florida, Reunion Duology, Reunion: A Story, Reunion: Coda, Stefan (Steve) Lee, The Jim Garraty Chronicles, Winter in FloridaMonday, February 16, 2026, Orlando, Florida Hi there. It’s late morning here in my corner of Orange County, and from my bedroom window it looks like one of those chilly—by Florida standards, anyway— late‑winter days. My Weather app says it’s 66°F (19°C) under cloudy skies, with a feels‑like temperature of 68°F (20°C). Not exactly beach…
-
On Being Seen: A Few Thoughts After an Appreciative Review
On Being Seen: A Few Thoughts After an Appreciative Review Every so often, something happens in a writer’s life that stops you mid-stride—not because it’s loud or dramatic, but because it’s unexpectedly kind. Today brought one of those moments. A fellow writer and blogger, Paul Schingle, published a review of Comings and Goings – The…
-
On Writing and Storytelling: When Jim Garraty First Realizes What His Heart’s Been Trying to Tell Him (Reunion: Coda)
When Jim Garraty First Realizes What His Heart’s Been Trying to Tell Him Long before Jim Garraty ever found the words for what he was feeling, there were moments—small, ordinary, almost forgettable to anyone else—that rearranged something inside him. This is one of the earliest. Not a confession, not a dramatic turning point, just a…
-
When Fiction Shops Local (Even If the Store Doesn’t Stock the Book)
When Fiction Shops Local (Even If the Store Doesn’t Stock the Book) There’s a moment at the start of the Jim–Maddie arc where Maddie walks into the Moonglow Club carrying a Book Culture bag stuffed with Jim’s books. Jim, of course, has no idea. He only sees a refined stranger with caramel hair, a sky‑blue…
-
On Writing and Storytelling: Excavating a Lost Branch of the Garratyverse
Excavating a Lost Branch of the Garratyverse A reflection on the story that almost was Every long-running fictional universe has its ghost trails—the paths nearly taken, the drafts that flickered briefly before vanishing, the characters who stepped forward only to retreat into the wings. Within the Garratyverse, one such spectral branch is The Best Years…
-
‘Leaving the Party’: An Excerpt from ‘Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen’
Leaving the Party – An Excerpt from Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen Some nights begin with promise and end with the unmistakable scent of regret—usually stale beer, cheap speakers, and someone else’s bad decisions. Jim Garraty has survived more than a few of them, but in this moment from Comings and…
-
The Night Jim Garraty Kept Someone Up Reading
—
by
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…
-
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…
A Certain Point of View, Too 