Tag: About Me

I never knew me a better time and I guess I never will.

Sara Mazariegos

This year’s been challenging. Without going into too much detail, because it’s personal, this has been a difficult year so far. I’ve been feeling my usual unreality about a lot of things, like how we’re going to Disney World and Universal in October but so much of it has already been booked, I’m just sitting on my hands now. It doesn’t feel like it’s really going to happen. There are also some reasons for me to feel that way that are about more than not having things to plan. Having our ducks in a row is actually the more enjoyable aspect of it. Many other things are up in the air right now… But enough of my vague posting about things I can’t really post about. I’m ready for things to calm down and be more certain.

Mother’s Day delay. My parents are out of town for my grandma’s memorial service, so we’re delaying our Mother’s Day festivities for when they come back. Luis and I went to their house last weekend to visit their cats and spend time with my sister who lives nearby. We met her new puppy! That was some impromptu fun. We spent time with his family on Mother’s Day and then saw The Sheep Detectives, which was also a pretty Mother’s Day-y movie. We weren’t planning to see it, but we wanted to go to the movies and it was playing at a good time. We don’t usually spontaneously see things. I’m glad it worked out well this time.

Saturday Night Live feeling more classic. Matt Damon was the host on SNL last Saturday. Since we recently saw The Martian, my brain kept thinking he was hosting to promote that, but he’s actually in the new Christopher Nolan version of The Odyssey! I had no idea. I only knew “Spider-Man” was in it.

It was a great episode. I feel kind of hit-or-miss with the current cast, and each episode depends on the host more than it did with other casts, but this was a good one. Luis and I (and a lot of people online) particularly liked this auctioneers sketch. The writing and concept make it feel like a classic. I could easily imagine Gilda Radner or even Julia Louis-Dreyfus in this sketch (but Sarah Sherman is great, too.) Many times, SNL wants to be current with what’s popular and in style, but it’s nice for them to relax every once in a while with a more ‘anytime’ sketch like this one. A sketch that doesn’t rely on the audience knowing about x. As long as you know what auctioneers are like, you’ll get it.

Noticing writing mistakes in other novels. When I read books in the genre that I’m writing (romance) I find myself reading more closely than when I’m reading other books. I think about the writing more, and the choices made. People on Threads agreed with me that it’s a sign of a writer to be more observant about the way the story is being told. In the novel I’m currently reading, which I really like, I’ve noticed a few things I’d change, like overly telling sometimes or using the same word or phrase too much. It can be a little distracting from the story, but it’s not too much for me to still enjoy reading it. Reading this closely is another way that reading helps one become a better writer.

I know that many, many authors have noticed mistakes or things they’d change once their novel has been published and printed. No one is expecting perfection, because it’s nigh impossible. Novels that have been published and printed have been read by so many pairs of eyes, and mistakes still happen. So there’s no offense meant when I say I’ve noticed things. It’s likely the author has noticed as well.

Writing my “spare parts” draft. My writing is more laid back now that I’m not thinking about anyone reading it. Maybe that’s the secret to better writing. 🤔 I’m allowing myself to enjoy the words and have fun with things. I keep reminding myself that I won’t worry about editing this draft either, if I’m mainly writing it as a completionist at this point. It may end up being a “spare parts” draft, where I’ll use bits of it for a story but not all of it. There are good bits in this story. I wonder if, reading it back, it will feel like night-and-day from when I was writing it with the intention of querying it someday. I was still having fun with it, but I was harsher with my word choices and scene work. And then, a little over halfway through, I got more relaxed.

I wonder if I should try to write my next story’s first draft in this looser way and then sharpen it in later drafts. I have a tendency to want to get things right the first time, but I’m finding it’s not really the way things turn out. Revisions will always come into play, even with a draft I completely love. (Does such a thing exist in real life?)

Time will heal all the hate, all in good time.

Sara Mazariegos

Birds don’t discriminate. As I was walking to my office, I watched the birds eating the seeds that some nice city worker throws out for them. I noticed that it’s not only pigeons and sparrows, but there are crows and even ducks joining in on the feast sometimes. And none of them try to pick a fight or keep the other kinds of birds from eating with them. There’s a metaphor in this somewhere.

There was also a robin on my way to the bus the other day, standing in the grass next to the sidewalk. Rather than running or flying away like they usually do, this little one just looked up at me with big eyes. It was incredibly cute. Sometimes, our local wildlife makes me feel like a Disney princess. Specifically Giselle I suppose, because the animals I get excited to see are pigeons and squirrels. Cute animal friends are cute regardless of what kind of animals they are!

The Devil Wears Prada 2. We saw the sequel to The Devil Wears Prada last weekend. I was wary at first, but I know it is a book series and I liked the first movie. I think it’s a good sequel; it feels like the first one but with new plot points and drama instead of being a rehash. I also think Miranda isn’t as mean in it. Maybe I’m just used to her meanness. I mostly felt sorry for her in this one.

I can’t remember if I posted about it (I probably did) but I tried reading the first novel and I couldn’t get through it, in either audiobook or book-book form. Andy is an annoying, whiny narrator in the book, but I like her in the movie. My favorite character is still Nigel (Stanley Tucci.) I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, so I won’t say anything else.

Immortality final thoughts. Luis and I finished playing Immortality last weekend as well. It was addictive so we played it for hours. I really like it! It’s so cool that they have actors performing all of these scenes within scenes, and then there’s scenes hidden within the scenes. I wish more games were this creative and adventurous with ideas. I do think we’re seeing more and more cool, innovative games like this lately, thanks to places like Steam making it easier for indie developers to get their games out there.

My favorite of the movies within the game is Minsky. This won’t make any sense unless you play the game, though. I definitely recommend it. It’s a showcase of the main actress Manon Gage’s talent as well, because she was fresh out of college when she acted in this game, and she gets to show off her range. I look forward to playing other games by the creator, Sam Barlow. We’ve already played Her Story.

New ideas are rejuvenating. I’m within the final 20K of my current novel draft, projected to be finished by the beginning of June. Ever since I decided this story won’t work as a published novel, I’ve been more laid back about writing it. It’s still going to be completed, even if I won’t pursue it with agents. It’s always a good goal to finish what you’ve started, if possible. I even have a few ideas of ways I can repurpose this story into a new idea I have swirling around in my brain. I don’t want to fully abandon it because I still see its value.

That being said, I’m looking forward to not thinking about it for a while.

I’m very excited to start writing my next novel. I have months to plan it, so hopefully it will just easily come out as the fully formed story from my head!

No? That’s now how writing works? I always forget.

It’s lonely out in space, on such a timeless flight.

Sara Mazariegos

Immersive experiences for children. On Sunday, we went to the “Hershey Super Sweet Adventure” in Tysons Corner for Luis’s mom’s birthday. It’s a bunch of kids’ activities, like popping a balloon or going through one of those optical illusion tunnels with the walls that make you feel like you’re going to fall over. In the end, you win some candy, and you also get a candy bar with your photo on the wrapper. At first I was worried the activities/place would be like Chuck E. Cheese or something, but it wasn’t too bad. I did keep thinking about Willy’s Chocolate Experience though. Can you blame me? Thankfully, the people working at the Hershey thing didn’t seem miserable, though I thought they might be thinking, “Why is this group of six adults doing this?” 😝

My issues with Shrinking, a show I do like. We started watching Shrinking a few weeks ago. We like Harrison Ford and Jason Segel, so why not? It’s a cute show, with a lot of fun, likeable characters… But we’re about seven episodes in and we’ve noticed an unusual trend. You know how on most comedic shows there are groups of characters? There’s the main character and their friends or family or both. Then there are the side characters that add levity to the situations. Then there are the recurring cameo characters that show up sometimes and they’re not part of the main group but they add a bit of extra flavor or whatever. Think of Seinfeld. There’s the main group of friends, then there’s their parents or other friends (hello Newman) or what have you, and then there are the recurring but not as frequent characters like Putty or J. Peterman. The recurring, random characters mainly interact with one of the main characters, maybe two but it’s not like J. Peterman hangs out in Jerry’s apartment.

But here’s the glaring issue I have with Shrinking: everyone on the show, all of the characters, seem to be best friends with each other. Jason Segel’s daughter is friends with Harrison Ford even though he’s much older and her dad’s boss. There’s not really much connection there (at least not one that’s shown.) Shawn, the patient Jason Segel becomes too close with, is immediately buddy-buddy with Jason Segel’s nosy neighbor, his daughter, his boss, and his coworker (oh my god, I love Jessica Williams though. She’s my favorite character.) It seems like every time a new character is introduced, they get sucked into being intimate friends with all the other characters. The estate lawyer guy showed up and was also insta-friends with everyone, including the patient who shouldn’t know him at all probably.

I feel like I’m the only one who’s noticed and is bothered by this. Well, besides Luis. I like the show, but almost in an “this irks me but I enjoy watching it anyway” kind of way. It feels like lazy writing.

Overwhelming oneself with monetized “advice.” Many people have noticed this, I’m sure, but there are countless websites and influencers online who offer advice and tips on writing and getting published. They’re often behind some kind of a paid subscription plan in order for people to get the full advice. I started noticing this on Substack, so I stopped using Substack. I don’t think it’s right for everything to cost money, especially if it’s someone telling you the same thing others will say on YouTube for free.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve started following an author or literary agent who claims they offer guidance for writers, only to be greeted with ‘sign up for the webinar, only $60’ or something like that. Now I know services are performed by people who need to make a living. I get it. But then again, a successful author who’s making money from book sales shouldn’t be taking a bunch of money from other writers who come to them for help. Many writers don’t have a lot of extra money for every random webinar.

I don’t know. I just think it’s a difficult enough industry without making it even harder and more soul-sucking for people who just like creating imaginary worlds and want to share those worlds with others. I wish free writing advice was more normalized. I should unsubscribe from these people.

Writing update. It struck me last Thursday, don’t ask me why or how, that the story I’m currently revising, as much as I love it and want people to read it, isn’t really attention-grabby enough to catch an agent’s eye. I think it’s good to realize and understand, even if it really hurts. Not every story will work as a marketable book that ends up on shelves. Heck, not even every book that lands an agent actually ends up being sold. It’s a tough business. And it’s probably a better, more realistic idea for me to see this revision as what it ultimately really is: skill-building and enjoyment. From this story, newer and better ideas will bloom and grow and my writing gets stronger every draft I write.

This should be my real takeaway. I skipped writing last Thursday night because I was feeling too gloomy, but it’s still great to finish a draft and see myself getting better. Even if no one reads this one (Luis will read it, but besides Luis!) it’s still worthwhile. And my next novel will be even better. Maybe that one will even be the one that can move me forward.

I’m not giving up, I’m just being kinder to myself and allowing myself to explore different ideas.

You on point, Tip? All the time, Phife.

Sara Mazariegos

Still exploring in a more hostile world. Even though I work in D.C., it’s been a long time since Luis and I have visited the city for fun. Now that it’s spring, I’ve started to want to plan things out-of-doors or at least out-of-our-doors. There are still quite a few places in D.C. that we haven’t visited yet, so maybe this year will be the year! Just have to get our friends’ schedules to line up with ours. There are only so many weekends in a month.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how things have become more hostile in my town. There’s amped up “security” everywhere, people aren’t as friendly, we have National Guard people on our streets for no reason, etcetera. It makes the idea of coming to visit the city a not entirely fun one, and I think that’s part of why I long to spend time having fun there again. I miss the way things used to be. And who’s to say they can’t still be silly and educational and special even amidst all of the everything bad that’s going on? It’s not like I’m suggesting we go to the Kennedy Center or anything; it just might be fun to window shop in Georgetown or play hoity-toity minigolf again.

Living and working amongst newsworthy things. Last week, there were a lot of people and traffic and police around a few fiancial buildings near my office, because of a big event that was held there. It was even in the news. I found out it was in the news when I looked at the little local events screen in my office’s elevator. It both explained why things were so busy around my job and made me feel a little weird.

There was a big “cancel the debt” protest when I came into work on Friday. It’s a strange feeling to be around things that are being talked about on a global scale. I guess this is something that comes from working in D.C. And whenever people complain about the federal government, I have to stop myself from saying, “You think it’s bad? Try living around it all the time.” I really like living in the D.C. area, but it can be stressful and frustrating at times. I prefer when things aren’t so dire and argue-y. (That doesn’t mean I don’t agree with the protestors.)

Have things in the federal government always been dire and argue-y?

Immortality is such a cool game. Luis and I started playing this PC* mystery game called Immortality. It’s basically a bunch of footage from this actress’s movies or appearances or rehearsals, and you’re supposed to pause and click objects or fast forward/rewind to find hidden video features. It’s very cool, and very creepy. It’s also very ambitious, because the team really did film a bunch of footage and hire a crew of actors, costume designers, etc. We’ve semi-solved it already (it even ran credits) but we’re still playing it because we haven’t unlocked a lot of the stuff yet. I’m wondering if there’s an easy, “Good job, you solved it!” mode we reached and then there’s going to be a more advanced version as we keep going.

We’ve also made sure to actually watch each clip, to figure out what each movie is about. There are three movies the main character actress worked on. I highly recommend the game. I love mystery games, and ones with footage are even cooler, though this one involves one of my least favorite things with recordings: slowed down voices. And you have to rewind slowly sometimes, to find the important pieces of the puzzle. There aren’t really any jump-scares, but it is definitely creepy and surprising in places. Things appearing where they shouldn’t, that sort of thing. It’s ghostly without really being a ghost game.

Actually reading comps. One thing I do that most definitely slows me down is I completely read any novels I think could be good comps for my stories. I’ve read that all I really need to do is read a synopsis or whatever, but I prefer reading the full stories to truly get a sense of how they could fit with mine. This is largely because I enjoy reading new books. But I have stacks of books to read that could be considered comps for my stories, and I’ve still got to get to a bunch of them before they’re too old to work anymore.

I’ve also read that it’s a good idea to go for debut novels, because they’re not the big mega-hits that everyone’s already heard of yet. But it’s hard to stay ahead of that. It can be frustrating, thinking about the query letter because it’s so important for finding a literary agent, but sometimes agents don’t even value it as much as the first five pages. Every agent is different.

This is why I’m trying to just focus on writing for now, and finding good books that mesh well with my stories because they help get my creative juices flowing. And I’m sorry for saying “creative juices.”

Writing update. I’m enjoying writing my novel. It’s getting toward the final 20k words now, which feels crazy. Writing in the 500-word bursts has been the best way for me to get the story done, because it still feels fun and sometimes I even go a little longer because I want to, rather than like in the past where I was trying to cram too much into each writing session.

I’m looking forward to the finished draft, and then I can eventually edit it, which hopefully won’t be too much of a headache this time.

* PC as in personal computer.

It’s 8:15, and that’s the time that it’s always been.

Sara Mazariegos

Our personal Super Mario connection. Both Luis and I grew up with the Super Mario Bros. games. Him more than me, but I have early memories of playing Super Mario on the NES with my sister. She always made me play Mario so she could be Luigi, because she preferred green. This resulted in a lot of Mario falling off the very first ledge and then Luigi getting his turn. We also had and played Super Mario Bros. 3, a game that is still my favorite of the Mario games. Hey, I’m a sucker for nostalgia.

Anyway, it was this shared enjoyment of Mario and the various characters and themes within the games that inspired Luis’s and my wedding’s theme. It was a loose theme, because we didn’t want to give off kids’ birthday party vibes. Our decor was cute! Luis’s sister made paper lanterns with Boo’s face on them. We still have two of them, hanging in our living room.

All of this to say, heck yes we like the Mario movies! We saw Super Mario Bros. Galaxy last weekend, and as we were leaving we were already planning to see it again this weekend. Unfortunately, the cue I was given to go to the bathroom was at a pretty bad moment, actually, so we snuck into another showing afterwards in order for me to see the introduction of an important character! I’m very much looking forward to the next movie, too.

Watching The Studio is saddening. We started watching The Studio the other week, because of all the awards it won and everything. It’s very sad to watch now, though, because Catherine O’Hara’s role on it is so big and integral to the plot. It’s nice to see her, but I’m still so sad she’s no longer with us. It feels cruel. It is cruel. Seth Rogan clearly was so excited to be working with people he admired, and she’s one of the people he looked up to… So it’s quite sad to watch even though it is a very funny and well-made show. It’s beautifully shot, and I love the “oner” way of filming it. It reminds me of Birdman. It’s kind of stressful at times to watch a style like that, but so far I’m enjoying it. It’s hard for me to imagine how season 2 is going to be.

Taskmaster is back! My favorite grumpy/sunshine pairing came back last week. As usual, I love the group of comedians and actors that are “competing” on Taskmaster. My favorite is not Kumail Nanjiani, but of course I’m still excited to see him on it! He’s so far aligning with the trend of South Asian contestants performing badly. 😅 The worm task really wasn’t fair, though.

I don’t want to spoil it, so I won’t say any more. I highly recommend that show. It’s available wherever YouTube is sold!

Story ideas coming unbidden. As previously mentioned, I’ve started getting ideas for my next story while working on my current novel. This always happens, and usually when I’m midway through writing a story. This time it started with me thinking I could rework an outline and turn it into something different but still a similar concept, but now it’s gotten bigger and more detailed, so I’ve been writing down the ideas in the outline for now so I can work on it more once the story I’m currently writing has a complete draft.

I think it’s a good idea to let ideas simmer a bit, especially if I’m already working on something. The last thing I want to do is fall into the trap of pausing the story I was focusing on to write something new before the story is finished! It’s never a good idea to pause before ‘The End.’ Even if the draft needs a lot of revisions. Keep writing until ‘The End’ and then you can write something else. That’s the way my brain works anyway. I can’t write two stories at the same time. One of them always takes precedence or nothing gets finished.

Writing update. My novel rewrite is going well. I’m nearing 50,000 words which is just past the halfway point. Instead of being the ‘sagging middle’ that a lot of writers talk about, there’s a bunch of drama happening in my story, which is keeping things moving along nicely. It won’t be much longer until this revision is complete! And then I can take a break before writing something new.

I said what I said, brain!

There was a time, a storm that blew so pure.

Sara Mazariegos

Not all movies need critical analysis. I saw the Super Mario Galaxy movie got some pretty brutal reviews, and it’s made me wonder why we have reviewers for every movie. I appreciate that critics are writers and they need jobs. I get that. But I don’t think every movie must be held to the same standard that some of the critics expect. No one expects a Mario movie to be anything other than what it is: fan service for people who love the games and characters. It’s a little bit like the Five Nights At Freddy’s movies. They’re made for people who like the thing. Anyone interested should go see it and they’ll probably like it. Maybe there needs to be more segmentation with reviewers. What do fans of Super Mario think about this new movie?

I thought the first one was cute. It wasn’t amazing, but I’m glad I saw it and I’d watch it again. I don’t remember why Bowser is tiny. I’m excited to see the new one next weekend.

The allure of Robert Pattinson. Luis and I forwent Mario last weekend because we knew the theater would be teeming with kids for Easter weekend. Instead, we saw The Drama starring Robert Pattinson and Zendaya. That movie is definitely not for kids. I’ve got to say that Robert Pattinson has grown on me. I was never a fan of Twilight so I didn’t like him, but it’s not his fault. He didn’t write it or direct it, and he’s grown a lot since then. I really liked him in Mickey 17, and he was quite good in The Drama as well. He’s someone a lot of people find attractive, and I never have (no offense to him) but I can appreciate a good actor regardless of how they look. I also appreciate that he seems to be shying away from the handsome leading man roles in favor of more quirky, interesting scripts.

The Drama has a controversial subject matter, but I think it’s a subject worth thinking about. It’s not pleasant, but it’s important. I think it’s handled in a pretty realistic way, considering it’s in a dark comedy. I don’t quite understand the people who think it’s a topic than can never be explored like this. It’s not like the movie makes light of it or acts like there’s nothing wrong with it. (I’m not spoiling it; you should see it for yourself, if you’re interested.) It’s intense, but it’s good.

The Martian during real space times. On Easter, we watched The Martian as the next space movie on my list. It’s based on a novel written by the same author who wrote Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir. It’s got a very stacked cast, with all sorts of actors. We liked it, though we liked PHM more. The Martian is more stressful, and it also doesn’t have the cute element. I don’t want to spoil PHM, though I think the Internet is already spoiling it quite a bit. I also think that, while it’s better and makes sense not to have Matt Damon actually lose a bunch of weight, the CG looks a little weird. I suppose it’s always a risk. AI crap in things won’t age well either. It already looks bad.

Now we just have to see Arrival and Interstellar. Speaking of space movies, it felt pretty surreal to be watching The Martian while we have real astronauts in space at this very moment, exploring the darker regions of the moon. I hope they return safely to Earth on Friday and bring back a whole host of new images and stories. So far, it’s been pretty incredible to watch and learn about.

Aging out of things. Lately I’ve been feeling as if I’m aging away from a lot of the Nerdfighter stuff, not through lack of interest but because there’s so much to keep up with. When I first became a Nerdfighter, everything was pretty much online. I was on the old ning website and everything, and I never missed a video. I bought all of John’s books and inhaled them. Then, a little later, I found my local Facebook group and met a bunch of Nerdfighter friends in real life. You know how that turned out. ☺️

But now that I’m older and we’re all older, I’ve got a job and other commitments and I find it hard to keep up with everything going on. I do my best, of course, and I’m still there for a lot of it, but I wonder how much longer I’ll be able to show up. And it’s sort of bittersweet because, like I said, I still love John and Hank and the community, but keeping up with livestreams and events is becoming less tenable. I don’t know. I mostly just wanted to mope a little. I’m going to do my best to go to John’s latest book tour stop (if there is a book tour stop) but I fear something like NerdCon Nerdfighteria might be out of the question for me. We’ll have to see, and I do so hate having to see.

Evolving conflicts. While writing the other day, I realized my new story draft has a conflict that evolves as the characters and plot evolve. It starts out as one bit of drama and then it sort of snowballs as the story progresses. I’m proud of myself for coming up with a conflict like that, because I think it means it’s more realistic but also more impactful.

As soon as I finish writing this draft, I plan to wait a few weeks and then dive back in to read it and add a few details/subplots that I came up with while I was writing but didn’t want to stop and go back to add. I’m a little past the halfway point now with this draft, and I’m really enjoying writing it and playing around with things.

It’s definitely true that the best way to improve your writing is to keep writing.

Hold the line; love isn’t always on time.

Sara Mazariegos

Birthday postdate. My birthday weekend went well, if not entirely how I’d planned it. We got sushi and Asian all-you-can eat stir fry bowls with Luis’s family on Saturday, then even more sushi with friends on Sunday (my actual birthday.) We ended up not going ice skating because I noticed my ankle felt sore on Saturday just wearing shoes and walking a little, so I didn’t want to make it worse. I think I twisted it just walking around the house; a certain cat of ours loves to parade around in front of me when I’m trying to walk. Not that it’s his fault. I mean, it is, but… It’s okay. We ended up just watching The Princess Bride and chatting, which was nice. After sushi on my birthday, some of our friends came back to our house and played an escape room in a box with us.

I’m going to be eating leftover baked goods and pickle or ketchup flavored chips for the rest of the week. Oh, and drinking this interesting hard cider type drink that tastes like Fruity Pebbles. 😊

Finally spring. I’m so glad it’s not cold anymore. I always get excited when I can put my coat away. And the sunlight lasts longer. It’s so much nicer. I’m not looking forward to the hot summer, but I’ve been enjoying the nice, spring days we’ve been having. It’s in the 60s this week. Sure, it’s rainy some of the time, but that’s part of it.

One thing that’s not as nice is the allergies that come this time each year. I woke up last week thinking I might be coming down with something, but I’m pretty sure it’s just allergies. It’s never progressed on from my sinuses and my throat being scratchy. It’s not like I went frolicking through flowers. Spring’s a season that just hits you in the face when it’s ready for pollen time.

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest & The Stanford Prison Experiment. I’ve seen the movie version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, but it was a long time ago and I don’t remember it well. I started reading the novel the other day, and I’ve been enjoying it even though it makes me feel pretty sad, too. I feel bad whenever it makes me smile or chuckle, because the characters are going through a lot. I appreciate the choice of narrator for it. Some authors would’ve made McMurphy the narrator, but it’s better to see him from the outside, from the perspective of someone who’s more in awe of him.

Speaking of psychological stories, Luis and I recently watched a documentary series about the Stanford Prison Experiment, on Disney+ of all places. I didn’t realize much of the “experiment” was made up. The guys involved in it were nevertheless still affected by it and it still gave them some level of trauma, at least several of them. It’s interesting because it was pretend, but it was made to not look pretend and in so doing, it became a little real? It’s interesting and I recommend it. Probably not before bed, though, because it’s sad and you’ll be thinking about it.

Being patient with myself. This week has been rough with writing so far. I have a pretty easy time when I’m at the office and can write during my lunch break, but when I get home I’m so tired. It doesn’t help that I’ve had bad sinuses because of allergies. But I’ve been kind to myself and let myself take some time off and I’m planning to write 500ish words on Sunday to make up for it. There’s no reason to force myself to write when I’m not feeling up to it.

That being said, my story is coming along nicely. As I was walking to my office this morning, I thought of something to expand upon in my edits. It made me smile. Sometimes I come up with my best writing ideas when I’m walking. The bad thing about it, of course, is that I’m nowhere near my computer when I come up with the ideas! But then I think the ideas I remember are the ones worth using.

John Green has a new book! I just need to mention that John Green announced his new novel and I cannot wait to read it! It’s his first novel for adults, and it sounds really interesting and sweet, and like it comes from a unique perspective that a lot of people can sympathize with even if we don’t quite know how it feels.

This is not an April Fools Day prank, by the way. That wouldn’t make sense on a website where you could be reading this any time past today. 😝 This holiday always frustrates me.

Until next time,

It’s the first time, the last time we ever met.

Sara Mazariegos

Birthday month. March is my birthday month, so last weekend and this weekend were/are all about birthday parties for me. 🥳 Last weekend, we got Indian food and strawberry cupcakes with my family, and we played a trivia game. It’s also my mom’s birthday, so we combine our parties since it makes sense and we don’t have to plan and travel twice.

This weekend, we’re getting dinner with Luis’s family, then we’re going ice skating* and getting fancy sushi with friends on Sunday (my birthday!)

Whenever I feel at all guilty or silly for having multiple get-togethers for my birthday instead of one big one, I think of Sona Movsesian on Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend and how she calls it her “Birthday month” because she has many parties with friends the whole month. That’s the dream!

Just kidding. I like attention, but not that much attention.

Whereabouts. One thing I always find myself thinking about as I write my Nerdfighters novel is the fact that my parents panicked about me going on my first date with Luis because I didn’t text them updates every hour (exaggeration, but not far off.) I was twenty-four years old and I’d been to D.C. by myself plenty of times at that point. Plus, we went to a bunch of museums together, so it’s not like he led me into dark alleys or anything like that. I think it’s one bad thing about cell phones. It makes people feel like they must be constantly aware of things at all times, and if there’s no instant response the world must be ending.

I remember when I was a kid, I’d go off on my bike to my friends’ houses after school and I’d be gone until evening. My parents never freaked out then. I got into more mischief back then! My friends and I used to play in a Virginia creek, for heck’s sake. I also went on a ski trip to West Virginia when I was in middle school and they never checked up on me at that rate. They may have been calling my friends’ parents to make sure things were going well, but there was no sense of urgency about any of it. I’m way more cautious as an adult than I was as a kid, and even as a kid I was careful. I never broke any bones or got lost. There was more stranger danger back then. There were more serial killers.

I think, when I was twenty-four and they were all concerned about me and what I was doing, it was more because it was a date with a boy than it was about the danger of D.C. Which, again, silly. They wanted me to meet people, but also not go out with them… It would’ve been so rude to pull out my phone and text them constantly when I was busy paying attention to my cute, funny date. I remember a time not long before that time, when my parents didn’t like cell phones and thought people who used them in public were rude. 🤔

Anyway. I like cell phones. They’re very helpful. I’m still glad I grew up in a time without them.

Ryan Gosling and space movies. Last weekend, we saw Project Hail Mary. I figured we would like it, but we both really enjoyed it! It’s very cute. It’s the kind of movie people need right now, I think. I want to see it again, even though it’s two and a half hours long. It doesn’t feel long. We’ll probably watch it again when it’s streaming. I’m glad it’s doing as well as it is. I don’t want to spoil it; I recommend you just see it if you like movies set in space that don’t involve big laser fights or anything. It’s like Alien + Star Trek (the series, not the movies) + ET, and a little bit of Moon. I cried, but in a good way.

There are quite a few space movies we need to see. A bunch came out close to each other and we missed them. This one is by the same author as The Martian, which we need to see. We also need to see Interstellar and Arrival. We like space movies, but it’s hard to keep up sometimes! Apparently Timothee Chalamet is in Interstellar. That doesn’t have me rushing to see it. 😝

References and prior knowledge when reading. I’ve noticed in two of the books I’m reading/recently read—Where’d You Go, Bernadette? and Today Tonight Tomorrow, which both take place in Seattle, which I didn’t expect!—that there are a lot of pop culture references with very little explanation for people who might not understand them. I suppose books have always included a bit of that. But, for example, Bee in Where’d You Go, Bernadette keeps saying she’s making a Kubrick reaction face, and I feel so lost myself whenever she says that. Is that a thing regular people say? It takes place in 2012, too. Not really Kubrick’s era.

Now that I see it, I understand but I’m not used to things like that making me have to look them up. I wonder if it’s a sign of the age of the author? Also, what fifteen-year-old would use that term? It comes out of nowhere. It’s not like Bee is watching 2001: A Space Odyssey or A Clockwork Orange and then starts referencing it. Anyway, I think it’s a good idea for writers to try to limit pop culture references because it might age things and also confuse people.

I pay attention to my use of pop culture references in my novel. In my opinion, if it’s relevant to the plot or characters or if it helps place the story in its setting, then a reference is okay. But too many is definitely distracting and can take people out of the story, especially if they’re going to their phone instead of reading!

Sheesh, do I sound old?

* I always envision myself doing spins and tricks like a figure skater, but um. I mostly will be trying not to fall and hoping my ankles don’t hurt too much. Just know I imagine myself as the next Sarah Hughes. That’s what goes on in my head when I’m going skating.

In all this talk of time, talk is fine but I don’t want to stay around.

Sara Mazariegos

Drunk Raccoons and Paul Giamatti. We went to AwesomeCon last Saturday, which is a D.C. convention that usually has guests like Adam Savage (Mythbusters) and people from Firefly. This year, I dressed like the drunk raccoon who raided the liquor store in Richmond, Virginia. Luis was Tony of House Stark, wearing a Tony Stark outfit complete with Iron Man arm, and a black faux fur cape because his watch never ends, not even when he’s fighting Thanos.

We were mainly there to see Paul Giamatti, who’d be there at his first convention to promote his Star Trek performance, but when we arrived and went to the autograph area to get in his line, we were informed that he’d cancelled that morning because his flight was cancelled. 😦 So we made do by seeing Ron Perlman’s panel as well as linking up with one of our friends and her family, and seeing Adam Savage’s panel. It was more impromptu, but I ended up not feeling as sad because we found other things to do. Hopefully Paul Giamatti will come another time. I’d still love to meet him and talk with him about Man on the Moon.

Conan hosted the Oscars (again!) The Oscars ceremony was really nice this year. I wanted Ryan Coogler and Sinners to win in their main categories, but otherwise it was good. I’m sure Ryan Coogler will keep making movies. Conan was a fun host, and I saw he’s been invited to host as long as he wants, which is awesome! His monologue at the beginning reminded me of the good old days of his show.

The In Memoriam section was also so good, in a different way, of course. I cried a bunch. I like that they took time to talk about several people this time. Obviously they can’t eulogize everyone; that would be a different show. But it was nice to hear Billy Crystal talk about Rob and Michele Reiner. I wish Rachel McAdams had said more about Catherine O’Hara, or maybe someone else could’ve had a moment for her, but I know it’s hard. I can imagine Eugene Levy would have a difficult time getting through it without crying. What a bunch of sad losses. It’s like that every year, but this time was worse than usual.

Working remotely, but in an office. My job is interesting, because I have to go into the office in D.C. every week day, and work there 8 hours before coming home, but most of what I do is remote. I assist clients remotely because they’re at our other locations, or at their homes in other states. I’m the only one in my office, unless someone’s booked the conference room, but even then I’m the only person who actually works at my job in the office. It’s a remote job that still has a physical office and commute. It’s strange, but it’s also kind of fun (on good days.)

It can get lonely at times, especially if something stressful is going on and I don’t have anyone here to help me, but for the most part I don’t miss having annoying, in-person coworkers. And I don’t miss having a ton of in-person clients who bother me. This job is an introvert’s dream.

“And soon we’re tapping away, hmm hmm hmm.” I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve been writing for a long time, or because I’ve rewritten this particular story quite a bit, but I’ve been having a much easier time writing my 500-word sprints. It happened twice last week that I told Luis, “I don’t know, I might have to write more this weekend because I can’t focus right now” and then proceeded to write 500 words like it was nothing. There was some word count discrepancy from a day I truly didn’t have time/focus to write, but then on Monday I tapped away and got 1,000 words written in one sitting. Again, like it was nothing.

It really does help to not worry so much about the quality of the words, especially the first go ’round of writing the draft. Prettier wording is for the edits. And, if I do say so myself, I never think my word choices are that bad. They could be better sometimes, sure, but at least my drafts aren’t riddled with typos and misspellings. Not to toot my own horn. My biggest draft issues are primarily digressions.

Now what was I talking about?

Time was still, but hours must really have rushed by.

Sara Mazariegos

The whole “cats are bad pets” argument. I was planning to see The Bride! last weekend, but then I saw people sharing and discussing an interview with Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal (and it’s not an old interview, because they were promoting Hamnet which is nominated this year for awards.) She said she hates cats and forced her husband to get rid of his two cats if he wanted to be with her. People are entitled to their opinions, but that is abusive behavior, both to her husband’s cats and to her husband. It’s not cute.

Also, cats are wonderful pets. This perception that they’re “mean” is largely because the person saying that hasn’t ever had one, or they met one that didn’t like them so therefore all cats are mean and bad. Cats domesticated themselves and are very smart and loving to the people they love. They will follow you from room to room just to stay in your presence and see what you’re up to. They will fall asleep on your lap for hours, or snuggle with you in bed. Dogs are people pleasers, they’ll love anyone. Cats are more of an honor when they love you, because they’ve made sure you earned it.

So we’re not seeing The Bride! It also helps that it got pretty terrible reviews. We saw Hoppers instead, and it was adorable.

Give me dark mode or give me sunglasses. I’ve become so accustomed to dark mode on my devices that, when my work didn’t have it set up for the CRM we use, I had to find a browser extension so I wasn’t squinting to read things on it. The problem with the extension is that sometimes certain websites still don’t want to play nice.

Like WordPress, which I use to write this. For some reason, it decided the place where I write each post still needs to be bright white. A week ago it was working fine, and nice and black with white text. I hope the extension updates and makes WordPress black again. Now I feel like a vampire as I’m typing because it’s too bright. 🧛‍♀️

The number of the day is 1 for First World Problem. Ah ah ah!

Messi & Inter Miami in Baltimore! We went to Baltimore and saw a soccer match between Inter Miami (this time with Messi) and D.C. United. The stadium was great. Luis managed to buy us some tickets in the Caesar’s Club level, so there were nice bars and slightly nicer restrooms. I never had to wait in line, whereas the men’s room line was quite long at the end. It makes sense, when you think about it.

We waited until the last minute, almost, to get the tickets because you never know if Messi is actually going to play or if he’s resting/injured. It’s always fun to see him and his team play, and it’s a nice activity to share with Luis. There were quite a few kids this time, too, which was cute. Inter Miami narrowly beat D.C. which was a pleasant surprise. It’s more exciting if they don’t completely trounce the other team. After the game, we went and had some fancy food and drinks at a place called Nola.

Enjoyable books with unlikeable characters. I’m currently reading Where’d You Go, Bernadette? which I fittingly found in our neighborhood’s little free library. There’s a movie based on it that came out several years ago. In fact, when Luis and I saw Stephen Colbert’s show live in 2019, Cate Blanchett was on to promote it and part of the reason I grabbed the book off the little free library shelf is because we saw her talking about it. Take that, CBS. Stephen Colbert is great at promoting things.

Anyway. I’ve been feeling a bit like the kombucha lady with this book. The way it’s written, half epistolary and half narrated, is a little funky. It feels like the author, Maria Semple, was trying a little too hard to be quirky. And yet… I’m still reading it. Sometimes it makes me laugh, and I want to know what’s going to happen next. The character of Bernadette Fox is a frustrating one because she can be so dismissive and strange, and a little racist, but she’s also somehow sympathetic. I find her, so far, more off-putting than likable but I still care enough about her to find out what happens to her.

My favorite character is her daughter, Bee. She just wants to go to Antarctica.

Writing update. I’ve been enjoying the rewrite of my novel. I’ve added a lot more conflict to the characters’ situation. It’s a lot of internal stuff caused by external stuff, if that makes sense. I do get the feeling that, after this rewrite, I might take a long break from writing. It may be partially because it’s that time of year once more where I would rather look out the window at the birds and go frolic outside amongst the living rather than sit and write.

But I could also just be being overdramatic right now and I’ll get slapped by a fresh story idea once July rolls around. We’ll see.