Tag: 2025

Sometimes I forget, wasn’t always this way.

Sara Mazariegos

I’m wearing a green hoodie that I got from the men’s department at Kohl’s or something back in November. At first, I didn’t remember the circumstances of why I got this hoodie, I just knew it was because I was out with Luis and it was cold and I couldn’t just borrow his hoodie for the whole evening. He reminded me of a lot of the details of that outing; it was the day we went to Georgetown and saw Anora. We ate at a place I love called Curry & Pie. I wore a pretty top and didn’t think about layers because I wanted people to be able to see my pretty top.

It’s crazy to me that I don’t remember many of the details. I often go back through my Google Calendar and play memory games of “Oh yeah, we did this.” I think a lot of people don’t remember a lot of what they’ve done each day, especially as you get older… Especially when you’ve gone through so much recent upheaval.

The week we saw Anora, we took Boo to the vet to get her biopsy on her ear. The week before that was the election. And kind of everything after has been a lot to process, so it makes sense I can’t fully remember the story of a piece of clothing. I’m grateful for the reminder though. It was a good day, despite the chill.

Anyway, I can’t believe it’s only April. This year has started to drag, but maybe it’s a good sign. Things are slowing down, becoming more reasonable. At least from a personal standpoint. Tomorrow, I am off from work because my new boss decided to give everyone Good Friday off. I am onboard with that.

Writingwise, things are plugging along. I took a few days off from writing recently because I was dealing with new job transformations and schedule adjustments — getting home at 6:30 instead of 5:15 and going from a five-minute bus ride to an hour-long Metro ride is a pretty big change — but my routine is starting to fall into line again. I’m at 13,000 words today, soon to be at 13,500 when I write later this evening. I’m looking forward to reading it back when it’s finished and seeing how this new writing mode has worked out. I think I’m definitely staying present in the scenes more, so at the very least my scenes should be more gratifying to read. I’m certainly not rushing this draft.

Until next time,

Oh no, love, you’re not alone.

Sara Mazariegos

This year has been so overwhelming and it’s only March. 😵 I’m caught between wanting to know what’s going on and feeling depressed and helpless when I do read about things.

A sense of unreality settles in at times. How can any of this be real? How/Why are we letting it happen?

I wrote on my various social media pages on Monday morning: I will try to enjoy each day in some way. Sort of an “it’s the little things” mantra, but we all need the little things right now, don’t we?

I keep thinking about the next time we go to Disney and our next trips this year (yes, in that order. I love Disney parks.) Having things to look forward to keeps me going. Right now, they’re just dreams, though. But it’s good to have dreams.

When I started planning my latest novel, I considered my options for writing it each day and not feeling so burdened by word count goals. I read that successful authors like Graham Greene and Ernest Hemingway wrote five hundred words a day. I’ve been following their lead and, so far, it’s going well. I like that I can feel a bit more immersed in the scenes I’m working on instead of being so hung up on the idea of quotas and “gotta finish this chapter in one sitting.” I can sit with things a little longer, which allows both myself and my story to breathe.

My new novel involves time travel, confronting past selves, and accidentally falling in love along the way. If you like Sophie Cousens, you will like it. That’s my goal, anyway. It’s currently sitting pretty at 3,000 words. 😅

Enjoy each day in some way, my friends. Take care of yourselves.

I ran to your heart to be near.

Sara Mazariegos

Happy New Year!

I must admit, I’m still in a bit of a holiday stupor, not helped by the fact that I’m back at work on a Thursday. Is everyone feeling a bit confused about what day it is and what we’re supposed to be doing?

My calendars are up and my work planner has been updated with the holidays and vacation days I’ve solidified thus far. I just have to get to February 14th without pulling my hair out and I’ll be fine.

We had a nice holiday break together. It was nice just to be together and relax. We went to the National Zoo on New Year’s Eve (Zoo Year’s) and then had an impromptu dinner at a Turkish place because the Thai place we’d booked wasn’t open for when we made our reservation. Thanks, automated reservation services (in this case, Google.) The Turkish place was more memorable than the Thai place probably would’ve been anyway, though.

For Christmas, I received a few books. One of my light resolutions this year is that I will only read books I currently own as of 1/1/2025. I have a library book, so I can read that, obviously. Books on my Amazon Fire also count. I’m excited to go through my bookshelves and actually read the books there instead of finding books elsewhere all the time.

As far as writing, I’ve still been taking a break from my It’s A Wonderful Life novel. I give myself at least the recommended two weeks between writing and reading the complete draft. I’m going to read it next week, and I hopefully won’t cringe too much. I’m excited to keep working on it and sprucing it up until it’s ready to query.

In the meantime, of course I’ve thought up another novel idea. I’m always thinking of something.