Tag: South Miami High in Fiction
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On Writing and Storytelling: An Excerpt from ‘Reunion: Coda’
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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, Autumn 2026, Autumn in Florida, Creative Writing, Florida Weather, Kindle, Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Life in Central Florida, Life in Florida, Life in South Florida, Reunion: Coda, South Miami Senior High School, The Jim Garraty Chronicles, The Jim Garraty Chronicles (Series)Friday, September 4, 2026 – Orlando, Florida It’s midafternoon on the first Friday of autumn 2026, but here in Central Florida, it still feels like high summer. As I write, it’s 93°F (34°C) under mostly cloudy skies, though the sun was blazing earlier. With humidity at a sticky 62% and a south wind at 8…
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THE JIM GARRATY CHRONICLES — Official Release Announcement
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in Alex Diaz-Granados, Amazon, Amazon Spain (Amazon.es), Amazon UK, Books, Comings and Goings: The Art of Being Seen, Creative Writing, Kindle, Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Reunion Duology, Reunion: A Story, Reunion: Coda, South Miami High School in fiction, South Miami Senior High School, The Jim Garraty Chronicles, The Summer of Two MoviesTHE JIM GARRATY CHRONICLES — Official Release Announcement Some projects take years to find their final shape. Some take decades. The Jim Garraty Chronicles is a little of both. I’m very happy to announce that the Kindle edition of The Jim Garraty Chronicles will be released on July 15, with the paperback edition following on…
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A Fateful Morning in June of 1983: An Excerpt from ‘Reunion: Coda’
The morning of June 17, 1983, rose slowly over South Miami, pressing its familiar heat against the city long before the sun cleared the horizon. It was the kind of summer day that promised sweat, glare, and the restless energy of endings. Across the city, seniors from the Class of ’83 were waking up to…
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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: Clouds, Corrections, and Canon
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Monday, March 30, 2026, Orlando, Florida It’s one of those soggy, gray Central Florida Mondays that feels like the sky hit the snooze button and never quite recovered. The temperature is sitting at 80°F (27°C) under a quilt of mostly cloudy skies. With humidity at 58% and an easterly breeze at 11 MPH (18 km/h),…
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On Writing and Storytelling: The Elementary School That REALLY Wasn’t
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in Amazon, Amazon Spain (Amazon.es), Amazon UK, Books, Creative Writing, Garratyverse, Kindle, Kindle Create (Publishing App), Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Life in Florida, Life in South Florida, Reunion Duology, Reunion: Coda, South Miami High School in fiction, South Miami Senior High School, Writing a First Novel, Writing and EditingThe Elementary School That REALLY Wasn’t (A Funnier Follow‑Up) So, remember how I said I fixed the Kinloch Park reference in Reunion: Coda, and everything was good and tidy and ready for KDP? Yeah. About that. It turns out Jim and Mark’s elementary school wasn’t just mentioned once in the Prologue. Or twice. Or even…
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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…
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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…
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On Writing and Storytelling: Behind the Curtain – Marty’s Origins
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in ACX, Alex Diaz-Granados, Amazon, Amazon Reviews, Amazon Spain (Amazon.es), Amazon UK, Audible, Audiobooks, Brandon Padilla, Bryan Haddock, Creative Writing, Garratyverse, Passage of Time, Reunion Duology, Reunion: A Story, Reunion: Coda, South Miami High School in fiction, South Miami Senior High School, Stefan (Steve) Lee, The Jim Garraty ChroniclesBehind the Curtain: Marty’s Origins Ever since the day I first sent my novella, Reunion: A Story, out into the world back in 2018, the questions started coming. Sometimes they arrived shy and quiet, like old friends at a backyard barbecue, and other times they landed with surprising directness. Most often, it was a fellow…
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‘Reunion: A Story’ Lands on Audible!
📣 Release Announcement: Reunion: A Story I’m thrilled to share that Reunion: A Story: A Novella (The Reunion Duology Book 1) is now officially available for purchase on Audible and Amazon, with iTunes availability coming in just a few days. Produced by Brandon Padilla, this audiobook successfully passed ACX’s rigorous quality assurance reviews—Cover, Metadata, and…