Tag: Authors

I’m not the kinda girl who gives up just like that, oh no.

Sara Mazariegos

We’ve created a TV schedule for our weeks, sticking to the same few shows until we finish them/the season and then watching different things. It used to be that we’d start watching a show, get distracted by something else, and then forget about the show. Granted, the shows in question were classics like Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart Show, and Golden Girls so we’re already more than behind on them, but you know what I mean. It’s been nice to think, “Oh, it’s Tuesday: Shogun night.” I like watching things that others are watching, so I don’t feel like we’re missing out. Shogun, The Bear, and Hacks are so good! Cable used to be like that, but you couldn’t skip ads or pause to go to the bathroom, so streaming is still more convenient.

Cable is going to go away. It’s not really a question. The only question is, how soon? It kind of relates to Hacks, in a way. Why have a late night talk show anymore?

The books I’m reading are enjoyable and quite different from each other. Aside from still weathering the storm that is House of Leaves (which is amazing! It’s just a dense textbook written by a crazy man,) I’m also reading A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston and Island by Aldous Huxley. Ashley Poston’s so fun, and her novels appeal to my interests because they’re humorous romances involving ghosts or imaginary characters (within the story; obviously all novel characters are imaginary.) I previously read and had to own The Dead Romantics because I liked it so much, and this novel is no different. It also has a gorgeous cover. The Aldous Huxley book is in a similar vein to Brave New World, but it doesn’t feel as bleak. I’m not far into it yet, though. It’s fun to read him discussing more modern things, since he wrote it in the 60s. It also feels prescient about what’s going on in D.C., which I kind of hate. 🙃 History just repeats and repeats itself… It needs to stop.

I’m looking forward to seeing John Green at the National Book Festival, though I’m still nervous about being in D.C. I’m always nervous about being in D.C., and I have to go there a lot for work. It will be nice to see him again! I wish I could talk to him in person, but he’s not doing a book signing or anything, so the chances are slim. I waited like a loser after his book reading in March, so we’ll see if I wait to try and spot him again. I understand he doesn’t like social situations much. I don’t either. I just really like him. He means so much to Luis and me.

Reading the Ashley Poston book has given me some useful plot guidepost ideas. I’m around the same page number in her book as well as in my writing, so I can’t help comparing where the characters are in their respective arcs. I may have mentioned before that A Novel Love Story is a good comp for my current work-in-progress, even though my story doesn’t involve any magical realism. It’d be fun to add some of that, but I don’t know how and my story already has a lot going on. I could keep it in mind, but maybe for another story. I’m currently within the “Dark Night of the Soul” part of the story, which means everything sucks for my main characters. Things are piecing together and building up to what’ll hopefully be a satisfying finale. I just realized I’ve been subconsciously following the Save The Cat beats without even marking them all out like that in my outline.

That’s pretty freaking cool.

Can you help me occupy my brain?

Sara Mazariegos

Luis and I attended the annual Esther Day Virtual Party on Sunday. Esther Day is a birthday celebration of Esther Earl, a Nerdfighter who died of thyroid cancer when she was sixteen. When asked how she wanted to be remembered, she said she would like everyone to take the day to celebrate platonic love and saying “I love you” to people who you might not say it to as often as you want or should; maybe it makes you feel a little uncomfortable because it’s not said as often. It’s a really sweet way to celebrate Esther and her family and the people we love in our lives. It’s just nice. It’s a nice hug of a day.

Do you want a personal example of how kind John Green is? He and his wife Sarah were guests in the virtual party livestream, and he did a Q&A like he often does, because he loves to answer questions and offer “dubious advice.” Luis has been anxious about home repair stuff, as I think I’ve mentioned here, so I casually asked John if he has any advice for dealing with the anxiety. John not only gave us some advice—watch YouTube videos on home repairs (which we can’t really do for our roof, ha.)—he also took the time to give us a shout-out like, “Sara and Luis! We’re fully invested in their marriage.” Which made us both very touched and smiley for the rest of the livestream. And so now, when we’re stressed about home repair stuff, which of course we will keep being stressed about but it’s normal and it will be fine, we can think about John’s shout-out and words of advice, which boil down to us not being alone. 💚

Luis’s birthday is this Saturday! We were originally going to have a birthday party for him because it’s a Saturday and how convenient, but it’s unfortunately a Saturday in summer so all our friends are busy*. But we’re going to see The Naked Gun which is a remake of one of his favorite movies, and we’re going to a restaurant he really likes, and I’m going to make the weekend all about him and what he wants. That’s my other gift to him this year. (I also got him a Switch 2 back in July, which he’s been playing every day since I told him he needed it and we rushed out and got it.) We also also might go see Inter Miami play DC in a few weeks, if we can muster up the enthusiasm since Messi probably won’t play. Busquets will still be there! And De Paul! And Alba! And Suarez! Plenty of fun players, but no one’s as cool as Messi, so we’ll see about that.

We’re still thinking about Ozzy Osbourne. Luis is a big fan, so he’s been showing me all kinds of stuff and playing songs for me. We started watching The Osbournes because I figured it would at least be amusing. It was my idea. It’s fun to learn about the family. It’s definitely silly, but it’s also kind of sweet in a weird way. They had way, way too many dogs and didn’t really know how to take care of them. There’s a metaphor in there somewhere.

My writing is still going well. I can see how the story plot is progressing as planned, which is very exciting. I’m almost to 50K words. I was looking through my calendar the other day and realized it won’t be long until I’m finished with this draft. September 26th is my goal end date, and that’s not so far away now.

I wish there was a word to describe how good it feels when everything seems to fall into place.

* We are still going to have a party with friends, it’s just not going to be on his actual birthday.

Wish I could fly like Superman.

Sara Mazariegos

Like millions of other people, we saw Superman last weekend. I am a fan of James Gunn, and I really liked what he did with the characters and the world. Leave it to him to pick a few random side characters as the comic relief/help for the main hero. Nicholas Hoult was also really good as Lex Luther. I’ve liked him in everything I’ve seen him in, including when he was elevenish in About A Boy. And let’s not forget about Krypto. He reminded me of our dog Scout. I was tearful when he first appeared, but thankfully I didn’t cry every time I saw him. That would’ve been very dehydrating.

A big aspect of my job is mail handling. There are a lot of folks who don’t seem to understand how mail works. For instance, you have to let people know your address if you want to get mail delivered to it. It doesn’t just magically arrive because you want it to. I’ve gotten pretty good at forwarding people’s mail to them, but the patient FedEx worker alerted me yesterday morning that they don’t deliver to P.O. Boxes. I’d packed up some mail nicely to send to one, but I had to carefully repackage it to go via USPS. Thankfully I didn’t lose much time on it. I’m trying to do better at not checking the tracking or requests when I’m not at work. I become too invested in each delivery and want to make sure they work out well, but I need to stop caring so much. It’s not my problem once things are sent!

Luis and I went out for a fancy dinner on the 14th, at a place really close to my office. Unfortunately, it decided to storm and he forgot his umbrella, but it was okay. It calmed down right as he arrived at my building to cross the street. Next month, we’re planning to go to another place near my office. One of the perks of my job is that there are fun places around. There’s also a big park full of squirrels, pigeons, and ducks.

I feel like a broken record about this, but writing 500 words each day works so well for me. It allows me to immerse myself in the scenes and think about them when I’m not pressured to write things down. For instance, I wrote 500 words today and now I’m planning what comes next before writing it. In the past, I used to crank out 2,000 words a day and I think a lot of it was with the “gotta fill this quota” mentality I no longer have. I’m enjoying my story more as I work on it, and I think it will help when it comes time to edit things, too because my writing sessions are more focused on the plot and moving things forward. I used to digress and meander in my writing a lot more, largely because I thought, “That’ll get more words!”

This really has become an adventure in learning how to write better. I know a lot of people have this issue with their writing. They get burnt out thinking they’ve got to write as much as Stephen King each day. They think too much in terms of the word count needed to make a novel and not the words needed to make a good one.

I’m going to write 500 more words later, and I know more or less what they will be.

Drunk on wine, I’m amazing.

Sara Mazariegos

One of the bad things about holiday vacations is coming back to work on the Monday afterward. Luis and I had a nice time last weekend, spending time together and with family. We saw This is Spinal Tap in theaters for the first time, for the 41st anniversary. It’s totally because they’re coming out with a sequel soon. At the end of the showing, they included a brief preview of the sequel and the audience laughed just at the sight of the way they look now, which is kind of mean but also fair. They reminded me of The Beatles during the “When I’m Sixty-Four” scene in Yellow Submarine.

Then, on Sunday, we went to the mall and bought the Nintendo Switch 2 for Luis’s early birthday present! It doesn’t seem that different from the original Switch to me, but it has a few improvements. And who knows? I might become amazing at Mario Kart by the time we get another game. I just hope it stops hurting my hand. I think I steer too intensely.

Now that the 4th of July is over, I’m not going to have a weekday off from work until Labor Day at the beginning of September. We have a few fun things planned before then, but there’s something to be said for having time off when I’d normally have to wake up early and commute. We’re seeing Weird Al on a Tuesday night, and I’m hoping I won’t be very tired during it and very tired the next day.

There was a Valley Girl on my train this morning. She was talking on her phone and she kept saying “For sure” and “Totally” and I was doing my best not to crack up the entire time she stood in front of me. At one point, she described her whole outfit and said something about needing to go shopping with her mom. “With the train, it takes me, like, fifteen minutes to walk. If I had to walk to work, it would take me, like, four hours. My coworker walks, like, half an hour to work each day. You know that’s not me.”

I did not expect to hear that accent in the D.C. area.

While working on a scene in my novel involving the DC Book Festival, I learned John Green is coming to the DC Book Festival this year, in September! So art is imitating life again. I’ll have to make mental notes of details I can include in the edits. The last time Luis and I saw him at the Book Fest, it was summer of 2012. It’s going to be inside the convention center this time, so it’ll be much cooler than doing it on the Mall like they used to. I hope I can meet him again! I can never meet John Green too many times. ✨

I read your books and talked for hours.

Sara Mazariegos

Today we’re going to see John Green talk about tuberculosis. Last time we saw John Green, he talked about obsessive compulsive disorder and gave us a lime green mixer from our wedding registry. The time before that, we saw him at the National Book Festival and he signed my beloved former New York Public Library copy of Paper Towns. And the time before that, I saw him by myself at his tour stop in Bethesda for The Fault in Our Stars – and that’s when I first discovered my local Nerdfighter group, which eventually led me to Luis.

John Green matters very much to me.


I got a copy yesterday, but I haven’t started reading yet because I wanted to be in the right headspace. We’re each getting a copy at the reading today, too, because the book comes with each ticket. So I’m going to be swimming in copies of this book. 😅

Aside from going to the show, it’s also nice to have a day off from work. Something about this year has made being at the office five days a week downright exhausting. But, at the same time, things feel like they’re running more smoothly this year, possibly because I’ve gotten better at my job, but also there’s a new person helping me in my role, which is fantastic. I hope things keep going well. And that’s enough thinking about work on my day off.

This weekend, we’re going to spend Saturday with my family and Sunday with Luis’s parents, celebrating my birthday early. On my birthday, we’re going to Medieval Times with friends so I can reenact The Cable Guy. 😅

In writing news, the 500 words a day plan is going swimmingly. It’s kind of hard to explain, but it helps me feel like I’m in the scene more than it does when I write 2,000 words a day. This is probably unsurprising, but I’ve been programmed to have maximum output, so to slow down and take my time is both a big shift and also… a relief. Things are given more time to develop, which I think will make stronger scenes. Also things will be easier for me to edit without feeling like I’m losing a ton of words in the process, because I imagine the scenes will require additions instead of subtractions.

I’m plantsing my way through this one. Can you tell?

When I walked to my bus yesterday, I thought about my Nerdfighter novel and things to change to make it better. Even when I’m not working on stories, I’m still thinking about them.

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.

Our world could use this beauty, just think what we might do.

Sara Mazariegos

As usual, I’m getting into a TV show that’s several years old. Luis and I recently started watching Hacks, and it’s so clever. I admit, I initially wanted to watch it because Hannah Einbinder is Laraine Newman’s daughter. Before checking it out, I watched some of her standup, and she’s funny. I love her voices. It’s fun to see her and Jean Smart together.

Aside from Hacks, we’ve been watching another Hollywood-focused show called Death by Fame. It’s mostly about famous people or “famous” people losing their minds and killing people. Sometimes they get killed themselves, but I’ve noticed it’s mostly the “famous” people who snap. Some of the episodes are a stretch. Others are really good, because they introduce me to actors or whatever I may never have noticed before. I had no idea Drew Carey once had a fiancée who was murdered. ☹️

I’m looking forward to our trip to L.A. this month. I’m a little nervous, too, because of the airplane stuff that’s been happening, and the fires. Thankfully, it looks like the fires have been contained. This year already feels so strange, and it’s only the beginning of February.

For all of February, I’m taking a break from writing, to give my brain a break. I’ve been reading The Book Swap by Tessa Bickers. It’s really cute so far. There’s a deceased character in it, and it’s really creative how she writes about her. She’s not quite a ghost, but she’s ghost-esque. You know I love ghosts.

This weekend, we’re going to play board games with one of Luis’s old friends. She was in our wedding, and we haven’t seen her in far too long. And then on Sunday, we’re going to the movies and other things to avoid the big football game. We do not partake. 😝

And as things fell apart, nobody paid much attention.

Sara Mazariegos

Went to bed last night with the news of the airplane/military helicopter crash at one of our local airports. It’s shocking and bizarre, and I both hope it was just an accident and also have to ask HOW did such a horrible accident happen?

I already kind of hate this year. ☹️

I started out this blog post draft with a writing prompt answer. The mood was a bit different then…

Daily writing prompt
Name an attraction or town close to home that you still haven’t got around to visiting.
View all responses

I still haven’t visited Frederick, MD even though I’ve heard good things about it and I know some people who live there. It looks pretty, from photos I’ve seen. We’re going there for a friend’s wedding this spring! I’m looking forward to finally experiencing it. The wedding just so happens to be on a weekend with a 14th, so Luis and I can celebrate that a little, too. ☺️

I’m currently reading a book I think will be a good comp for my next novel, but I asked my favorite literary agent from TSNOTYAW if it’s okay for an American author to use U.K. authors as comps. The lived experiences of the characters are somewhat different, but the feelings and themes are still there.


It’s nice to have reassurance sometimes.

On the revising front, I’m getting near the end of my second read-through round of edits. Then I’m going to take February off to give myself a break from thinking about it (as much as I can.) In March, Luis will be my alpha reader. Because he’s helpful.

I hope you’re doing okay in these scary times. I’ve found reading to be much more solace than social media these days. It always has been, but now it’s even more obvious that social media is not good for you.

Like a drunk, but not.

Sara Mazariegos

Wow, a lot has happened in the past week.

I joined the Dear Hank and John Patreon livestream on Wednesday and they announced that tickets were on sale for John Green’s new book tour, for Everything is Tuberculosis! As soon as I got home, Luis and I got tickets. I’m so excited! It feels a little odd to be excited since I’m sure it’s going to also be sad and frustrating to learn about, but I’m still excited to see him again and hear his latest work. We haven’t seen John in person since 2017, when he gave us a lime green Kitchenaid mixer as a wedding present. Something like that’s not going to happen again, but it will still be a great show.

John and Hank Green led to Luis and me meeting, so I couldn’t pass up the chance to see John again. Hopefully Hank will come to D.C. again someday, too.

Many places in Los Angeles have been burned in wildfires, which is scary and sad, and nerve-wracking because we’re going to be there in a little over a month. I’ve donated to redcross.org to help. Los Angeles has been on my mind a lot over the past week.

And then there’s this whole thing with Neil Gaiman. *Deep Sigh*

In writing news, I finished listening to my novel (as read by a phone app!) Luis listened along with me, and he told me he really likes it, though he’s a bit biased. 😏 Now the goal is to read it through and make edits. Thankfully, I didn’t find anything glaring that needs to change, plotwise, so that’s a relief. Restructuring and rewriting really did the trick.

I’m currently reading How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang and I really like it. I’ve noticed that she repeats the descriptor “Victorian” all the time, which is amusing because it escaped edits and read-throughs for her. It makes me think about what words or phrases I might’ve overused. I’ll focus on fixing things like that this first go-around of editing.

Victorianly,

“I’m shaking the dust of this crummy little town off my feet and I’m gonna see the world!”

Sara Mazariegos

I finished writing my novel’s second draft on Monday! 🎉 It was much easier to write this time, largely because I retooled my outline and gave myself enough time to really think it through before writing it all out. We watched It’s A Wonderful Life again on the 14th, and it inspired my final push to the end. My novel is very different, but it’s influenced by that movie, sort of like how Planes, Trains, and All The Feels by Livy Hart is clearly inspired by Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. It gave me the initial “Hey! I want to do that!” inspiration.

I can’t remember if I’ve shared this story here, but my parents have watched It’s A Wonderful Life every Christmas Eve my entire life. It’s as much a Christmas tradition for me as putting up a decorated tree or opening presents. I still watch it every holiday season, though not on Christmas Eve since that’s become the evening we spend with Luis’s family.

When I was around seven years old, I noticed I couldn’t hear in my right ear. I remember being on the phone with my grandpa and I couldn’t hear him if I switched which ear the phone was up against. I remember thinking, “Huh, that’s weird. I wonder if everyone’s ears are like that.” (I was young.)

I voiced my concern a few years later, because my friends were playing Telephone at a party — another telephone! — and I couldn’t hear the messages being whispered into my right ear. In moments of panic, I just made things up and passed those messages along instead. My friends kept being like, “Where did the message get messed up??” and looking at me. Now, I was a strange and silly child, but in this instance I wasn’t trying to deviate! I was embarrassed about not being able to hear. Looking back, I know I could’ve just turned my head and insisted on using the ear that hears, but at the time it felt like it would break the rules…

When I told my family, they thought I was pretending to be George Bailey because I’d seen that movie every year and I had a penchant for pretending to be my favorite characters.

Now, that’s one thing, but when I was in school, for the hearing test they used to give us with the headphones and the hand raising if you hear the tone on one side or the other, I used to wait until there was a pause and the tester was looking at me expectantly, and then I’d dutifully raise my right hand. “Oh yeah, I definitely heard that…” [Not.]

It wasn’t until I was fifteen that I finally stopped faking and honestly took that test. My parents were told I should go see an ear, nose, and throat doctor. I did more hearing tests. My right cochlea doesn’t work. Records were checked. Apparently, I’ve been deaf in that ear since I was two years old, after a bad fever and ear infection.

So I love George Bailey because I identify with him. Sure, I didn’t save anyone from a frozen lake, but I have the same hearing loss! One thing I noticed this year is that George situates himself at the table with his father on his bad side. I’d never do that! I always make sure the people I’m most trying to hear are on my “good side.” That’s to say nothing of the balance issues he probably should display, etc.

Maybe that’s why he trips at the dance.

Anyway, I finished my writing draft. This is the nifty chart. I’m going to take a break from it for at least two weeks. How handy that the holidays are at the same time. 😄


I hope you have happy holidays and a happy, joyous New Year! Try not to stress too much about the future. That’s probably my resolution.


P.S. The “George Bailey” character in my novel doesn’t have hearing loss. That would be too similar to the original. I gave him something else of mine: he has car anxiety.