A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Maddie, as rendered by DALL-E 3  Today was an important day in the progress of my first novel, Reunion: Coda. That's because I not only finished the first scene of Chapter 15, but also wrote an entire second scene as well.  I'm especially thrilled because Scene Two of Chapter 15 is, incidentally, my first attempt to write a steamy scene between Prof. Jim Garraty and his new love interest, Maddie.  I'm not going to spoil the scene itself on this post, but I will share the leadup to it here:  1 A Quiet Morning in Queens   Saturday, March 11, 2000, Maddie’s Apartment   The soft light of a partly cloudy morning spills through the east-facing kitchen window, casting a warm, diffused glow across the room. The walls, painted in light, airy colors, are brightened by sunflower motifs on the curtains and matching towels. Among the cheerful decor, a red telephone box cookie jar and a miniature Big Ben stand as proud reminders of Maddie's English heritage. Still clad in the blue Ar

  A collage featuring Jim Garraty as a teen (right) and a 35-year-old college professor and author (lower left). On the upper left: Maddie, 2000-era Jim's love interest. (Image created by DALL-E 3 based on prompts by the author.   Hi, everyone. I’m writing this brief situation report (SITREP) on Reunion: Coda to give you some idea of where I am on my “first-time novelist’s” journey. As you may or may not know, I’ve been working on my novel since early March 2023. When I began, I lived in the Tampa Bay area, where I had lived since April 2016. I didn’t plan on writing a novel then, either. Reunion: Coda was conceived when I revised and edited my novella Reunion: A Story at the behest of my journalism professor at Miami-Dade Community College – South Campus. As I added “front matter” and “back matter" and corrected errors and typos, I saw little details and plot points I could use in a sequel…if I chose to write one. I had hoped to publish Reunion: Coda in time for the Dec

 

Jim Garrary at age 35   Chez Maddie, or: Interlude in Blue   I bask in the warmth of Maddie's apartment, the scent of aged wood and a hint of lavender surrounding me. The living room is a canvas of pastel blues and greens, the soft colors of the couch and chairs inviting a moment of rest. Maddie's digital piano, a Yamaha, sits in silent anticipation of her touch. It's a model that's been around since the late '90s, compact enough to fit in the cozy space but grand in its promise of music. Maddie had shown me around earlier, her voice a melodic guide through the memories framed on the mantel, the Beethoven bust overseeing our tour with stoic approval. The kitchen, she explained with a laugh, had been upgraded by her father—a housewarming gift that replaced the '60s appliances with ones from the early '90s. I remember how she pointed to the stove where I would later cook  pasta al burro , her hazel eyes brightening as she spoke of her dad's thoughtfulness.

Maddie, as rendered by Dall-E Maddie is a woman whose beauty is both striking and subtle. She possesses a heart-shaped face, the soft contours of her cheeks tapering to a delicate chin. Her hazel eyes, framed by arched brows, are windows to her soul, expressive and vibrant. A mane of chestnut hair falls in a cascade of loose waves, brushing her shoulders with a gentle grace. Her lips, reminiscent of a Gibson girl’s, are neither too full nor too thin, but perfectly shaped for a smile that lights up her face.  Her neck is slender, leading to shoulders that carry an air of confidence. Maddie’s physique is toned, the result of regular exercise, yet retains a natural softness. Her fingers are long and delicate, the hands of a pianist, with a touch as gentle as her voice. In her posture and presence, there is a balance of strength and femininity, a harmony that captures the essence of her character. Cover illustration by Juan Carlos Hernandez  

  2 Maddie Comes Home Friday, March 10, 2000 John F. Kennedy International Airport, Arrivals Terminal, 2:05 PM EST I'm at JFK, the arrivals terminal humming with the energy of a city that never sleeps. It's a Friday afternoon, and the place is buzzing like a nightclub, but instead of music and laughter, it's filled with the sounds of greetings and goodbyes. I'm here waiting for Maddie, my heart racing a bit as I glance at the clock. Her flight, British Airways BA-175, was due at 1:45 PM, but it's running 20 minutes late. Headwinds over the Atlantic, they said. I taught my Intro to WWII class at Columbia this morning at 9:00, and Henry Townsend, bless him, arranged for a TA to cover my afternoon sessions. I rarely drive in Manhattan, but today I made an exception. I pulled my '95 Acura out of the garage, where I shell out more than I'd care to admit each month, and hit the road around 10:30 AM. The traffic was a nightmare, made worse by a fender bend

Cover designed by Juan Carlos Hernandez © 2023,2024 Alex Diaz-Granados  The final strains of "Finale" seemed to linger, stretching out to touch the edges of eternity before they dissolved into the quiet of my shadowed room. The tape hissed its postlude, then snapped off with a decisive CLICK. Should I replay it, Marty’s graduation gift to me? "I wanted to give you something to remind you of our time together... um... in Mrs. Quincy's class. And our song is in it," Marty had said, her voice now a ghostly echo in my mind. A fresh stab of regret pierced me, sharp and frigid, and I knew—I just couldn't face it again. A knock at the door fractured my contemplation. My mother's voice, warm and familiar, filtered through the wood. “Jim, honey, Mark's here.” Mundane as they were, her words came like a lifeline thrown into the turbulent sea of my thoughts, pulling me back to the present, to reality. “Thanks, Mom,” I replied. I jumped up—or at least r

Cover art design: Juan Carlos Hernandez   In this excerpt, Jim Garraty (our narrator/protagonist) is lying on his bed, listening to the original Broadway cast recording of West Side Story and trying to keep it together after an emotionally trying day that included his high school graduation ceremony. It's 8:00 PM on Friday, June 17, 1983, and Jim has just decided to not replay the cassette of music from the classic 1957 reimagining of Romeo and Juliet, choosing instead to be alone with his thoughts.  The final strains of "Finale" seemed to linger, stretching out to touch the edges of eternity before they dissolved into the quiet of my shadowed room. The tape in the GE 3-5104 cassette player, a Christmas gift from Mom, hissed its postlude, then snapped off with a decisive "Click!" that punctuated the silence. I toyed with the idea of replaying the tape—Marty's graduation gift to me, a treasure trove of melodies and memories. I'd managed to keep my composu

 Boy of Harvard   (To the tune of Men of Harlech )   Boy of Harvard, what's your story? Tell her now or you'll be sorry. A gorgeous lass stands before ye, Hear ye not her call?   At your pause, she seems to wonder; Rend your teenage fears asunder, Let your heart's a-deaf'ning thunder Answer her love's call.   Kisses need exchanging Passions loudly waking; Till your young hearts b eat as one, The mourning soul is breaking; Fears on every side assailing Onward march with heart unfailing, Make her see your love prevailing, Cobras never fall!  

Photo by the author  Hi, everyone. Well, I’ve been in Madison, New Hampshire for 12 days now, and even though that sounds like a long time, I’m still in the process of getting settled in at my new place of residence. I did hope that after my first week here I’d be ready to begin working on Reunion: Coda after more than a month of not working on it, but I require at least some peace of mind so I can tackle creative writing projects as complex as a novel, and right now, I don’t have that. As of December 27, 2023 I am still trying to adapt to a colder climate than the one I left behind in Florida, dealing with homesickness and the feelings of sadness and even resentment that lurk in my heart, and learning to be patient with the pace of the setting up process, which depends greatly on how much time others have available to assist me.  As a result, my brain is already challenged by “simple” writing projects such as blog posts; I don’t yet feel up to the task of getting into the fi

      Hi, all.   Just a quick update to say that last night I completed the fourth and final scene of Chapter 11 in Reunion: Coda. Sure, right now it's still in "first draft mode," but I'm just content with the knowledge that after more than a month of trying different approaches to the scene, I finally "cracked the code" - as it were - of how to present this deceptively simple-looking part of the chapter. (It never ceases to amaze me how this scene, which I thought would be easy because it's based on a plot point introduced in Reunion: A Story , took me nearly two months to write.) Here's an excerpt from the scene, which also puts me over both the 50,000-word mark and the 120-page mark in the novel’s manuscript. If Hollywood told my story like a movie, it would go something like this: I’m a smart and nerdy senior at South Miami High School, class of '83. I love history and music, and I have a crush on Marty, the most beautiful girl in the choru

 Hi, everyone!  Well, as the header for this post points out, I was fortunate this week because Reunion: A Story now has a book trailer on YouTube!  This two-minute-long video was created by my friend Juan Carlos Hernandez and Popcorn Sky Productions, with some input from me (I provided the excerpt in the narration, and I got to pick the musical cue), and an awesome voice performance by Juan's son, Anthony James Hernandez. Everyone who's watched it and given me feedback on it has said they like the video because the mix of images, music, and narration pulls them into the story.  Whether the video will help boost sales of Reunion, I haven't a clue. I hope it does...cos it's really a brilliantly done promo! Ah, but wait! There's more! This morning, my friend and fellow former Epinions reviewer, Patti Aliventi, posted a review of Reunion on her WordPress blog Thoughts from the Mountaintop. It wasn't her first go-round at reviewing my novella; when I published the s

(C) 2023 Popcorn Sky Productions/ADG Books  Hi, everyone.  I am pleased to announce that my friends at Popcorn Sky Productions (Juan Carlos Hernandez, Adria K. Hernandez, and Anthony Hernandez) are wrapping up work on a trailer for my novella Reunion: A Story.  Featuring a mix of motion and still pictures, music, and a short voiceover based on a short section from the novella, this trailer is, as you might expect, a quick but visually powerful promo for the first book in the Reunion Duology.  I watched the "rough draft" a few times after Juan sent it to me via WeTransfer. I liked it, although there was one still photo that didn't look "right." It's an easy fix, Juan says, and he said that the finished video should be up tomorrow.  I'm so excited! I'll share the finished trailer here as soon as it's up on YouTube. 

  I don't know why, but apparently, there are some folks who need to be reminded that "opinions" stated as "facts" are not really facts.  I don't care if a person firmly believes something as ridiculous as "you're not a real writer because you don't have a publisher behind you" or any such nonsense.  This is my official position on the topic:  My New Resolution: I will no longer listen to anyone who says, “You’re not a real writer.” I write every day. That makes me a writer. I studied journalism at both South Miami High and Miami-Dade College. Even won an award for my work on the college student newspaper during my freshman year. That, too, makes me a writer. I’ve written for clients, and I have also been paid by websites for my writing. That makes me a professional writer. I have  two self-published books available for sale on Amazon  and Barnes & Noble (online store only, though!). A third book is in the works. That makes me a writer,

© 2018, 2023 Alex Diaz-Granados via Kindle Create/ADG Books  I just wanted to let my readers know that the latest edition of Reunion: A Story is now available on Amazon and the online version of Barnes & Noble. I have been uploading corrections to Kindle Direct Publishing off and on since March, cos whenever I see a typo or misspelled word, I must correct it, even if no one else notices.  I last sent a batch of minor edits earlier this week, but even though I was told by KDP that the updated version had gone "live" on Monday morning (at least, for the Kindle edition), it takes up to three days (sometimes longer) for the changes to make their way through the KDP pipeline and be incorporated into existing books.  The view from the Kindle Create app. I don't (fingers crossed) expect to make any further corrections, so this edition of Reunion: A Story is the definitive version of the first part of the Reunion Duology.  A caveat: Of course, Kindle readers get free updates