A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

  The Song That Wouldn’t Leave: How “Somewhere” Became Jim and Marty’s Emotional North Star Every writer has experienced it: the moment when a first‑draft choice plants itself in the soil of the story and refuses to be uprooted. You tell yourself you’ll revisit it later. You assume you’ll refine it, replace it, elevate it. But when “later” arrives, the choice is still there — stubborn, insistent, quietly correct. That’s what happened with Somewhere . When I drafted the 1998 version of Jim and Marty’s chorus‑room scene, I didn’t agonize over the song selection. I didn’t make a spreadsheet of musical options. I didn’t weigh thematic resonance or lyrical symbolism. I simply wrote Somewhere — almost casually — and moved on. And then, years later, when the real revisions began, I discovered something surprising. I couldn’t change it. Not because I lacked alternatives. Not because I was sentimentally attached to the draft. Not because I was afraid to revise. I couldn’t cha...

© 2026 Alex Diaz-Granados   Monday, July 27, 2026 – Orlando, Florida Hi, everyone. I just grabbed my Amazon package from the mailbox — the newly revised edition of The Jim Garraty Chronicles: A Life in Four Movements . I haven’t had time to pore over it yet (the Postal Service also delivered my MasterCard bill, which immediately reminded me of August 12), but I did check the trouble spots that bothered me in the first printing. This copy was printed yesterday in Orlando, so it’s clearly based on the updated file I uploaded to KDP last week. The duplicated paragraph in Reunion: Coda is gone, the back‑matter headers are still stubbornly capitalized thanks to Kindle Create, but the series name is finally correct: The Jim Garraty Chronicles . With four stories in the canon now, it fits. I’ve put the revised edition on my bookshelf, and I’m confident the major issues have been fixed. After three years living inside Jim Garraty’s world, I’m giving myself permission to read other...

  Cover design by Juan Carlos Hernandez. © 2025 Alex Diaz-Granados If you’ve been meaning to discover Reunion: Coda , now is the perfect time. The Kindle edition is currently available for free in a limited-time promotion that began on Saturday, May 30, and runs through June 3. It’s a great opportunity to pick up the novel at no cost and dive into a thoughtful, emotionally resonant story. Reunion: Coda , the second book in The Reunion Duology by Alex Diaz-Granados, follows Jim Garraty as he reflects on love, regret, friendship, and the search for emotional closure. The story blends memory, missed opportunities, and the possibility of new beginnings, making it a compelling read for anyone who enjoys character-driven literary fiction with heart. If summer reading is on your mind, this free promotion is an easy excuse to add Reunion: Coda to your Kindle library before the offer ends on June 3.

  The Book Culture Paradox (or: When Your Fictional Characters Shop Better Than You Do) Every so often, the universe throws a writer a bone. Not a big bone. Not a “movie‑deal‑announcement” bone. More like a polite, well-mannered bone that taps you on the shoulder and says, “Hey, look at this. Isn’t this weirdly delightful?” This is one of those bones. In Reunion: Coda , Maddie shows up at the Moonglow Club carrying a Book Culture bag. Jim notices the bag. The reader notices the bag. No one — and I mean no one — knows what’s in the bag. Except Maddie. And she’s not telling. Cut to real life. I recently wandered over to Book Culture’s website — the same Book Culture whose bag Maddie is carrying — and discovered that my books are available through their online ordering system. Not stocked on shelves. Not perched in Staff Picks with a handwritten card that says “A tender, emotionally literate indie gem.” Just… orderable. Quietly. Politely. Like a cat sitting in a doorway waiting to ...

Marty, as depicted in Reunion: Coda on her graduation day in 1983   Marty as the Anti‑Cece: How a Character Was Born Every character has an origin story, and Marty’s is no exception. She didn’t arrive fully formed; she emerged from a long process of refinement, replacing an earlier, racier dream subject with someone emotionally fluent and real. Marty was created in 1998, but her roots stretch back to a fleeting encounter in April 1983, when I first noticed a classmate named Cecilia. Cecilia was gorgeous—striking in her presence, unforgettable in her heterochromia—but I only became aware of her late in our senior year. That timing mattered. Had I carried a multi‑year crush, it would have been a heavy burden for a shy guy like me. Instead, Cecilia remained a spark: a motif of beauty glimpsed too late to shape my teenage life, but just in time to shape my creative one. Marty, in many ways, became the anti‑Cece. Where Cecilia was absence—someone I barely knew, discovered at the t...

Audible Milestone: Six Units Sold One week after the Garratyverse stepped into audio, we’ve reached our first milestone: six units sold across Audible and Apple Books.  Comings and Goings leads with four copies, while Reunion: A Story adds two more. Three were direct purchases, one came through Apple Books , and two were redeemed with Audible credits. It may sound modest, but in the world of independent publishing, every unit matters. Each listener is a pioneer, experiencing Garraty’s journey in a new medium. And with no returns, the response so far has been encouraging. This milestone reminds me that audiobooks are not just products—they’re invitations. Six listeners have accepted that invitation, and I couldn’t be more grateful. The Garratyverse is finding its voice, one listener at a time.